MONTGOLHER MONTI VINCENZO. 



of Leicester, at the battle of Lewes. His arrogance 

 and rapacity seem to have raised a powerful party 

 against him among the barons, and, according to 

 some, this was the motive which induced him to sum- 

 mon knights of shires and burgesses to the parlia- 

 ment which convened in 1265. Whatever may 

 have been his motives, however, he thus became the 

 founder of the English house of commons. In the 

 same year he fell, at the battle of Evesham, in which 

 the royal forces were led by prince Edward. (See 

 Edward I.) In attempting to rally his troops, by 

 rushing into the midst of the enemy, he was sur- 

 rounded and slain. His body, after being mutilated 

 in the most barbarous and indecent manner, was laid 

 before lady Mortimer, the wife of his implacable 

 enemy. His memory was long revered by the peo- 

 ple, as that of one who died a martyr to the liberties 

 of the realm. During the succeeding reign, this 

 feeling was discouraged, but, in the next generation, 

 he was called St Simon the Righteous. Miracles 

 were ascribed to him, and the people murmured 

 that canonization was withheld from him. Though 

 Simon de Montfort was slain, his lifeless remains 

 outraged, and his acts branded as those of a usurper, 

 yet, in spite of authority and prejudice, his bold and 

 fortunate innovation survived. He disclosed to the 

 world (whether conscious or not of the importance of 

 his measure), the great principle of popular repre- 

 sentation, which has drawn forth liberty from the 

 walls of single cities, has removed all barriers to the 

 extent of popular governments, and has given them 

 a regularity, order, and vigour which put to shame 

 the boasted energy of despotism. 



MONTGOLFIER, JACQOES ETIENNE, the inventor 

 of the balloon, the son of a paper maker, was born 

 at Vidalon-l&s-Annonai, in 1745, and, with his elder 

 brother, Joseph Michael (born 1740, died 1810), 

 devoted himself to the study of mathematics, me- 

 chanics, physics, and chemistry. They carried on 

 the manufactory of their father together, and were 

 the first who made vellum paper. Joseph was also 

 the inventor of the water-ram, which raises water to 

 the height of sixty feet. His brother died in 1799. 

 See Aeronautics. 



MONTGOMERY, GABRIEL count de ; a French 

 knight, celebrated foe his valour and his fate. In 

 his youth, he was the innocent cause of the death of 

 Henry II. That prince had already broken several 

 lances, at a tournament held in 1559, in honour of 

 the marriage of his daughter Elizabeth with Philip, 

 king of Spain, when he desired to run a tilt with the 

 young Montgomery, then a lieutenant in the Scotch 

 guards. The latter consented with great reluctance, 

 but finally yielded, when he saw that Henry was 

 displeased with his refusal. In the encounter, his 

 lance struck with such violence on the visor of the 

 king, as to raise it, and pass through his head, just 

 above the right eye. The prince died eleven days 

 after, commanding that Montgomery should not be 

 proceeded against on account of the accident. The 

 latter retired to his estate in Normandy, which he 

 left, for a time, to travel, and returned to France at 

 the time of the first civil war, in which he acted as a 

 leader of the Protestants. He defended Rouen with 

 great bravery against the royal army, in 1562, and, 

 on the capture of the city, made his escape to Havre. 

 On the night of St Bartholomew's, he was at Paris, 

 but succeeded in saving himself by flight, and went 

 to England. 'In 1573, he brought a powerful fleet, 

 partly fitted out at his own expense, to the relief of 

 Rochelle, which was besieged by the Catholics, but 

 did not effect any thing, and, returning to Normandy, 

 connected himself with the Protestant noblesse of 

 that province. After several battles, he was obligfd 

 to throw himself into the castle of Domfront, where, 



in spite of a vigorous resistance, he was at length 

 overpowered (May 27, 1574), and made prisoner, by 

 the royalist general Matignon. By the command 

 of Catharine of Medici, Matignon transferred his 

 captive to Paris, where he was beheaded, June 26 

 of the same year, displaying the most heroic courage 

 on the scaffold. 



MONTH ; the twelfth part of the year, and so 

 called from the moon, by whose motions it was regu- 

 lated, being properly the time in which the moon 

 runs through the zodiac. (For the civil division of 

 months, see. the articles Calendar, and Epoch.) The 

 lunar month is either illuminative, periodical, or 

 synodical. Illuminative month is the interval be- 

 tween the first appearance of one new moon and 

 that of the next following. As the moon appears 

 sometimes sooner after one change than after ano- 

 ther, the quantity of the illuminative month is not 

 always the same. The Turks and Arabs reckon by 

 this month. Lunar periodical month is the time in 

 which the moon runs through the zodiac, or returns 

 to the same point again, the quantity of which is 27 

 days, 7 hours, 43 minutes, 8 seconds. Lunar syno- 

 dical month, called also a lunation, is the time 

 between two conjunctions of the moon with the sun, 

 or between two new moons, the quantity of which is 



29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, 3 seconds, 11 thirds. 

 The ancient Romans used lunar months, and made 

 them alternately of 29 and 30 days. They marked 

 the days of each month by three terms, viz., calends, 

 nones, and ides. Solar month is the time in which 

 the sun runs through one entire sign of the ecliptic, 

 the mean quantity of which is 30 days, ten hours, 29 

 minutes, 5 seconds, being the twelfth part of 365 

 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes, the mean solar year. 

 Astronomical, or natural month, is that measured by 

 some exact interval, corresponding to the motion of 

 the sun or moon ; such are the lunar and solar 

 months above mentioned. Civil, or common month, 

 is an interval of a certain number of whole days, 

 approaching nearly to the quantity of some astrono- 

 mical month. These may be either lunar or solar. 

 The civil lunar month consists alternately of 29 and 



30 days. Thus will two civil months be equal to 

 two astronomical ones, abating for the odd minutes ; 

 and so the new moon will be kept to the first day of 

 such civil months, for a long time together. This 

 was the month in civil or common use among the 

 Jews, Greeks, and Romans, till the time of Julius 

 Cffisar. The civil solar month consisted alternately 

 of 30 and 31 days, excepting one month of the 12, 

 which consisted only of 29 days, but every fourth 

 year of 30 days. The form of civil months was 

 introduced by Julius Caesar. Under Augustus, the 

 sixth month (till then, from its place, called Sextilis) 

 received the name Augustus (now August), in 

 honour of that prince ; and, to make the compliment 

 still greater, a day was added to it, which made it 

 consist of 31 days, though till then it had only con- 

 tained 30 days ; to compensate for which a day was 

 taken from February, making it consist of 28 days, 

 and 29 every fourth year. Such are the civil or 

 calendar months now used through Europe. 



Month, in English statutes is a lunar month, of 28 

 days, unless otherwise expressed. 



MONTI VINCENZO, one of the most celebrated 

 modern poets of Italy, born at Fusignano, in the 

 territory of Ferrara, about 1753, studied at Ferrara, 

 after which he went to Rome, where he found patrons, 

 and was appointed secretary of Luigi Braschi, ne- 

 phew of the pope. As he wore the clerical dress, 

 he was called a blate Monti. The Arcadia received 

 him as a member. Excited by the fame of Alfieri, 

 he wrote two tragedies Galeotto Man/redo, and 

 Aristodemo the splendid style of which was indeed 



