BEN 



fulitude, and by means of the multitude of perfons tliataffo- 

 ciated with him, lie was enabled to build twelve monafteries, 

 and to place in each of them twelve monks. In 528 or 

 529, he retired to Monte Cafiino, and having cut down 

 the grove facred to Apollo, built a monallery, and founded 

 hib order. Being fummoned to the council at Rome by pope 

 Bonifjcc II. he was carried, by his own defire, at the ap- 

 proach of death, into the oratoiy of St. John the Baptill, 

 where, during his attention to the fervice, he expired, in the 

 vear 542 or 543, according to Cave, or, according to others, 

 in 547. His extraordinai-v miracles are recorded in the 



BEN 



ments. Soon after liis return he was feizcd with a paify ; 

 and at length clofed his life in a truly Chriftian and exem- 

 plary manner, in the year 690, and was buried in his mo- 

 nallery of Weremo\ith. He wrote fome works on monaftic 

 difcipline and the church ritual. He was a celebrated finger ; 

 and in one of his expeditions to Rome, brought with him 

 a ct.antor, who introduced the Roman method of iinging 

 mafs. Biog. Brit. 



Benedict, abbot of Peterbcrougli, in the twelfth cen- 

 tury, was educated at Oxford, and became a monk in the 

 monallery of Canterbury, and afterwards prior. By the 



" Dialogues" of St. Oregon- the Great ; and by the church influence of Henry II. he was elected abbot of Peterboroupjh 



of Rome, he is honoured as a faint. The only genume 

 work of St. Benedict, according to Dupin, is the " Regula 

 Monachorum ;" but other works have been afcribcd to him, 

 and they are pnblilhed together in the 9th volume of the 

 •' Bibllotheca Patrum." Cave's Hill. Lit. t. i. p. 512- U"'- 

 pin. Eccl. Hitl. voi.iii. p. 44. 



Benedict, abbot of Aniane in Languedoc, was born in 

 -51, and educated at the court of king Pepin. Having 

 ferved this prince and his fucccffor Charlemagne, he retired 



m 1 177. He affi'.led at the coronation of Richard III. in 

 1 189, and was advanced to be keeper of the great feal iu 

 1191. But drath deprived him of this dignity in 1 193. 

 BiQiop Nicliolfou fays, that he died in 1200. Befides his 

 " Life and Miracles of Archbidiop Beckct," charafterifed 

 ty Lt'lund as an elegant performance, but treated by Bale 

 as a mere heap of lies and forgeries, he compofcd a " Hif- 

 tory of Henry II. and Richard I. from 1 170 to 1 192," which, 

 fays Dr. Henry, hath been much and juilly elleemed by 



to a monaftcrv in Languedoc, where he dillinguilhcd himfelf many of our greateil antiquaries, as containing one of the 



by his mortiiieations. He afterwards built a hermitage on bed accounts of the tranfatiions of thofe times. A beauti 



the rivulet called Anian, which in procefs of time became a ful edition of this work was puLlithcd at Oxford, in 2 vols 



confiderable monalleiy. Lewis the Meek employed this 

 monk in reforming the monatleries, firll in Aquitaine, and 

 afterwards through the whole kingdom of France, and in 

 redoring, by new and fahitary laws, the monallic difcipline 

 which had been neglefled and fallen into decay. In 8 17, he 

 prefided in the council of Aix-la-Chapelle, and fnbjected. 



by Mr. Hearne, A. D. 1735. Henry's Hift. vol. vi, 



P- '43- 



Benedict, Alexander, one of the early cultivators 



and reftorcrs of anatomy, was born at Verona, about the 



middle of the 14th centun'. After travelling over various 



parts of Greece, he returned to Italy, and was appointed 



by the authority of the emperor, all the monks to the rule teacher of anatomy at Padua, where his lectures were nume- 



of Benedict of Monte CalTnio, prefcribed to them all one rovilly attended. In 1497, he publifhed " Anatomicen, five 



uniform mode of living, and thus united the various orders hriloriam corporis humani." The firll edition was dedicated 



into one general body or fociety. Hence he was regarded to the emperor Maximilian, with w horn he appears to have 



as the fecond father of the weftern monks. He died in 82 I. been in great favour. It is principally copied from Galen, 



His collection of rules for the eaflern and wellern monks, but with fome obfervations from his own practice. He is 



iiititted, " Codex Pvegularum," and his concordance of mo 

 iiadic rules, and alio a collection of homilies of the fathers, 

 were publiflied by Holllcnius at Rome. This abbot has 

 been beatilied by the church of Rome. Moreri. Molheim's 

 liccl. Hift. vol. li. p. 310. 



Bin EDICT, Biscop, an Englifh abbot of the feventh 

 ctnturv, was bom of a noble family ainonjr the Entrlilh 

 Saxons, and in the 25th year of his age devoted himfelf 

 wholly to religion. Accordingly, 111653, he took a jour- 

 ney, in order to acquaint himfelf with the ecclefiallical dif- 

 cipline, and on his return he laboured to eftablifh it in Bri- 

 tain. Upon his return from a fecond journey to Rome, in 

 the courfe of which he received the tonfnre, he aflumed the 

 government of the ir.onaftery of CanterbuiT, to which he 

 had been elected darinc: his abfence. After a third journey 



the firll, Halltr fays, that defcribed the concretions called 

 galltlones. The language uled by Benedidt, is much purer 

 than is found in any of the earlier anatomical writers. " De 

 omnium a vertice ad plantam morboruni fignis, caufis, &c." 

 fol. T500, taken principally from Galen, Paulus JEgin. & 

 Oribafius, whofe works he appears to have reaJ in their 

 own language. Healfo wrote, " De Pellilentia," " De Me- 

 dici Officio," and other fmaller pieces. The whole of his 

 works were collected, and pabliflaed under the title of 

 " Opera Omnia," fol. Venet. 1533. Haller. Bib. Anat. 

 Eloy. Diet. Hift. 



Benedict, a name alTumed by feveral of the popes. The 

 firft of this name, called by the Greeks Bnnofus, was advanced 

 to the pontifical chair in 574, at the period when the Lom 

 bards overran Italy, and fixed their feat in it under Alboin ; 



to Rome, whence he brought back a large collection of va- and he is faid to have died after four years, in confequence 

 hiable books, he reforted to the court of Egfrid, king of of the grief occafioned by their ravages. BeneiM II. was 



Northumberland, who had fucceeded Ofwy. On a traCt of 

 land, given to him by that prince, he erected a monallery, 

 which, from its fituation on the river Were, was called 

 «' \yeremonth ;" in which he is faid to have placed 300 Be- 

 nedictin monks. The clupch of this convent was built of 

 ftone by artificers fetched from France, in 674 ; and both 

 the church and convent were dedicated to St. Peter. From 

 a fourth excurfion to Rome, in 678, he returned laden with 

 books, relics of the apolHes and martyrs, images, and pic 



ele£ted in 683, and diftinguillied by his learning and virtues. 

 He died in 685, and obtained the honour of canonization. 

 Benaltd III. was advanced to the pontificate in 'i^'^, and by 

 the firmncfs of the Roman clergy, fupported on the papal 

 throne in oppofition to Anaftalni'-, v.hich he occupied with 

 mildnefs, piety, and charity. In his time, Ethelwolf, king 

 of the well Saxons, vifited Rome with his fon Alfred. Two 

 epiftles of this pope are extant. BcneiUcl IV. was raifed to 

 the papal chair about the year 900; ar.d died with a good 



*T?" ,J" ^^'"' ''^ '^"''' another monaflery on the banks character in 903. Btuedla V. was ek-aed pope in 064, 



of the Tyiic, four miles from Ncwcaille, called " Girwy," 

 or " Jarron," and dedicated to St. Paul. Soon after ibis 

 eftablifliment, he took a fifth journey to Rome, and came 

 back enriched with a further fupply of e\;clefiallical orna- 



7 



and although he was a man of extraordinary learning and 

 fanctity, he was lliipped of the pontifical and priellly dig- 

 nity by the authority of the emperor Otho, and fentenccd 

 to exile ; upon whii^ he retired to Hamburgh, where he 



died 



