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HENRY


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HENRY


section of his "Epistola de contemptu mundi" sug- gests that he was educated in the household of the Bishop of Lincoln, Robert Bloet (1093-112:5). In 1109 or 1110 he was made archdeacon of Huntingdon, so that he was then already a priest. His interest in history was due to a visit to the Abbey of Bee, which he made while accompanying Archbishop Theobald to Rome in 1139, for at Bee he met the Norman his- torian, Robert de Torigny, who brought to his notice the "Historia Britonum" of Geoffrey of Monmouth. Shortly after he was himself requested by Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln, to undertake the composition of a history, using the writings of Venerable Bede as a groundwork. This he did, carrying the work down to the death of Stephen in 1154. The early part of hLs work is taken from the customary sources, but from 1127 he is original and writes as an eye-witness. His details are, however, occasionally invented, and his chronology is not reliable. To the later copies of his history he added two books entitled " De miraculis" and De summitatibus", the former relating the miracles of several Anglo-Saxon saints, the latter con- taining his epilogue and three letters on historical sub- jects. One of these is the " Epistola de contemptu Mundi", printed in Migne (P. L., CXCV), Wharton (Anglia Sacra, II), and elsewhere as a separate work. Two books of epigrams are found in a Lambeth MS., and according to Leland there were six other books of these, as well as eight books " De Amore", and treat- ises "De Herbis", " De Aromatibus", "DeGemmis", and "De Lege Domini", but these are no longer ex- tant. Probably he died in 1155, as a new archdeacon of Huntingdon is found in that year. His tomb is in Lincoln Cathedral. "Henrici Archidiaconi Hunten- dunensis Historia Anglorum", edited by Thomas Ar- nold (R. S., London, 1879), is the latest and most critical edition, with a valuable introduction. The history, first printed by Savile in "Scriptores post Bedam" (London, 1596), is reprinted in Migne, P. L., CXCV. The "Epistola de contemptu Mundi" is printed in Wharton's " Anglia Sacra", II, as weU as in the Rolls Series and Migne. One book of the epi- grams will be found in Wright's "Anglo- Latin Sa- tirical Poets and Epigrammatists of the Twelfth Century", II, R.S. (London, 1872).

Capgrave, De Henrico Archidiacmio H uniingdonensi'xn De Jl- luslrihtis Heiiricis (R. S., London, 1858) ; contains little or nothing. Hardy, Descriptive Catalogue (London, 1865-71); LlEBERMANN'. Heinrich von Huntingdon in Forschungen zur deutschen Geschichte, XVIII (Leipzig, 1S78); Luard in Diet. Nat. Biog., s. v.

Edwin Burton.

Henry (Egher) of Ealkar, Carthusian writer, b. at Kalkar in the Duchy of Cleves in 1328; d. at Co- logne, 20 December, 14(18. Henry began his studies at Cologne, and completed them at Paris, where he became Master of Arts in 1357. He forthwith occu- pied the post of procurator of the German nation in 1358, being also a professor of theology. Having ob- tained canonries in the collegiate churches of St. Swi- bert in Kaiserswerth and St. George in Cologne in 1362, he returned to his native land. Soon after, however, disgusted with the world, he retired in 1365 to the Charterhouse of Cologne, where, owing to his talents and virtues, he was rapidly raised to the most important offices. Successively prior of the Charter- houses of Arnheim (1368-72), of Ruremonde (1372- 77), which he had built, of Cologne (1377-84) and of Strasburg (1384-96), which he restored, and \'isitor of his province for the space of 20 years, he was thus called upon to play, under the trj-ing circumstances producetl by the Great Schism, a considerable role in the Netherlands and German-speaking countries. Relieved at length, at his earnest request, of all his offices, he retired in 1396 to the Charterhouse of Co- logne, and there Uved in recollection and prayer until his death


Henry of Kalkar was celebrated not only as a writer, but also as a reformer. During his priorate at Arn- heim he had the happiness and honour of "convert- ing" one of his friends and fellow-students at Paris, Gerard Groote (the future founder of the "Brothers of the Common Life"), whom he attracted into his Char- terhouse and directed forthree years. "Moreover by his spiritual writings .... he exercised on the whole school of Deventer and Windesheim the influence of a recognised master." He was to this extent the organ- izer of the great movement of the Cathohc Renais- sance, which, initiated at Windesheim and in the convents of the Low Countries, went on developing throughout the fifteenth centur>', finding its definite expression in the Council of Trent. He distinguished himself in the ej-es of his contemporaries by his reli- gious zeal, his great piety, and above all by his re- markable devotion towards the Blessed Virgin, who, it is said, deigned to appear to him several times. Indeed such was his reputation, that many attributed to him, though WTongly, the institution of the Rosary and the composition of the "Imitation of Christ", and Blessed Canisius went so far as to insert his name in his German martyrology for 20 December.

As a writer he has left a number of works on very di- verse subjects. At once a man of learning and letters, a distinguished musician, theologian, and ascetic, he composed the treatises: "Loc|uagium de rhetorica", "Cantuagium de musica", "De Continentiis et Dis- tinctione Scientiarum", and was also the author of sermons, letters, treatises on the spiritual hfe, etc. These works, which have never been printed, are scattered about in different libraries — at Basle, Brus- sels, St. Gall, etc. One alone has been published and has enjoyed a strange career, the "Exercitatorium Monachale" or "Tractatus utilis proficere volenti- bus". Inserted in a number of manuscripts of the "Imitation" between the first and third books, it has sometimes passed as an unedited book of that work, and was published as such by Dr. Liebner at Got- tingen in 1842. Several times reprinted, especially by Mgr. Malou in his "Recherches sur le veritable auteur de rimitation", it has been translated into French (Waille, Paris, 1844) under the title "L'Imitation de J. C, livTe in6dit trouv6 dans la bibliotheque de Quedlinbourg". Moreover it has in great part passed into the "Mystica theologia" (chap. I) of Henr\' of Raima, and into the treatise "De Contemplatione" (lib. I, art. xxi) of Denis the Carthusian, and, after having inspired Thomas b. Kempis and Garcia de Cis- neros, it furnished St. Ignatius himself with some ideas for his famous "Exercises".

Le Vassecr. Ephemerld. Ord. Carl.. IV (Montreriel, 1892), 540: Petreii-s. Bibliothera Cartusiana, p. llil (Cologne, 1509): Harteheim. Bihlioth. Cntnnieii.':!.':. p. 117 (ColoEne. 1747): Fkret. Ln Forulle thfoUwique de Furii, IV (Pans, 1897), 377; IIertzog and Hatck, liealenctiklopadie, VII (Leipzig, 1899). 602: Bruckert in Etudea pubtiecs par les Peres de la Comp. de Jesus (June, 1900), 691.

Ambrose Mougel.

Henry of Langenstein (Henry of Hesse the Elder), theologian and mathematician; b. about 1325 at the villa of Hainbuch (Hembuche), near Lan- genstein in Hesse; d. at Vienna, 11 Feb., 1397. He studied at the LTniversity of Paris, where he also be- came professor of philosophy in 1363, and of theology in 1375. In 1368, at the occasion of the appearance of a comet, which the astrologers of hLs times claimed to be a sure foreboding of certain future events, he wrote a treatise entitled "Qucestio de cometa", in which he refutes the then prevalent astrological super- stitions. At the instance of the university he wrote three other treatises on the same subject, completed in 1373. When the Western Schism broke out in 1378, Henry sided with the lawfully-elected Urban VI against Clement VII, and wrote various treatises in defence of the former. In 1379 he composed "Epis- tola pacis" (see "Helmstadter Program", 1779 and