MANSFELD MANSO. 



669 



been a piece of territory liehl by a lonl or great per- 

 sonage, who occupied a part of it, as much as was 

 necessary for the use of his own immediate family, 

 and granted or leased the remainder to tenants for 

 stipulated rents or services. This was the origin of 

 copyhold estates, viz. those held by copy of the roll 

 ot the court of the manor. No manors, with all their 

 incidents and franchises, have been granted in Eng- 

 land since the reign of Edward III. One of the most 

 important incidents to these ancient manors, was the 

 right to hold a court, called a court-baron, which was 

 held within the manor, and had jurisdiction of misde- 

 meanours and nuisances within the manor, and disputes 

 about property between the tenants. (See Courts.) 

 Another branch of the jurisdiction, and entirely dis- 

 tinct from the preceding, was, the receiving of the 

 surrender of the estate of any tenant, and admitting 

 his grantee or successor in his place, and transacting 

 other matters relating to the tenure or tenancies, for 

 which purposes the court was held by the steward of 

 the manor. The steward was also the registrar or 

 clerk, in the other branch of the jurisdiction, for the 

 prosecution of suits ; but the freeholders of the manor 

 were in effect the judges in these. 



MANSFELD ; one of the most ancient families 

 if German counts, taking their name from the castle 

 >f Mansfeld in the former circle of Upper Saxony. 

 Peter Ernst von Mansfeld was the natural son of 

 Peter Ernst, count of Mansfeld, governor of Luxem- 

 burg and Brussels. The archduke Ernst of Austria, 

 godfather to the young Peter, educated him in the 

 Catholic religion. He was of service to the king of 

 Spain in the Netherlands, and to the emperor in H un- 

 gary, in consequence of which the emperor Rodolphns 

 II. legitimated him. But when he was denied the 

 dignity and estates which his father had possessed in 

 the Netherlands, and which had been promised to him, 

 he, in 1610, embraced the Calvinistic doctrines, and, 

 joining the Protestant princes, became one of the most 

 formidable enemies of the housex>f Austria. In 1618, 

 he led troops to the assistance of the revolted Bohe- 

 mians, fought a long time for the elector Frederic of 

 the Palatinate, devastated the territories of the spiri- 

 tual princes, was several times beaten, but always 

 contrived to make head anew. In 1625, he collected 

 an army by the aid of English and French money, 

 and intended to penetrate into the Austrian hereditary 

 states. April 25, 1626, he was beaten by Wallenstein 

 near Dessau, yet continued his march to Hungary, to 

 join Bethlem Gabor, prince of Siebenbiirgen (Tran- 

 sylvania); but, the latter having changed his views, 

 Mansfeld disbanded his troops, intending to go to 

 Britain by way of Venice. But not far from Zara 

 he fell sick, and died in 1626, in his fortieth year. 

 He was buried at Spalatro. At the approach of 

 death, he ordered his armour to be put on, and stood 

 up, leaning on two of his aids, to await the last ene- 

 my. Mansfeld was one of the greatest generals of 

 his time. He rose more formidable from every 

 defeat. With great understanding, which he showed 

 in his diplomatic transactions, he united overpower- 

 ing eloquence and inexhaustible cunning. He main- 

 tained his troops by plunder, and was compared to 

 Attila. The Lutheran line of the house of Mansfeld 

 became extinct in 1710; in 1780, the last male of 

 the Catholic line died. His only daughter brought 

 all the allodial estates of the family, by marriage, to 

 the rich Bohemian house of Colloredo, which has 

 ever since borne the name of Colloredo- Mansfeld. 

 The former county of Mansfeld was, in 1814, added 

 to the Prussian government of Merseburg. This 

 county is interesting to Germans, as Eisleben and 

 Mansfeld are situated in it. In the former Luther 

 was born, in the latter he went to school. 



MANSFIELD MOUNTAIN is the highest sum- 



mit of the Green mountains, and the most elevated 

 mountain in Vermont. The elevation of the north 

 peak, called the Chin, above the state-house at 

 Montpelier, is 4051 feet ; above the ocean, 4279 ; 

 elevation of the south peak, called the Nose, above 

 the state-house, 3755 ; nbove the ocean, 3983. The 

 mountain is situated in Mansfield and Sterling, about 

 twenty-five miles from Burlington. 



MANSFIELD, WILLIAM MURRAY, earl of, the 

 fourth son of David, lord Stormont, was born at 

 Perth, in Scotland, March 2, 1705. He received 

 his education at Westminster school, and Christ- 

 church, Oxford. He then made the grand tour, and, 

 on his return, became a student at Lincoln's Inn, 

 and, after the usual term of probation, was called to 

 the bar. He gradually made his way to eminence 

 in his profession, and, in 1742, was appointed solici- 

 tor-general, about which time he also obtained a seat 

 in parliament. After distinguishing himself as an 

 advocate at Edinburgh, in 1743, and as one of the 

 managers of the impeachment of lord Lovat, in 1747, 

 he succeeded Sir Dudley Ryder as attorney-general 

 in 1754, and as chief-justice of the king's bench in 

 1756 ; soon after which he was created baron Mur- 

 ray, of Mansfield. For a few months, in 1757, he 

 held the office of chancellor of the exchequer. Dur- 

 ing that interval, he effected a coalition of parties, 

 which led to the administration of Pitt, afterwards 

 lord Chatham. The same year, he declined the offer 

 of the great seal, as he did twice afterwards. A 

 change of parties in the cabinet, in 1765, which intro- 

 duced into office the marquis of Rockingham and his 

 friends, for a while threw lord Mansfield into the 

 ranks of the opposition. The year 1770 was memor- 

 able for attacks on his character in a judicial capa- 

 city, in both houses of parliament, which, however, 

 led to no serious result. On the trial of Woodfall 

 for publishing Junius's Letters, and on some other 

 occasions, he showed himself the zealous supporter 

 of government. In October, 1776, lie was advanced 

 to the dignity of an earl of Great Britain. During 

 the riots in London, June, 1780, his house was at- 

 tacked by the Anti- Catholic mob, and his valuable 

 collection of books and manuscripts fell a sacrifice to 

 the fury of the multitude, by whom the mansion was 

 burned to the ground. He continued for some years 

 longer to exercise his judicial functions. In 1788, 

 he resigned his office of chief-justice ; and the re- 

 mainder of his life was spent in retirement, princi- 

 pally at his seat at Caen-wood, near Hampstead. He 

 died March 20, 1793. As a politician, lord Mans- 

 field was a favourer of high maxims of government 

 in general ; and in the law of libel, he supported the 

 opinion, that the jury is the judge of the fact only, 

 and not of the law. He was, however, an enemy to 

 violent exertion of power, as well as a friend to relig- 

 ious toleration. On various occasions, he opposed 

 vexatious prosecutions, under intolerant laws, and 

 voted in favour of the bill for the relief of the Roman 

 Catholics. His ideas of legislation were, on many 

 points, liberal. As an orator, he displayed more of 

 persuasive elegance than of boldness and force; but 

 he might fairly have contested the palm of eloquence 

 with any of his contemporaries, except lord Chatham. 

 In argument he was acute. Lord Ashburton used 

 to say. that when he was wrong, the faults of his 

 reasoning were not easily detected ; and when he 

 was right, he was irresistible. His fame rests 

 chiefly on his conduct as a judge. He would not 

 accept of the legal compensation to which he was 

 entitled for the destruction of his property in 1 780. 

 There is a life of him by Holliday (4to, 1797), and 

 by Th. Roscoe, in Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopzedia. 



MANSLAUGHTER. See Homicide. 



MANSO, JOHN CASPAR FREDERIC, born in the 



