12 M E D 
king’s grant. $leundj. P. C. in. 7. He that will have the 
advantage of trial per medietatem lingua, mull pray it; for, 
it is faid he cannot have the benefit of it by way of chal¬ 
lenge. S.P.C. 158. 3 Injl. 127. In petit treafon, murder, 
and felony, medietas lingua is allowed ; but, for high trea¬ 
fon, an alien fiiall be tried by the common law, and not 
per medietatem livgria. H.P.C. 261. And a grand jury ought 
not to be de medietate lingua, in any cafe. Wood's Injl. 263. 
It was thought neceffary to exclude Egyptians, or gypfies, 
exprefsly by ftatute, from the benefit of this trial. See 
22 Hen. VIII. c. 10. and this Encyclopaedia, article Gipsy, 
vol. viii. p. 577. 
A jury de medietate is alfo allowed in fome other tafes, 
by analogy to this rule de medietate lingua. As on a Jus Pa - 
tronatus, the jury mult be of fix clergymen, and fix laymen. 
So alfo under the Hat. 8 H. VI. c. ia, againlt embezzling 
records, the jury lhal! confift of fix perfons officers of any of 
the fuperior courts, and fix common jurors. Soon a cri¬ 
minal trial in the univerfity-courts, the jury muft be half 
freeholders of the county, and half matriculated laymen 
of the univerfity. Comm. 278, 
MEDI'ETY, f. [mediate, Fr. medietas, Lat.] Middle 
ftate 5 participation of two extremes ; half.—They con¬ 
tained no flelhy compofure, but were made up of man 
and bird; the human mediety varioufly placed, not only 
above but below. Brown's Vulgar Errours. 
MEDIM'NUS, f. in Grecian antiquity, a meafure of 
capacity. See Measure, vol. xiv. p.604. 
ME'DIN, y. called alio para, fadda, kata, and mefria, a 
coin of Syria, of the fize of an Englilh filver threepence ; 
worth a little above a halfpenny. 
MEDI'NA, a city of Arabia Felix, in the province of 
Hedsjas, about a day’s journey from the Red Sea. It is a 
town of moderate extent, furrounded with indifferent 
walls, and fituated in a Tandy plain. It belongs to the 
flierriffe of Mecca ; but has of late been governed by a 
fovereign of its own, of the family of Darii Barkad. At 
this prefent time, the fiiei ifre rules it by a vizir, who muft 
be of the royal family. Before the days of Mahomet, this 
city was called Jatkreb ; but it was called Medinet en Nebbi, 
the City of theJProphet, from the period at which Maho¬ 
met, upon his expulfion out of Mecca by the Koreilhites, 
took refuge here, and continued to make it the place of 
his refidence for the reft of his life. The tomb of Ma¬ 
homet at Medina is held in refpedl by the Muffulmen ; 
but they are not obliged to vifit it in order to the per¬ 
formance of any devotional exercifes ; only, as the cara¬ 
vans from Syria neceflarily pafs near by Medina, in their 
return from Mecca, they turn afide to behold the prophet’s 
tomb. It is fituated in a corner of the great fquare ; 
whereas the caaba is in the middle of the fquare at Mecca. 
For fear that the people might fuperftitioufly offer wor- 
fhip to the aff.es o f the prophet, the tomb is inclofed 
within iron rails, 'yd is only to be feen by looking through 
thel’e. This toirftris placed between two other tombs, in 
which reft the allies of the two firft caliphs. Although 
not more magnificent than the tombs of the founders of 
molt other mofques, the building which covers it is hung 
with a piece of filk (tuff, embroidered with gold, which 
is renewed every feven years by the pacha of Damafcus. 
This building is guarded by forty eunuchs, chiefly for the 
fecurity of the treafure which is faid to be kept in it : this 
treafure conlifts chiefly of precious ftones, the offerings of 
rich Muffulmen. An eminent Arabian merchant in¬ 
formed Mr. Niebuhr, that the guard was pofted for no 
other purpofe but to keep off the populace, who had be¬ 
gun to throw dirt upon the tomb, which they afterwards 
icraped off, and preferved as a fort of relic: 176 miles 
north of Mecca. Lat. 25. N. Ion. 57. 10. E. 
MEDI'NA, a town of Spain, in Old Cafiile: twelve 
miles north of Frias. 
MEDI'NA, a town of the Arabian Irak, fituated on 
the Euphrates : fixty-miles north-weft of Baffora. 
MEDI'NA, a town of Africa, and capital of Woolly, 
of confiderable .fitze, and containing from 800 to icco 
M E D 
Iioufes. It is furrounded by a high wall of clay, and an 
outward fence of pointed ftak.es and prickly bufhes. Lat. 
13.38. N. Ion.12. 50. W. 
MEDI'NA, a town of Africa,in Kaffon. Lat. 14.45. 
N. Ion. 9.15. W. 
MEDI'NA, a fmall ifland in the Atlantic, near the 
coaft of Africa. Lat.19. 45. N. , 
MEDI'NA, a river which rifes in the fouth part of the 
Isle of Wight. See that article, vol.xi. p. 433. 
MEDI'NA (John de), a learned Spanifti ecclefiaftic, 
who excited a confiderable degree of curiofity, was a na¬ 
tive of Alcala, where he was born about the year 1490. 
He filled the chair of divinity in the univerfity of that 
city during twenty years, with extraordinary reputation, 
and died in 1556, about the age of fifty-fix. The higheft 
eulogiums on his erudition, judgment, and eloquence, 
are to be met with in various Spanifh writers of eminence, 
who quote his works with great refpecl:. The molt con¬ 
fiderable of his productions are, 1. De Reftitutior.e et Con- 
tradtibus Trafitatus, five Codex, nernpe de Reruin Do- 
minio, atque earum Reftitutione, et de aliquibus Contrac- 
tibus, de Ufura, de Cambiis, de Cenfibus, 1540, folio. 
2. In titulum de Pcenitentia, ejufque Partibus Coramea- 
tarius, 1550, folio, &c. Antonii Bibl. Script. Hfp. 
MEDI'NA (Michael de), a learned Spanifti francifcan 
friar in the fixteenth century, was born at Balalcazar, a 
village in the diocefe of Cordova, but in what year is not 
known. The time of his death is alfo uncertain, though 
it probably took place between 1570 and 1580. He was 
educated under the famous Alphoni’us de Caftro, and be¬ 
came profoundly fkilled in divinity, the fathers and coun¬ 
cils, the oriental languages and hiftory. His writings are 
in much elleem among the Catholics; and very defer- 
vedly, according to Dupin, who highly commends his 
erudition, and ranks him, in point of merit, with the able 
writers of the eighteenth century, when difcuffing fub- 
jedts in politive divinity. The principal of his works 
are, r. Chriftiana Paraenefis, fui de redta in Deum Fide, 
Lib. VII. 1564, folio. 2. De facrorum Hominum conti¬ 
nents, Lib. V. 1368, folio; which treats of the inftitu- 
tion of bifhops, priefts, and other minifters, and enters 
into a long and laboured defence of the celibacy of the 
clergy. 3. Apologia Joannis Feri, in qua feptem et fex- 
aginta Loca Commentariorum in Joannem, quae antes 
Dominicus Soto Segovienfis Lutherana traduxerat, ex la- 
era Scriptura, Sandtorumque Dodtrina reftituuntur, 1578, 
folio ; which was configned at Rome to the Index expur- 
gatorius. 4. Enarratio trium Locorum ex Cap. ii. Deu- 
teronomii Cathedrae fahdlarum Scripturarum Acad. Com- 
plut. alfignatorum, 1560, 4to. 5. Expofitiones in quar- 
tum Symboli Apoftolorum Articulum, 1565, 4to. An* 
tonii Bibl. Script. Hifpan. Dupin. 
MEDI'NA (Peter de), a celebrated Spanifti mathema¬ 
tician in the lixteenth century ; concerning whole per- 
fonal hiftory we have no other information than that he 
was a native of Seville, and an intimate acquaintance of 
the learned John Vafaeus during his refidencepn that city, 
who, in the fourth chapter of his Chronicon Hifpaniae, 
has fpoken in the higheft terms of his Ikill in the mathe¬ 
matical fciences, and particularly in the art of navigation. 
On this fubjeft he publifiied a valuable work at Seville, 
in the Spaniih language, entitled, Arte de Navigar, 1548, 
folio ; which met with a very favourable reception in fo¬ 
reign countries as well as Spain ; and has been tranflated 
into the German, French, and Italian, languages. He 
alfo publifiied a work, deferiptive of the objedts which 
are chiefly deferving of attention in Spain, entitled, Li- 
bro de las Grandezas y Cofas memorables de Efpanna, &c. 
the whole of which Florian Docampo acknowledges that 
he has tranferibed into his Hiftory of Spain, drawn up at 
the requeft'of the emperor Charles V. And he was the 
author of an excellent Map of Spain, which the famous 
Abraham Ortelius has followed in his Theatrum Or bis 
Terrse. For the titles and fubjedts of other pieces attri¬ 
buted to Medina,'we refer £0 Antonii Bibl. Script. Hifpan. 
MEDI'NA 
