ABB 



ABB 



ABBEYMILTON, or Middleton, an ancient, but 

 niean town in Doiietiliirc, which had formerly an abbey 

 and a niaiket, and which is 1 2 miles N. E. of Dorcheller. 

 W. long. 2° 2±'. N. lat. 50° 51'. 



AB15IAN V, a town on the coaft of Guinea, in Africa, 

 at the diftance of three leagues from Ttbbo. 



ABBIATI, Fil'tppo, m Biography, an eminent painter, 

 who wa5 born at Milan in 1640, and died in 1715, at the 

 ape of 75 years. He was diilinguilhed bv fcitility of in- 

 vention and correiSnefs of defign. His ha;id was free, and 

 his touch light ; he executed with expedition, and per- 

 formed with equal beauty, in frefco and in oil. Pilkingtou's 

 Diei 



ABEON, in Bligraphy, a monk of St. Gcrmain-des- 

 Pres, who cornpofed, in barbarous Latin verfes, a relation 

 of the iiege of Paris by the Normans towards the clofe of 

 the 9th century. He was more dilUnguiilied as a faithful 

 liilloi-ian than as a good poet. His poem is publiflied in the 

 fecond volume of Duchefne's collection, and h.(s fmce been 

 more correAly printed, with notes, by Dupleffis, in 1753. 

 Biog. Did. 



ABBON, De Fh-uty, was born in the territoiy of Or- 

 leans. After devoting liimfelfwith ardour to the ftudy of 

 almoil eveiy art and icience, and obtaining diftinguilhed re- 

 putation in the fchools of Paris and Rheims, he was elct'led 

 abbot of the monafterj' of Fleury, of which he was a monk. 

 He wrote an Apology for his conduft againil the accufa- 

 tions of his enemies, which was addrcded to the kings Hugh 

 and Robert ; to whom he alio dedicated a coUeftion of canons 

 on the duties of kings and fubjeds. The collection of his 

 letters ^nd canons, and his apology, were publiilied in 

 16S7, in folio. He was flain in a quarrel that arufe between 

 the French and Gafcons at Reole in Gafcony, in 1004. 

 Geu. Dia. 



ABl^OT, or Abb AT, originally derived from the Hebrew 

 J^h, father, fignifies the fuperior of a monaftei-y of monks 

 erected into an abbey or prelacy. 



Abbots were really diftiiiguiflied from the clergy, though 

 frequently confounded with them, becaufe they were a 

 degree above laymen. St. Jerome, writing to Helio- 

 dorus, lays exprcfsly, alia monachorum ijl caufa, alia clericoruvi. 



In thofe eaily davi the abbots were fubjeft to the biibops, 

 and the ordinary paJlors. Their monafteries being remote 

 from cities, and built in the fartheil folitudes, they had no 

 fhare in eeclefiaftical affairs. They went on Sundays to the 

 parifh-church with the reft of the people ; or, if they were 

 too remote, a priell was fent to them, to ndminiiler the 

 facraments, tiU, at length, they were allowed to have 

 priefts of their own body. The abbot, or archimandrite, was 

 ufuallv the pried ; but his funftion extended no farther than 

 to the fpiritual affiftance of his monallery, and he remained 

 ftiU in obedience to the bilhop. In proccfs of time, as 

 many of them were perfons of learning, they oppofed the 

 hereiles that fprung up, which induced the bifliops to fix 

 them near, and in the cities. 



Tlie abbots foon laid afide their former plainnefs and fim- 

 plicity, and endeavoured to be independent of the biihops, 

 vhich occafioned fome fevere laws to he made againft them 

 at the council of Chalcedon : notwithftanding th'S, in time, 

 many of them carried the point of independency, and got 

 the appellation of lard, with other badges of the epifcopate, 

 particularly tlie mitre. 



Hence arofe new fpecies and diftinftions of abbots : mitred, 

 and not mitred ; crozier'-d, and not crozirreJ ; acumenieal ab- 

 bots, cardinal abbots, lufc. 



Abbots, Mi.'red, were thofe privileged to wear the 

 mitre; and aifo allowed a full epifcopal authority within 

 their feveral prccincls. — Among us, theie were alto called 



abloU fovcnl^n, and abbots general ; and they were lords 

 of parliament. Of thefe Sir Edward Coke reckons twcnty- 

 feven, and Selden tweuty-fix, in England, befide two mi' 

 tred priors. 



The reft, who were not mitred, were fubjcdl to the dio- 



CESAS. 



Abbots, Croziered, are thofe who bear the crozier, or 

 paftoral ftaft". 



Abhots were hkewife diftingui/hed into abbots elefJivr, 

 and abbois prefentative ; but arc now chiefly dillinguifhed in- 

 to regular and commendatory. 



Abbots, Regular, are real monks, or religious, who 

 have taken the vows, and wear the habit of the opdfr. 



Abbots in eommenrlam, are ficulars ; though they have 

 undergone the toisfure, and are obliged, by their bulls, to 

 take orders when they come of age. 



Though the temi eommendiim infmuates, that they have 

 only the adniiniftration of their abbeys for a time ; yet do 

 they hold, and reap the fruits of them for ever, as well as 

 the regular abbots. 



Their bulls give them a full power tam in fpirilualibut 

 quam in temporalihus ; and yet it is true that the commenda- 

 toiy abbots do not perform any fpiritual offices ; nor have 

 they any fpiritual jurii'diclion over their monks. So that 

 the phrafe in fpiritualihus, is rather fomcthing of the Romart 

 flyle than a reality. 



The ceremony whereby abbots are created, is properly called 

 benediction ; or fometimes, though improperly, con feeration. 



It anciently confifted in clothing them with the habit called 

 cuculla, ^i-coiul ; putting the paftoral fta'f in their hands, and 

 the (hoes called peda/es, or pedules, on their feet. Thefe par- 

 ticulars we learn from the Orda Romanus of Theodore, arcl^^ 

 biiliop of Canterbury. t 



Abbot is alfo a title, which has been given to certain bi- 

 fliops, becaufe their fees had originally been abbeys ; and 

 they were even elected by the monks : fuch arc thole of Ca* 

 tanea and Montreal in Sicily. 



Abbot is alfo an appellation fometimes given to the fupe- 

 riors or genei'als of fome congregations of regular canons } 

 as that of St. Genevieve at Paris. 



Abbot is alfo a title borne by feveral magiftrates, and 

 other lay-perfons. — Among the Genoefe, one of their prin- 

 cipal magiftrates was called the abbot of the people. 



In France, particularly about the time of Charlemagne, 

 there were feveral lords and courtiers, who having the fuper- 

 intendency of certain abbeys committed to them, were ftyled 

 abbacomites, or abbey-counts. 



ABBOT, George, Archbiftiop of Canterbury, \ira3 bom 

 Oa. 29, 1562, at Guildford in Surrey. Having pafled 

 through the rudiments of literature in his native town, he 

 was removed, in 1578, to Baliol college at Oxford. la 

 1583, he was clefted probationer fellow of his college; 

 and having paffed through the ufual courfe of graduation, 

 he took orders and became a celebrated preacher in 

 that univerfitv; and in 1597 he was elefted Mafter of Uni- 

 verfity College. In 1600, and again in 1603, he was Vice- 

 chancellor of the univerilty, and difcharged the duties of 

 this office with general approbation. In the fucceeding year 

 the tranflation of the Bible, now in ufe, was undertaken by 

 the diredlion of kiTig James ; and Dr. yllbot was the fecund 

 of eight learned divines in the univcrfity of Oxford, to whom 

 the care of tranflating the whole New Teftament (excepting 

 the tpiftles) was committed. In 1605 he was aguiu Vicc- 

 chanceDor. After the deceafe of his patron, the Earl of 

 Doi-fet, in 1608, he became chaplain to Geo. Hume, Earl 

 of Dunbar, and accompanied him this year to Scotland, 

 to aifill in eft:iblilhing an union between the Scots and 

 liiigliih churches ; and in conducting this bufinefs he ac« 



quii-cd 



