Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 2.djvu/682

This page needs to be proofread.
620
ARN—ARN

ARNAUD, Henri, the celebrated pastor, military leader, and historian of the Vaudois, was born, in 1641, at La Tour, or La Torre, in Piedmont. He is said to have served under William of Orange, and it is probable that he received pecuniary assistance from that prince in his efforts to restore the exiled Vaudois to their native valleys. Owing to the cruelties of Victor Amadeus of Savoy, from two to three thousand of these Vaudois had been forced to take refuge in Switzerland and the states along the banks of the Rhine ; and twice they ineffectually attempted to return to their home. But the English Ilevolution of 1688, and the accession of William of Orange to the throne, encouraged Arnaud to make a grand effort. Concentrat ing about 900 followers in the great forest of the Pays de Vaud, he remained in concealment for some time ; and at last embarked with them on the Lake of Geneva on the night of 16th August 1689. By September 16 they had entered the valley of San Martino, after hard fighting with the French and Savoyard troops that harassed and opposed them. Being now, however, in danger of attack from about 20,000 French and Piedmontese troops, they were obliged to repair to the lofty table-land of the Balsille, which they fortified with such skill as to be able to with stand the fiercest attacks of the enemy, repeatedly renewed through the whole winter. A general assault on the Balsille (2d May 1690) by about 22,000 French was an utter failure, resulting in the decimation of the enemy, without the loss of a single man to Arnaud. Not caring to hazard a renewal of the assault the garrison withdrew from this stronghold to Angrona, where, just when all chance of further escape seemed impossible, they learned that hostilities had broken out between France and Pied mont, and that their king, who had persecuted and expelled them, was now ready to receive them with open arms. Thus ended the " glorieuse rentree des Vaudois dans leurs vallces," effected, according to their own account, with a loss of only 30 men, while they made out that the joint losses of the French and Savoyards fell little short of 10,000 men. For a while the Vaudois were allowed to remain in peaceful possession of their ancient homes ; but when the war of the Spanish Succession broke out, Arnaud and his followers took part in the combination against France, and rendered the allies effectual service. When the war came to a close, the ungrateful king of Pied mont once more joined the French monarch against his own subjects, and complied with the demands of that prince, that the Vaudois should bo expelled from some of their valleys. The exiles, amounting in all to about 3000, found an asylum in Wiirtemberg. Arnaud, who had invitations from William III., and might have spent the remainder of his days in ease and honour in England, chose rather to continue the pastor of the exiles in the village of Schonberg, and wrote, in his retirement, the Histoire de la glorieuse Rentree des Vaudois dans leurs Vallees. It was printed in 1710, and dedicated to Queen Anne, and has been twice translated into English. Arnaud died at Schonberg in 1721, and every memorial that he left behind him was long cherished by his followers and their pos terity.


ARNAUD, or ARNOLDUS, DE VILLA NOVA, a physician, alchemist, and astrologer, who lived at Paris about the end of the 13th and beginning of the 14th centuries. The discovery of the three principal acids, sulphuric, nitric, and hydrochloric, has been attributed to him, but Hoefer (Hist, de la Chimie., t. i. p. 385) has shown that these had all been discovered long before his time. His works, with a life prefixed, were printed at Lyons, first in 1504, folio, and again with the notes of Nicholas Tolerus, in 1520, folio : also at Basel in 1515 and 1585.


ARNAULD, Angélique (called Angélique de Saint-Jean), niece of the first or great Angelique, was born in 1624. She was educated at Port-Royal, and took the veil in her twentieth year. In 1653 she was made sub-prioress. During the persecution of the Jansenists, from 1661 to 1664, she was the chief support of the nuns in their resolute refusal to sign the Formulary of Alexander VII. Along with some others she was put into confinement, and, even after permission had been given to return to Port- Royal, they continued to be under the close surveillance of soldiers, who were not withdrawn till 1669, after the " peace " edict of Clement IX. In 1678 Angelique was elected abbess, which office she continued to hold till her death in 1684. She has left several works, in particular the Memo ires pour servir a Vhistoire de Port-Royal, &c., 3 vols., 1742, which throw much light on the life of her great aunt. See Arnauld, Jacqueline Marie.


ARNAULD, Antoine, one of the greatest French theologians and philosophers, was born at Paris, Feb. 8,

1612. His father was the most famous advocate of the time, and had gained special distinction by his defence of the university against the Jesuits in 1594. Of his large family, Antoine was the twentieth and youngest child. As he was at first destined to follow his father s profession, he turned his attention to legal studies as soon as he had completed the usual course of education at the colleges of Calvi and Lisieux. But the earnest advice of his mother, a deeply religious woman, who afterwards became an inmate of Port-Royal, induced him to give up the profession of a lawyer and to engage in the service of the church. He received his first instructions in theology from Lescot, confessor of Richelieu, but his teacher s influence over his mind was greatly weakened by the study of some works of Augustine, which, at the request of his mother, had been recommended to him by St Cyran. The thesis which he presented for the degree of bachelor in 1635 showed manifest traces of Augustine s influence, and gave great offence to Lescot. Arnauld now entered the Sorbonne, and from 1638 to 1640 professed the courses of theology and philosophy requisite for a licence. In 1641 he was ordained priest, and took his degree of doctor. After being twice rejected on formal grounds, or, perhaps, from the hostile influence of Lescot, he was, in 16.34, admitted a member of the Society of the Sorbonne. In 1641 his mother died. Her last words, in which she implored him to hold stedfastly by the truth, made a deep impression on his mind. He gave up several benefices which he had obtained, and resolved to devote himself with all his soul to the defence and propagation of what he believed to be the truth. Between 1641 and 1643 he composed a treatise in two vols, De la Necessite de la Foi (not published till 1700), and another, Theologie Morale des Jcsidtes. In August 1643 he published his famous work, De la Frequente Communion, expressly directed against the Jesuits, who held that the mere mechanical reception of the sacraments was sufficient, and that previous preparation and actual repentance were of secondary importance. They had even gone the length of saying, that the more a man sinned the more frequently and boldly should he approach the table of communion. Arnauld s book was sanctioned by many doctors of the Sorbonne, and by several bishops and archbishops. It was denounced by the Jesuits, one of whom, by name Nouet, preached against its heretical tenets, and called Arnauld an heresiarch worse than Calvin or Luther. This, however, carried matters too far; the Sorbonne and the bishops, who had given their sanction, were implicated in such a condemna tion, and, by their influence, Nouet was compelled to retract. But the Jesuits insisted that the work must be judged at

Rome, and laid special stress on a sentence in the preface,