(Lequien, Oriens Christ., II, 923). From that time to the sixth century the names of three others are known. At the latter date it was a suffragan of Apamea, the metropolis of Syria Secunda. When Justinian established a new civil province, Theodorias, with Laodicea as metropolis, Balanoea was incorporated with it, but continued to depend ecclesiastically on Apamea, till it obtained the status of an exempt bishopric. This was its condition in the tenth century, when it was directly subject to the Patriarch of Antioch. The Crusaders created there a Latin see, of which a bishop is known about 1200 (Lequien, III, 1189); the river near by it served as a boundary between the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the principality of Antioch. The Franks called it Valania according to the Greek pronunciation, the Mussulmans Būlūnvoās. Owing to the unsafe conditions of the country the Latin bishop lived at Margat, a neighbouring castle of the Hospitallers. Balanæa, to-day called Banias, is a little village at the foot of the hill of Qalcat el-Marqab, between Tartous (Tortosa) and Latakia (Laodicea); it is the residence of the kaïmakam of the district. It numbers about 1,550 inhabitants, 1,200 Maronites, and 230 non-Catholic Christians; they cultivate chiefly onions, olive-trees, and very good tobacco. The roadstead is excellent, but is visited only by small boats.
Balbina, Saint.—Memorials of a St. Balbina are to be found at Rome in three different spots which are connected with the early Christian antiquities of that city. In the purely legendary account of the martyrdom of St. Alexander (Acta SS., Maii, I, 367 sqq.) mention is made of a tribune Quirinus who died a martyr and was buried in the catacomb of Prætextatus on the Via Appia. His grave was regarded with great veneration and is referred to in the old itineraries (guides for pilgrims) of the Roman catacombs. Tradition said that his daughter Balbina, who had been baptized by St. Alexander and had passed her life unmarried, was buried after death near her father in the same catacomb. The feast of St. Balbina is celebrated 31 March. Usuardus speaks of her in his martyrology; his account of St. Balbina rests on the record of the martyrdom of St. Alexander. There is another Balbina whose name was given to a catacomb (cœm. Balbinæ) which lay between the Via Appia and the Via Ardeatina not far from the little church called Domine quo vadis. Over this cemetery a basilica was erected in the fourth century by Pope Mark. There still exists on the little Aventine in the city itself the old title of St. Balbina, first mentioned in an epitaph of the sixth century and in the signatures to a Roman council (595) of the time of Pope Gregory I. This church was erected in a large ancient hall. Its titular saint is supposed to be identical with the St. Balbina who was buried in the catacomb of Pra?textatus and whose bones together with those of her father were brought here at a later date. It is not certain, however, that the two names refer to the same person.
Acta SS., Martii. III, 900 sqq,; Allard, Hist, des persécut. (Paris, 1892), I, 213 sqq.; Wagner, Bekehrung und Martyrtod des hl. Quirinus und dessen Tochter Balbina (Nanzig, 1848); Ugonio, Historia delle stationi di Roma (Rome, 1588), 126 sqq.; Marucchi, Les basiliques et églises de Rome (Rome, 1902), 173 sqq.; De Rossi, Bull. di arch. crist. (1867), 1 sqq.
Balbinus, Boleslaus, a Jesuit historian of Bohemia, b. 4 December, 1621, at Königgrätz, of an ancient noble family; d. 29 November, 1688, at Prague. His entire life was devoted to collecting and editing the materials of Bohemian history, and his researches have often been utilized by the Bollandists. He wrote over thirty works, the most important of which is a "Miscellanea Historica regni Bohemiæ" or "Miscellany of Bohemian history" (6 vols., Prague, 1679–87) in which he described the chief historical events of his native land, its natural history, the genealogies of its nobles, lives of prominent Bohemians, etc. He wrote also in Latin an "Apology for the Slavic and especially the Bohemian tongue". Balbinus was the first to edit the ancient vernacular chronicle known as the "Life of St. Ludmilla and Martyrdom of St. Wenceslas", a new edition of which was published in 1902 by Dr. Pekár and is by him held to be a text of the tenth century, and therefore "the oldest historical work written in Bohemia and by a Bohemian". Balbinus wrote also "De archiepiscopis Bohemia" (Prague, 1682) and "Bohemia Sancta, sive de Sanctis Bohemiæ, Moraviæ, Silesiæ,
Lusatiæ" (ibid,, 1682).
Sommervogel, Bibl, des écriv. de la c. de J., s. v.; Lützow, The Historians of Bohemia (London, 1905).
Balboa, Vasco Nuñez de, discoverer of the Pacific Ocean from the west coast of Central America, b. in Spain, 1475, either at Badajoz or at Jerez de los Caballeros; d. at Darien, 1517. He went to Central America in 1500 with Rodrigo de Bastidas and thence, in secret, with Martín Fernández de Enciso to Cartagena. The story that he got aboard either in an empty barrel or wrapped up in a sail may be true. He soon assumed an important role among the participants of the expedition, and settled Darien in 1509. Then he proclaimed himself governor, and sent both Enciso and Nieuesa away. From Darien he undertook, with a few followers, the hazardous journey across the Isthmus that led to the discovery of the Pacific Ocean, 25 September, 1513, and established beyond all doubt the continental nature of America. The appointment in 1514 of Pedrarias Dávila (see Arias de Avila) as governor of the regions discovered and partly occupied by Balboa, and his appearance on the coast of Darien with a large armament, at once gave rise to trouble. Arias was an aged man of mediocre attainments, jealous, deceitful, and vindictive. Balboa was generous, careless, and over-confident in the merits of his achievements, and was no match for the intrigues that forthwith began against him. To mask his sinister designs Arias gave one of his daughters to Balboa in marriage. The latter was allowed to continue his explorations while Arias and the Licentiate Caspar de Espinosa were slowly tightening a net of true and false testimony around him, under cover of the inevitable Residencia, The Crown gave Balboa the title of Adelantado of the South Sea, Governor of Coyba and of what subsequently became the district of Panama, but Arias and his agents understood how to reduce these titles to empty honours. Quevedo, Bishop of Castilla del Oro, was Balboa's sincere friend and assisted him, but with Quevedo's departure for Spain the case was lost. Fearful lest the bishop's appeal for his friend might result against Arias and his party, the Residencia was at once converted into criminal proceedings, death sentence hastily pronounced, and Balboa beheaded for high treason in 1517 at Darien. One of the main pretexts for the sentence was Balboa's action towards Enciso and Nieuesa. Balboa has been credited by most authors with having been first to hear of Peru. This is incorrect. In his few attempts at exploring the coast of southern Panama he heard only of Indian tribes of northern or north-western Colombia.
