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Baldwin
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Baldwin

and Stephen ordered 200 horse to march at once to their relief. Baldwin's men, having heard that the citizens had complained of them, sallied forth to take vengeance on them. They were defeated, and had scarcely taken shelter within the walls of the castle, when the king with the main body of his army entered the city. Baldwin had a strong garrison in the castle, and held it against the royal forces. The siege and defence were alike conducted with all the military skill the time. During its progress Baldwin's garrison at Plympton surrendered to the king. His rich lands were harried, and his tenants all through Devonshire were brought to submission. The blockade was strict, and want of water forced Baldwin to propose a capitulation. By the advice of the bishop of Winchester Stephen at first refused to grant any terms to the rebels, and withstood a piteous appeal made to him by Baldwin's wife, Adeiza. A large number, however, of the chief men of the king's own army were not disposed to allow him to take severe measures, some had relatives within the castle, and some, though they were now fighting against Baldwin, had secretly counselled him to revolt. In the spirit of that continental feudalism from which England had hitherto been saved by the firmness of the earlier Norman kings, they reminded Stephen that the garrison had never made oath to him as king, and that in taking up arms against him they were acting faithfully to their lord. Stephen yielded to their wishes, and allowed the garrison to come forth. Baldwin fled to the isle of Wight, and prepared to carry on the rebellion. On hearing that the king was about to embark at Southampton to reduce him to obedience, he surrendered himself, He was banished and took shelter with Geoffrey, count of Anjou, by whom he was honourably received. At the instigation of the empress he intrigued with the Norman lords, and raised up a revolt against Stephen in the duchy. He was taken prisoner by Ingelram de Say in a skirmish before the castle of Ormes. In 1130 he landed with a strong force at Wareham, and held Corfe Castle against the king. After a long siege Stephen turned away from Corfe on hearing of the landing of Robert of Gloucester. Baldwin joined the empress, and was present at the siege of Winchester in 1141. The earl was a great benefactor of religious houses. He founded a priory of Austin canons at Bromere in Hampshire, and a Cistercian abbey at Quarrer, or Arreton, in the Isle of Wight. He caused the secular canons of Christ Church at Twynham to give place to regular canons. He enriched the priory of Plympton, and gave his chapelry of St. James at Exeter, with its tithes and estates, to the monasteries of St. Peter at Cluny and of St. Martin-des-Champs. Baldwin died in 1155, and was buried in his monastery at Arreton with Adeliza his wife. He left three sons — Richard, who succeeded him in his earldom; William, called Vernon, and Henry; and one daughter, named Hadwisa.

[Gesta Stephani; Henry of Huntingdon, 259, R.S.; Gervase, 1340; Orderic, 916; R. de Monte, sub an. 1155; Dugdale's Baronage, i. 255 ; Monasticon. v. vi.; Tanner's Notitia Monastica; Third Report of the Lords on the Dignity of a Peer, p. 177.]

W. H.

BALDWIN, GEORGE (d. 1818), mystical writer, was born in the earlier half of the eighteenth century, but the exact date is uncertain. The place was probably London. The chief knowledge we have of him is gained from the prefaces to his works. He was a great traveller. We find him at Cyprus in 1760; thence he travelled to St. Jean d'Acre in 1763. In 1768 he returned to England, and obtained leave to go as a free mariner to the East Indies, with the idea of exploring the connection between India and Egypt by the Red Sea. On the point of embarkation he received news from Cyprus of his brother's death, and was advised to return thither. He did not accomplish his purpose there till 1773, when he passed over into Egypt, and was at Grand Cairo in the time of Mehemed Bey, who told him, 'If you bring the Indian ships to Suez, I will lay an aqueduct from the Nile to Suez, and you shall drink of the Nile water.' He then went to Constantinople, and made his plan known to Mr. Murray, his majesty's ambassador at that place, by whom it was favourably received. In 1774 he returned to Egypt and went to Suez, whence he accompanied the holy caravan on a dromedary to Cairo. His services there were accepted by the East India Company. He arrived in Alexandria in 1775, and succeeded in establishing a direct commerce from England to Egypt. Baldwin returned to England in 1781 — having been plundered on the plains of Antioch by thieves and shot through the right arm — in a destitute condition, and petitioning for justice. He then received a summons from Mr. Dundas to attend the India Board, and present to it a memorial, entitled, in his works, 'Political Recollections.' On this his majesty's ministers sent him as a consul-general to Egypt. He entered on the functions of his office in Alexandria 18 Dec. 1786. In 1796 Baldwin counteracted a public mission entrusted to Tinville, the