185 



AMBOISE, CARDINAL GEORGES D'. 



AMBROSIUS, ST. 



186 



studied and copied. Fiorillo states that many of Amberger's copies 

 pass as the originals of Holbein. His historical pieces in oil are very 

 small, and executed in the hard manner and sharp gothic style of the 

 period in Germany, without any feeling for aerial perspective, though 

 the rules of linear perspective are well observed in his works : his 

 colouring is rich. His best works are at his native place, Amberg, 

 in the Church of St. Martin and in the Franciscan convent there. 



Amberger is generally supposed to have died about 1563 at Augs- 

 burg : he was however still living in 1568, according to some judicial 

 records in that place. 



(Sandrart, Teutsclte Academic, &c. ; Mechel, Catalogue des Tableaux, 

 <tc. de Vienne; Waagen, Gemalde Sammluny zt Berlin; Nagler, 

 A'< / nstl cr-LtJcicon. ) 



AMBOISE, CARDINAL GEORGES D', an eminent French eccle- 

 siastic and statesman. He was born in 1460, at the chateau of 

 Chaumont on the Loire, the seat of his family, which was one of the 

 most illustrious in France. Being a younger son he was educated for 

 the church, and was made Bishop of Montauban by the time he had 

 attained the age of fourteen. His first preferment at court was given 

 him by Louis XI., who made him his almoner. After the death of 

 this prince, however, in 1483, having connected himself with the 

 Duke of Orleans, who unsuccessfully disputed the regency with Anne 

 of Beaujeu, he shared the misfortunes of his party, and was along 

 with the duke himself put into confinement, from which he was not 

 released till six or seven years after, when the new king, Charles VIII., 

 attained his majority. Soon after being restored to liberty he was pro- 

 moted to the archbishopric of Narbonne, which, in 1493, he exchanged 

 for that of Rouen. Here, besides presiding over his diocese, he acted 

 as the deputy of his friend the Duke of Orleans, who held the office 

 of governor of Normandy, and in that capacity introduced several 

 valuable reforms into the administration of the province. In 149S 

 the duke became king by the title of Louis XII., and from this time 

 D'Amboiee may be considered as prime minister of France. The 

 memorable events of the reign of Louis XII. are connected with the 

 assertion of his rights to the duchy of Milan, and the protracted wars 

 which he carried on in Italy to maintain that claim. In this part of 

 liis conduct it is probable that Louis acted rather according to his 

 own views than by the advice of his minister ; but he seems to have 

 intrusted to the latter almost the entire management of the domestic 

 affairs of his kingdom. In this department D'Amboise displayed 

 equal ability and disinterestedness. By the financial reforms which 

 lie effected he was enabled both considerably to reduce the customary 

 imposts, and to supply the heavy demands of the war without any 

 increase of taxation. He exerted himself also, with considerable 

 success, to rectify the existing corruptions both in the law and the 

 church, introducing various regulations, with a view to diminish the 

 l>-uc;th of processes in the former, and by his example as well as by 

 his authority discountenancing the scandalous rapacity of the higher 

 order of ecclesiastics. He would never accept any other benefice in 

 addition to his archbishopric ; and even the greater part of his epis- 

 copal revenue he distributed among the poor, or devoted to other 

 pious purposes. With all this moderation, however, in regard to the 

 more common objects of human desire, he was far from being without 

 ambition. Very soon after the accession of Louis XII. he had obtained 

 a cardinal's hat, and subsequently the Pope appointed him to the 

 high office of legate. But on the death of the infamous Alexander VI., 

 in 1503, it appeared that the chair of St. Peter itself was the place 

 which he aspired to occupy. He failed however in this object through 

 :i piece of mismanagement, which made him at the time very much 

 l.uighed at, though it was only discreditable to him as a politician. 

 A large military force of the king his master occupied Rome, by 

 placing which in an imposing attitude he might easily have controlled 

 tlie election ; but the Cardinal de la Rovere having suggested to him 

 that such a mode of securing his object would both have a bad look, 

 and was moreover quite unnecessary, inasmuch as he would most 

 ertainly be elected for his own merits, if he left the matter to the 

 free voices of the conclave ; he followed this crafty advice, and with- 

 drew the troops. The result was that in a few weeks the Cardinal de 

 la Rovere was Pope himself, with the title of Julius II. No other 

 vacancy in the ecclesiastical throne occurred during the life of D'Am- 

 boise, who died in the convent of the Celestines at Lyons, on the 25th 

 of May, 1510. It is said that, on his death bed, he expressed his 

 sense of the vanity of those worldly honours which he had sought so 

 anxiously during his life exclaiming, as he named the monk who 

 attended him, " Brother John ! ah, why have I not all my life been 

 brother John ? " Ho was buried in the cathedral of Rouen, where 

 his mausoleum is still to bo seen. Notwithstanding some faults and 

 weaknesses, D'Amboise was undoubtedly a great benefactor to France. 

 This his countrymen themselves so strongly felt, that they used 

 affectionately to call him 'the people's father." Most of the accounts 

 of his life that have appeared in France are written in the most 

 panegyrical style. One is by an author who calls himself the Sieur 

 ties Montagnes, printed in 12mo, at Paris, in 1631. There is another 

 work, entitled 'A History of the Administration of the Cardinal 

 1 1 Amboise,' by the Sieur Michel Baudier, historiographer to his majesty, 

 published in 4to, at Paris, in 1634. The letters of Louis XII. and 

 iVrdiual D'Amboiae were published at Brussels in 4 vols. Svo, by 

 Jean Godefroy, in 1712. 



AMBUO'SIUS, ST., commonly called Ambrose, was born in Gaul, 

 jrobably at Treves, about A.D. 340, his father, a noble native of Rome, 

 Deing then praetorian prefect of Gaul. His infancy was signalised by 

 x prodigy similar to that recorded of Plato ; while he was sleeping in 

 lis father's palace, a swarm of bees invaded his cradle and rested on 

 iis lips, and then suddenly ascending high into the air disappeared. 

 Another tale is also told prophetic of his ecclesiastical dignity. One 

 day, while yet a boy, he stretched forth his hand to his mother and 

 sister, and bade them kiss it, in homage to the future bishop. His 

 education however was that usually bestowed on distinguished 

 civilians, and his first profession was the law. His rank and character 

 personally recommended him for advancement, and at an early age 

 lie was made consular of Liguria, a province comprehending the 

 North of Italy from the Mediterranean to the Adriatic, and having 

 Milan for its capital. 



The conflict between the Catholics and the Arians was then raging, 

 and in A.D. 374, Auxentius, the Ariau archbishop of Milan, died. The 

 choice of a successor occasioned the most violent tumults, and the 

 presence of the governor was necessary to appease them. Ho assembled 

 the people in the principal church ; and when he had addressed them 

 on the subject of their civil duties, the necessity of social order and 

 public discipline, they replied with unanimous acclamation, " We will 

 bave Ambrose for our bishop." Ambrose was then a catechumen 

 only, and as far as is known, without much theological instruction. 

 He professed, besides, the most determined repugnance for the pro- 

 posed dignity. He yielded however at length to the persevering 

 entreaties of the people ; and on the eighth day after his baptism, 

 having passed with the shortest canonical intervals through the inter- 

 mediate steps, he was ordained to the see. That which he had obtained 

 by the popular voice he preserved by popular talents aud virtues a 

 commanding eloquence, which inflamed the souls of the faithful 

 daring and unconquerable firmness humanity, where the interests of 

 humanity were consistent with those of the orthodox faith perfect 

 contempt for wealth, and unbounded benevolence to the poor and 

 afflicted. He renounced his private property, and on one occasion 

 sold some of the sacred utensils for the redemption of prisoners. It 

 is also related that he possessed, and sometimes exercised, the gift of 

 miracles. He immediately proclaimed his adhesion to the Catholic 

 faith, and laboured for the extirpation of Ariauism. The empress 

 Justina, an Arian, demanded that one church should be appropriated 

 at Milan to herself and those who held the same opinions. Ambrose 

 refused, and a long and violent struggle ensued, in which the civil and 

 military authorities were successfully opposed and thwarted by the 

 energy of the prelate, armed only with spiritual power and supported 

 by the enthusiastic devotion of his faithful people. 



This was his first triumph ; his second, though accomplished with 

 less risk, has gained him more celebrity. In A.D. 390 Theodosius I. 

 commanded an indiscriminate massacre of the inhabitants of Thcssa- 

 lonica, and many thousands suffered. Ambrose was shocked by the 

 enormity of the crime, and determined that the church ought not to 

 overlook it, even in a wise and powerful Catholic emperor. He 

 remonstrated ; and when the prince pleaded for his sin the example 

 of David, Ambrose replied, " Since thou hast imitated his offence, 

 imitate likewise his penitence ; " and stopped him as he was entering 

 the sacred precincts. Theodoaius submitted. For the space of eight 

 months he was debarred from the holy offices, and finally, after some 

 other humiliations, he condescended to the performance of public 

 penance, as the condition of reconciliation with the church. This 

 was, indeed, a signal display of spiritual authority at a period scarcely 

 fourscore years removed from the last persecution, and long preceding 

 the origin of that system of ecclesiastical despotism so generally 

 ascribed to the ambition of Rome. But it was the flagrancy of the 

 crime which gave colour and success to the prelate's audacity. 

 Ambrose, as well as Martin of Tours, expressed his indignation at 

 the persecution of Priscillian and his followers ; his humanity was 

 offended by the execution of the heretics. Yet had he no compre- 

 hension of what we call toleration. The severe laws of Gratian 

 against heretics are by Tillemout ascribed to his influence; and in 

 390 he held a council for the condemnation of the opinions of Jovinian. 

 His ecclesiastical principles were aa high and as rigid as those of the 

 Gregories and the Innocents, but a milder disposition tempered them 

 in execution. 



Ambrose died in 397, at no advanced age, beloved by his faithful 

 people, and even by the princes whom his virtues awed, aud respected 

 by the barbarians themselves. He left behind him what the church 

 has commonly considered as a model of the episcopal character. His 

 works, which are numerous, by no means reflect the vigour and energy 

 of his actions ; they are rather remarkable for the excellence of their 

 principles and precepts, than for power of thought or diction. The 

 most remarkable is that 'De Officiis,' which his panegyrists have 

 not feared to compare with the ' Offices ' of Cicero. It is, of course, 

 a Christian work, and the first proposition is the following : " The 

 proper office of a bishop is to teach the people." He composed some 

 very voluminous expositions of Scripture. Many lives of Ambrose 

 are extant. The most ancient is one by Paulinus, a priest of Milan, 

 aud the secretary of the prelate. The best edition of his works is in 

 2 vols. fol. Paris, 1 686 1 690. There is also one by Erasmus in 2 vols. 

 fol. apud Froben, 1527. 



