Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/302

290 F L A F L A Newton in the first edition of bis Priiici/nct. In the same year he obtained his M.A. degree at Cambridge. He does not appear to have ever studied at Cambridge, though his name was entered at Jesus College in 1670, and he resided there for some months in 1C 74. In this year he published his Eftkemeris, and drew up a table of the tides. Sir J. Moore at this time proposed to establish Flamsteed in a private observatory at Chelsea ; but Charles II., whose attention had been directed to the necessity of improved astronomical tables by a proposal for finding the longitude at sea, determined to establish an observatory, and Flamsteed was appointed " astronomical observator." His observations were made at the queen s house in Greenwich Park, till July 1G76, when the observatory was ready. Of his work as astronomer-royal an account will be found under ASTRONOMY (vol. ii. p. 756). Baily dates the com mencement of modern astronomy from the year 1676, when Flamsteed began his observations. Flamsteed was ill-paid and overworked in his new office. A salary of 100 a year was paid him, and he was left to provide his own instruments. Until 1684 he had to teach two boys from Christ s Hospital, as one of the duties of his post ; and he taught other boys, to defray the expenses he incurred for instruments. In 1684 his father died, and he was presented by Lord Keeper North to a small living. His means being thus somewhat improved, he resolved to incur the expense of a mural arc, on the assurance of Government that he -would be reimbursed, a promise which, however, was never fulfilled. Attention has been drawn since the year 1832 to cer tain private affairs of Flamsteed s. In that year Francis Baily discovered a large collection of Flamsteed s letters in private hands, and other letters afterwards at Greenwich. The Admiralty unfortunately decided to print these at the public expense. For some time it was supposed that the fair fame of Newton and Halley had been darkened by the publication of these documents. But Sir David Brewster discovered among Newton s papers a series of letters and papers completely exculpating Newton and Halley from charges affecting their honour, and placing Flamsteed s character in an unfavourable aspect. It must be remem bered, however, that the case made out by Brewster against Flamsteed, and the case made out by Baily against Newton and Halley, both rest on ex parte statements. The conclusion to which a careful investigation of both sides of the story appears to point is that both Newton and Flamsteed showed exceeding ill-temper, and that the charges affecting the honour of either (and of Halley as Newton s friend) had their origin entirely in the ill-feeling thus excited. It is unfortunate that the matter should ever have been opened. Let it be remembered only that, while on the one hand Flamsteed furnished Newton with every lunar observation made before 1685, when the first edition of the Principia appeared, Newton on the other hand based on these observations the noblest theory the world of science has known. From 1715 to 1719, the year of his death, Flamsteed superintended the publication of the Historia Ccelestis, but the publication was not completed till 1723. His valuable Atlas Ccelestis was not published till 1753. The well- known British catalogue of 2884 stars appears in the third volume of the Historia Coelestis. Though of feeble con stitution, Flamsteed attained the age of seventy-three, his death occurring on the last day of the year 1719. He was succeeded in the office of astronomer-royal by Halley. FLANDERS (German Flatidern, Dutch Vlaendern), an ancient countship of the Low Countries, which has left its name to two provinces of the modern kingdom of Belgium, distinguished as East and West. It took its rise about the time of Charles the Great, but the early history of tho line of counts is far from certain, the older chronicles giving very different statements. Leaving out of view those mythical personages through whom as a matter of course a connexion is established with Priam of Troy, we find tho founder of the family of the Foresters, as they are called, in a certain Lideric le Buc, " only son of Saluart prince of Dijon, and of Madame Eringarde daughter of Gerard lord of Roussillon," who, says Lambert, canon of St Omer, " videns Flandriam vacuam et incultam ac memorosam, occupavit earn." Even Lideric is of doubtful authenticity, though his death in 836 is mentioned in the A/males Blandinienses, which were compiled before 10G4 from earlier documents. His son Ingelramn, say the chronicles, had a son Audacer ; but according to several modern investigators Audacer was merely a cognomen of Baldwin, the next person in the genealogical series. With Baldwin, who is distinguished as Bras de Fer or Iron Arm, we at length reach the terra firma of history. He was a strong, daring, and unscrupulous man, and made noise enough in his own day, more particularly by carrying off and marrying Judith daughter of Charles the Bald of France, a lady of easy principles, who had already been the wife of ^Ethelwulf of the West Saxons of England, and for a time of yEthel- wulf s son ./Ethelbald. Baldwin II., the Bald, born of this marriage, is mainly remembered as a vigorous opponent of the Normans, and as the builder of the walls of Bruges and Ypres. It is said that he also laid the foundation of the political liberties of his country by appointing twelve of his principal vassals as a council of state. He took to wife JElfthryth, daughter of King Alfred of England. On his death in 918, his possessions were divided between his two sons Arnulf the Elder and Adolphus ; but the latter survived only a short time, and Arnulf succeeded to the whole inheritance. His reign was full of troubles with the Normans on the one hand, and with the emperor Otho I. on the other; and he made one of his conferences memorable by murdering William Longsword the Norman duke. In his old age he placed the government in the hands of Baldwin, his son by Adela daughter of the count of Vermandois, and the young man, though his reign was a very short one, did a great deal for the commercial arid industrial progress of the country, establishing the first weavers and fullers of Ghent, and instituting yearly fairs at Ypres, Bruges, Veurne, Cassel, Courtrai, Thorout, and Rousselare. On Baldwin s death in 961 the old count resumed the control, and spent the few remaining years of his life in securing the succession of his grandson Arnulf or Arnold the younger. The reign of Arnulf was ter minated by his death in 989, and he was followed by his son Baldwin IV., styled Pulckra Barla, Comely Beard, or simply Barbatus, Met den Baerd, With the beard. This Baldwin fought successfully both against the king of France and the emperor Henry II., and obtained from the latter Valenciennes, Walcheren, and the islands of Zealand. The counts of Flanders thus became feudatories of tho empire as well as of France. Baldwin s son Baldwin V., surnamed of Lille (in Latin Insularius, in Dutch Van Ryssel) rebelled in 1028 against his father, at the instiga tion of his wife Adela, daughter of Robert of France ; but two years later peace was sworn at Oudenarde, and the old man continued to reign till his death in 1036. Baldwin V. proved a worthy successor, and acquired from the people the title of Debonnaire. He was an active, ambitious, en terprising man, and greatly extended his power by wars and alliances. Before his death he saw his eldest daughter Matilda sharing the English throne with William the Conqueror, his son Baldwin of Mons (in Dutch Bergen) in possession of Hainault in right of his wife Richilde the widow of the late count, and his son Robert the Frisian ruling over the countship of Holland and Friesland in right