A M A 



A M A 



o^cd »nd infirm for travcllinp;, obtained a decided preference. corpor.J nor 

 D'Hcrbcli)t. Gtn. Bio?. ainf (Iw Anf, 



AMAL, Amalia, in Geogrnphy, a town of .Sweden, in 

 the province of 'I'lKiUand orDalland, featcd on llie A\'ener- 

 lake, which divides the town and ihe market place into tv»o 

 parts. The town was founded in 1640 ; it has a jrood har- 

 bour, and carries on a confidcrahle trade, particularly in 

 timber, deals and tar. It is the 89th town of thofe that 

 vote in the dit-t. N. lat. 58-' 50'. E. lonj;. 12" 40'. 



AMALAEVA, a river of Siberia, which runs into tlio 

 Frozen Ocean. N. lat. 71° 10'. E. long. 12S'' 14'. 



AMALAGO, in notmi)'. See Pin r. 



AMALANCHIOR. See Mcspilus. 



AMALARIC, or Amaury, in Biography and H'J}ory, 

 king of the Viliguths, was the fon of Alaric 11. ; but being 

 an infant of five y;ars, at liis father's death, in 506, the 

 throne was ufurped by Geiifalaic, the natural fon of Alaric. 

 Amalaric in the mean while retired into Spain ; and the 

 V figoths were governed by his grandfather, 'I'licodoric, 

 king of the Ollrogoths, who expelled Genfalaic from the 

 throne, till his death in 526, when Amalaric affiimed tlie 

 governineflt. This prince was zealoufly attached to the 

 Arian doctrine and canfe, and as he had married Clotilda, 

 the daughter ot C'lovis, who inherited the piety and ortho- 

 doxy 01 her mother, he ufed various means, and as the 

 Catlioiic hidorians fay, thofe of violence, to profclyte her 

 to his own 0])inion and party. In proccfs of time, after 

 patiently enduring the wrongs (lie fuifercd, flic eoirmuni- 

 catcd an account of them to her brothers, and tciUfjcd the 

 truth of her relation by accompanying it with a hanuktr- 

 chief ilained with blood. In confeqiience of this complaint, 

 her brother Chi'debert, king of France, marched with a 

 numerous army into the territories of Amalaric, defeated 

 him in an engagement, and forced him to take refuge on 

 board his fleet. But recollecting that his treafures were left 

 in the city of Narbonne, he went on fliore again, in order 

 to recover them ; but had no looner entered the city than 

 he was furprifed by the enemy ; and feeking fafcty in a church 

 belonging to the Catholics, a common foldier run him 

 through with a fpear, A.l). 531. Some fay, that he re- 

 tired to Barcelona, and was affafTinated by his own fuhjefls ; 

 but it is more probable, that the affaiTiu was either a Frank 

 or fome perfon cmpluved for this purpofe by Theudis, who 

 fucceeded him. Mod. Un. Flift. vol. xvi. p. 10. 



AMAEASONTHA, regent and queen of Italy, was 

 the daughter of Theodoric tiie Great, king of the Ollrogoths, 

 by Audefleda, the fiiler of Clovis, and united in her perfon 

 the two mod; illuftrious famihes of the Barbarians. She 

 was born about the year 498, and in 515 was married to 

 Eutharic, the lail heir of the royal race of the An-.ali, whoiu 

 her father had fent from Spain, and dehgned for his fuc- 

 ceflbr ; as the fcx of his daughter excluded her from the 

 Gothic throne. Eutharic foon died and left an infant for., 

 Athalaric, and Amalafontha alTumed the gnardianfliip of 

 her fon and of the kingdom of Italy. Her beauty was ani- 

 mated by manly fenfe, activity, and refolution. Education 

 and experience had cultivated her talents ; her philofophical 

 fludies were exempt from vanity ; and though (he cxpreifed 

 herfelf with great elegance and eafe in the Greek, the Latin, 

 and the Gothic tongues, {lie maintained in her counfels an 

 impenetrable filcnce. By a faithful imitation of the virtues 

 of Theodoric, flie revived the profperity of his reign ; and 

 ihe alfo llrove, with pious care, to expiate the faults, and 

 to obliterate thclefs favourable remembrance of his declining 

 age. The children of Boethius and SymmiKrhus were rc- 

 llored to their paternal hiheritaiice ; Ihe ir.fiidlcd neither 



Vol. I. 



corpord nor pecuniary penalties on her Rom.vi fuhjrA* ; 

 and (he defpifcd liie clamoui-s of the Goths, who, at the 

 end of 40 yeai-s, confidcrcd tlic pcojilc of Italy Uk their 

 Haves or their enemies. The mcafurei of lier nJmmill ration 

 were directed by the wifdoni, and alfo celebrated by the 

 eloquence, of CalTiodorius ; (he folicilcd and deferred tlic 

 fricndlhip of the empeior; and the kingdoms of Europe 

 refpected, both in peace and war, the majelty of the Gothic 

 throne. The education of liir fon engaged her particular 

 attention ; and flic employed three venerable Gollis to infld 

 into his mind the principles of honour and virtue, wliiKl he 

 w.-is diligently iiillruaed in all thofe arts and feirnees, which 

 might be either ufeful or oniamcnl.!) to a Itoman prince. 

 But the queen's folicitude for her fon's iinprovenicnt and 

 good conduft, produced a degree of vigilance and difciplinc, 

 againft which his untraCtable difpofilion recoiled, and which 

 his fubiee^s dif.ipproved. At length when the Goths witc 

 afTenibled on a public orcafion, in the palace of Ravenna, 

 the youtii eftai)ed from his mother's apartment, and com- 

 plained with tears of pride and anger of the chaftifemeut, 

 which his ilnbborn temper had induced her to inflifl. The in- 

 dignation of the Barbarians was roufed, and they accufed the 

 queen regent of coiifpiring againll the life and trown of her 

 Ion ; and proceeded to demand, that he (hould be refcucd 

 from his piefent tuition, and educated, like a valiant Goth, 

 in the fociety uf his equals. Amalafonlha was cumpcl'ed to 

 fubmit ; and the young prince became diflohilc and licen- 

 tious, defpifed his mother, ar.d eourtcrafted the falulary 

 meafnres which llie had been purfuing. In thefe circum- 

 flances flie entered into a negotiation with the emperor Juf- 

 tinian, and prepared for retiring from a feeiic of difcontent 

 and faftion. In the mean while (lie yielded to the impulfe 

 of ambition and revenge ; three of the mull dangerous male- 

 contents, who had been feparately remosed to the frontiers 

 of Italy, were anafTmated by her private emidarics ; and 

 this aft increafed the popular diffatisfattion and compbunt. 

 At this time the death of her fon, at the age of 16, in 

 confequence of premature intemperance, left Iter deditute 

 of any lirm fupport or legal authority. Inllead of fub- 

 milting to the laws of her ccuntiy, and retiring to a private 

 ftativiii, Ihe conceived the dclign of (baring, with one of her 

 coufins, the regal title, and of refei-ving in h.r own hands 

 the fubllance of fupreme power. The eloquent Cafliodorius 4 

 announced to the fenate and to the emperor, that Amala- 

 fontha and Theodatus had afcendcd the throne of Italy. 

 The ifTue of this feheme of ambition foon prbved difallroiis 

 and tatal. Inlligated bythe principal Goths,Theodatuscaufed 

 the queen to bcimprifoned in a fmall ifland, in the lake of 

 Bolfcna, where, after a (liort coniimment, ilie was flrangled 

 in tlie bath, (A.D. 53 j,) by the order, or with the connivance, 

 of the new king. Gibbon's Hift. vol. vii. p. 206 — 210. 



AMALEK, in Scripture Hijlory, was the fon of Elipha/, 

 Efau's eldell fon, by his concubine Timna. Gen. xxxvi. 

 12 — 16. I Chron. i. ■56. He fucceeded Gatam, who was 

 one of the dukes in the land of Edom ; and was ti e father 

 of the Amalekites, wlio inhabited that part of Arabia 

 Petnea, which lay call of the Edomitcs, with Midian on the 

 north, Arabia Petrxa on the fouth, Arabia Deferta on 

 the call, and extended almoA as far north as the Dead Sea, 

 and fouthward to the Red Sea, or between Havilah and 

 Shur, 1 Sam. XV. 7. Thefe people had no conftant dwelling, 

 nor do they fcem to have had any cities ; but they changed 

 their abode, like the Arabs, and lived in tents or booths, as 

 they migrated from one part of the eountrj- to another, and 

 fometimes in fubterraneous caverns. It is not, therefore, 

 cafy to afccrtain the limits of their country. Mr. Reland 

 5 L place* 



