Michael 



Alexandrovitch, 

 Russian grand duke 



MICHAEL 



in uniting, under his rule, nearly 

 the whole Ruman people. 1599- 

 1600, assuming in 1600 the title of 

 voivode of Wallachia and Mol- 

 davia, and governor of Transyl- 

 vania. Threatened by a rising of 

 the Transylvanians, under Sigis- 

 mund Bathory, aided by Poland, he 

 obtained support from the Imperial 

 government, and defeated Bathory, 

 but a few days later, Aug. 19, 1601, 

 was murdered at the instigation 

 of the imperial general Basta. 



Michael Alexandrovitch (b. 

 1878). Russian grand duke. Born 

 in St. Petersburg, Nov. 22, 1878, he 

 was a brother 

 of Nicholas II. 

 His marriage 

 to Nathalie 

 Sergeevna,nee 

 Scheremeter- 

 sky, in Oct., 

 1911, was mor- 

 ganatic, and 

 in the follow- 

 ing Jan. an im- 

 perial mani- 

 festo relieved 

 him of the duties of regent im- 

 posed upon him in Aug., 1904, 

 in the event of the death of the 

 emperor before the attaining of his 

 majority by the heir apparent. In 

 the Great War he commanded 

 a division of Caucasian cavalry 

 in Galicia. At the revolution of 

 March, 1917, Nicholas II abdicated 

 in favour of the Grand Duke 

 Michael, who was arrested by the 

 Bolshevists after their accession to 

 power, and exiled to Perm, where 

 he was imprisoned. In 1920 it was 

 reported he had escaped to Siam. 

 See Nicholas II ; Russia. 



Michaelis, GEORG (b. 1857). 

 German statesman. He entered the 

 public service, became president 

 of Breslau, 

 and in 1909 

 became under- 

 secretary i n 

 the Prussian 

 ministry of 

 finance. H e 

 came into pro- 

 mine nee i n 

 connexion 

 with food con- 

 trol in 1917, 

 when he was 

 made Prussian state commissary. 

 After the fall of Bethmann-Hollweg, 

 in July, 1917, he was appointed 

 chancellor and minister president of 

 Prussia, but was dismissed in Nov. 

 Michaelis; -RABIN (b. 1872). 

 Danish author. Born at Randers, 

 March 20, 1872, of a family named 

 Beck-Brondum, she married the 

 poet Sophus Michaelis, in 1905, 

 and gave up a musical train- 

 ing for literature. She published 

 novels which were translated 



Gcorg Michaelis, 

 German statesman 



Karin Michaelis, 

 Danish author 



Michaelmas. 



5388 



into several languages. Her work 

 was marked by considerable power 

 of description and a broad outlook 

 on feminine 

 questions. The 

 publication of 

 The Danger- 

 ous Age, 1910, 

 established 

 her reputation 

 as a European 

 novelist, and 

 aroused a sen- 

 sation by its 

 candour. 

 Feast of S. 

 Michael and All Angels, Sept. 29. 

 It was instituted in 487. In 

 England it is a quarter day. In the 

 United Kingdom magistrates are 

 usually appointed at or about 

 Michaelmas. Until 1873 the first 

 term of the legal year was Michael- 

 mas term, Nov. 2-25. The custom 

 of eating goose on Michaelmas Day 

 may have originated in the rural 

 tenant's custom of propitiating his 

 lord with a present of a goose at 

 Michaelmas, when the bird is hi 

 fine condition, and also perhaps in 

 the lord's distributing bis super- 

 fluous geese among his friends. 



Michel, AVJQUSTIN EDOUARD (b. 

 1855). Belgian soldier. Born May 14, 

 1855, and educated at the Belgian 

 military school, he entered the 

 army as a lieutenant in the artillery 

 in 1876. He went to the Ecole de 

 Guerre, in 1879, and joined the 

 general staff in Dec., 1881, be- 

 coming adjutant-major in 1883. 

 Appointed director of the artillery 

 Dec. 31, 1906, he was director- 

 general of the department in 1910. 

 After commanding the 3rd artillery 

 regiment, he w*d made lieutenant- 

 general and given command of the 

 4th division, with the charge of the 

 4th military district, Dec. 13, 1913. 

 When the Great War broke out, 

 he was military governor of the 

 fortress of Namur, and directed its 

 defence against the Germans, who 

 took it on Aug. 24, 1914, after he 

 had made good his retreat. He 

 fought at Termonde, and in the 

 defence of Antwerp in Sept. 



Michel took part in the battle 

 of the Yser, in Dec., 1916, headed a 

 mission to Italy, and on April 17, 

 1918, fought in the operations 

 around Merckem. In the Belgian 

 offensive, Sept. -Oct., he led the 

 northern group of the Belgian army, 

 and in Dec., 1918, was in chief com- 

 mand of the Belgian army of occu- 

 pation of the Rhine. 



Michel, CLEMENCE LOUISE (1833- 

 1905). French anarchist _ and 

 author. Born in the Chateau Vron- 

 court, Haute-Marne, April 20, 1833, 

 she went to Paris in 1856 as 

 teacher in a private school. Shortly 

 after she concentrated on social 



MICHELANGELO 



and political work. Intensely anti- 

 Napoleonic, she joined the Com- 

 munists, and fought at the Paris 

 barricades, but 

 was taken pri- 

 soner, and 

 transported to 

 New Cale- 

 donia. After 

 release, under 

 the amnesty of 

 1880, she re- 

 turned to Paris. 

 For taking part Louise Michel, 

 in anarchist Fnch anarchist 

 rioting in 1883 she was sentenced 

 to six years' imprisonment, but 

 was released in 1886, and came to 

 London. In the same year she 

 published the first volume of Me- 

 moires par Elle-Meme (never com- 

 pleted), and Les Microbes Humains. 

 These were followed by Le Monde 

 Nouveau, 1888. She returned to 

 Paris in 1895, published her work 

 La Commune, 1898, and died at 

 Marseilles, Jan. 9, 1905. 



Michelangelo (1475-1564). 

 Italian artist. On March 6, 1475, 

 was born at Caprese, to the 

 governor of the place, a boy whom 

 he named Michelangelo. The 

 father returned next year to the 

 ancient home of his family, the 

 Buonarroti, in the village of Set- 

 tignano, overlooking Florence, and 

 there, his foster-mother a stone- 

 mason's wife, the child grew up 

 amongst the stone-carvers. Mallet, 

 chisel, and marble were the toys of 

 his childhood. Early packed off to 

 school in Florence to rid him of 

 vulgar artistic tastes, the thrash- 

 ings of father and of schoolmaster 

 could not keep the lad from the 

 society of the art students ; so 

 that at thirteen, on April 1, 1488, 

 he was apprenticed by his disgusted 

 father to the painter Ghirlandaio, 

 from whom he soon drew the 

 famous plaint, " This boy knows 

 more than I do." 



Catching the eye of Lorenzo 

 " the Magnificent " with his first 

 sculpture, the lad was forthwith 

 given rooms in the palace, where 

 he was treated like a son. Living 

 amongst the most famous of the 

 age, the young fellow was soon a 

 prey to his hopeless passion for 

 the beautiful Luigia de' Medici. It 

 was about this time that one of 

 his fellow-pupils savagely struck 

 and broke his nose. On April 8, 

 1492, his beloved friend and patron 

 Lorenzo de' Medici died ; and 

 Michelangelo's boy-companion, the 

 worthless Piero de' Medici, reigned 

 in his stead. ^ -In disgust, Michel- 

 angelo left for Venice. Unable to 

 get work, he wandered to Bologna, 

 where a gentleman, one Aldov- 

 randi, befriended the penniless 

 youth. 



