EBERHARD
242
EBIONITES
between Frederick 111 and Albert of Brandenburg he
tried to act as mediator but only fell into greater dis-
favour with Fredericlc. His last years were clouded
by the disturbances of the years 1461-1463 during
which Austria had much to suffer from the Bohemian
king, George of Podiebrad, and from internal con-
flicts.
Ebendorfer is one of the most prominent chron- iclers of the fifteenth century. His "Clironicon Aus- trise" is a dull but frank and very detailed history of Austria to 1463. From 1400 on it is an indispensa- ble source of Austrian history (ed. Fez in "Seriptores rerum Austriacarum", 11, Leipzig, 172.5, 689-986; in this edition all of Book 1 and part of Book II were omitted). His account of the Council of Basle appears in the " Diarium gestorum concilii Basileensis pro reductione Bohemorum " (ed. Birk in Monumenta concilii Basileensis, Seriptores, 1, Vienna, 187.5, 701- 783). He wrote also a history of the Roman em- perors, "Chronica regum Romanorum"; Books VI and Vll, which are of independent value as sources, were edited by Pribram in the " Mitteilungen des In- stituts fur osterreichische Geschiehtsforschung", third supplementary volume (Innsbruck, 1890-94), 38-222 Many of his wTitings are as yet unedited, among them commentaries on Biblical books, ser- mons, "Liber de schismatibus", "Liber Pontificum Romanorum" (see Levinson, "Thomas Ebendorfers Liber Pontificum" in "Mitteilungen des Instituts fur osterreichische Geschiehtsforschung", XX, 1899, 69-99).
AscHBACH, Gesch. der WicTier Universiidt (Vienna, 1865), 49.3-525; Zeissberg, Thomas Ebendorfer ais Geschichtsschreiber in Oeslerr. Wochenschrifl fur Literatur und Kunst (1864), III, 769-810; Allqemeine deutsche Biographie (Leipzig, 1877), s. v.; HURTER, Nomendalor (Innsbruck, 1906), II, 932 sq.
J. P. IvlRSCH.
Eberhard, Matthias, Bishop of Trier, b. 15 Nov., 1S15, at Trier (Germany), d. there 30 May, 1876. After successfully completing the gjTnnasium course of his native town, he devoted himself to the study of theology, was ordained in 1839, and soon after made assistant at St. Castor's in Coblenz. In 1842 Bishop Arnoldi made him his private secretary, and, at the end of the same year, professor of dog- matics in the seminary of Trier. From 1849 to 1862 he was director of the seminary and also preacher at the cathedral; in 1850 he became a member of the chap- ter; from 1852 to 1S56 he was representative of his fel- low-citizens in the Prussian Lower Chamber, where he joined the Catholic section. On 7 April, 1862, he was preconized as auxiliary Bishop of Trier; after Ar- noldi's death he was proposed for the episcopal see, but the Prussian Government acknowledged him only af ter the death of Arnoldi's successor, Pelldrara, 16 July, 1867. Having chosen St. Charles Borromeo for his ideal, he spared noexertion,on the one hand, to make his clergy learned, zealous, devout, and thoroughly cultured, and on the other to cultivate a truly Christian and religious spirit in the people. To attain this double end, he bestowed very great care upon his sem- inary and demanded a conscientious observation of his rules on the pastoral conferences and the annual retreat. In the parishes he insisted on the instruction in Christian doctrine and on the giving of missions, took care that religious associations were established, especially among the youths and men, and tried to found everywhere good libraries for the people. At the Vatican Council he appeared several times as a speaker; he belonged to the minority of the bishops, who considered the definition of the pope's infallibility as inopportune for the time being; but as soon as the matter had been decided, he published the constitu- tion at once. When, in the loeginning of the seventies, the Prussian Ciovernment wished to fetter bishops and priests by its ecclesiastieo-political legislation. Bishop Eberhard unflinchingly defended the rights of th?
Church and thus became one of the first victims of the
so-called KvUuTkampf. At first he was fined an ex-
orbitant sum, but since he could not pay it, he was
retained in the prison of Trier from 6 March to 31
December, 1874. New persecutions began after he
had been dismissed; the flourishing institutions which
belonged to the Church were closed and the appoint-
ment of priests was made impossible; the grief at the
unhappy condition of his diocese accelerated his death.
He is the author of a dissertation " De tituli Sedis Apos-
tolicfP ad insigniendam sedem Romanam usu antiquoac
vi singular!" (Trier, 1846). His sermons, masterpieces
of oratory, were edited after his death by Ditscheid
in 6 vols. (Trier, 1877-1SS3; Freiburg, 1894-1903).
Ml l.l.F.n, MaUhias Eberhard {'ViuizhuTS. 1874); Kr.\ft. Mat- tltia.i Eberhard (Trier, 1S781; Ditscheid, Maithias Eber}uird im Kulturkampf (Trier, 1900).
P.VTBICIUS SCHLAGER.
Eberhard of Ratisbon or Salzburg; also called Eberhahdus Altahensis), a German chronicler who flourished about the beginning of the fourteenth cen- tury. Hardly anything is known of his life; the only positive facts are obtained from documents of the years 1294-1305, which show that within this period he was active as a magister. Augustinian canon, and archdeacon. He is the author of a chronicle that begins with the election of Rudolf of Hapsburg and extends to 1305. He desired to give an account of Bavarian history only, but was unable to fully exe- cute this intention. In reality he describes more or less fully events occurring outside of Bavaria that seem to him of importance. The value of the chron- icle is increased by the greater detail with which he treats the last five years, and in this part are also added important letters which serve to make the nar- rative more life-like. There is no doubt that the work was influenced by Hermann, the celebrated Abbot of Niederaltaich, the founder of a new and brilliant period of annalistic writing and to whom is due a won- derful de\-elopment in the art of historical writing in Bavaria during the latter half of the thirteenth cen- tury. The "Annales" of Eberhard were formerly held to be a direct continuation of Hermann's chron- icle, but in the introduction to his edition of the "Annales" Jaffe has disproved this hypothesis. Eberhard's chronicle is, rather, an independent work, connected with its continuations ithe so-called "Con- tinuatio Altahensis" and the "Continuatio Ratispo- nensis") only by their occasional paraphrases of what Eberhard has said or by information they occasionally add to his statements. The earliest edition of the "Annales" is that of H. Canisius in his "Lectiones antiquEc", I, 307-358. .A.n improved edition was published by BOhmer, " Pontes ', II, 526-553, and another by Jaffe in "Mon. Germ. Hist., Seriptores", XVI, 592-605.
Kehr, Hermann von AUaich und sein^ Fortsetzer (Gottingen, 1883). 69-81: LoRENZ, Deutechlands Geschichtsguellen im M.A. (1S861. I, 183 sq.
P.ATRICIUS ScHLAGER.
Ebionites. — By this name were designated one or more early Christian sects infected with Judaistic errors.
The word Ebionites, or rather, more correctly, Ebi- onseans. 'E^twraioi, is a transliteration of the Ara- mean N':V3N. meaning "poor men". It first occurs in Irenffus. .\ilv. Hter., 1., xxvi, 2, but without desig- nation of meaning. Origen (C. Celsum, II, i; De Prine., IV, i, 22) and Eusebius (Hist. Eccl., Ill, xxvii) refer the name of these sectaries either to the poverty of their understanding, or to the poverty of the Law to which they clung, or to the poor opinions they held concerning Christ. This, however, is ob- viously not the historic origin of the name. Other writers, us Tertullian (De Prsescr., xxxiii; De Came phr., xiv, 18), Hippolytus (cfr. Pseudo-Tert., Adv.
