1339 by the chivalry of Burgundy and Suabia, he was elected to the supreme military command, and readily undertook the task of marching forth to encounter the enemy at Laupen. This town has been rendered famous by the victory which ensued 21st July, 1339. Rudolph had received permission from the count of Nydau, his feudal superior, to take part in the struggle of the Bernese, and after the victory of Laupen, he was intrusted with the care of the count's family. Resuming the occupation of an agriculturist after his brief but glorious career as a soldier, he took up his abode at Reichenbach, where he was assassinated by his son-in-law in 1360.—J. S., G.
* ERMAN, Georg Adolf, born at Berlin in 1806; studied at Berlin, Königsberg, and Munich. From 1828 to 1830 he undertook, at his own expense, a voyage round the world, for the purpose of making magnetic observations in different latitudes. He first joined the magnetic expedition of Haustein, accompanied him as far as Irkutsk, then travelled alone through northern Asia; went by sea to the Russian colonies, passed along California, doubled Cape Horn, then by Rio Janeiro, and returned by St. Petersburg and Berlin. He published his observations in a work entitled "Reise um die Erdedurch Nord Asien und die beiden Oceane." On Erman's observations Gauss's theory of terrestrial magnetism rests, and the Royal Society of London have given him their medal. Since 1841 Erman has edited the Archiv für Wissenschaftliche Kunde von Russland. This journal gives a full account of everything relative to the geography, geology, and ethnology of Russia, and contains a review of Russian publications.—J. A., D.
ERMENGARDE, Queen of Provence, was born in 865. She was the only daughter of the Emperor Louis II., and married in 877 Bison, governor of Lombardy, who is said to have poisoned his first wife to make room for the princess. He was in consequence expelled from Italy by his brother-in-law, Carloman, king of Bavaria; but Charles the Bold bestowed on him the government of Provence. Ermengarde induced her husband to assume the title of king, and to make pretensions to the kingdom of Italy. His claims, though supported by Pope John VIII., did not meet with success. The restless ambition of Ermengarde involved her husband in a disastrous war with Louis III. of France and his brother Carloman, which terminated in her capture and imprisonment for several years. On the death of her husband in 888 she regained her liberty, and was nominated guardian to her son Louis. She administered ably the affairs of his kingdom, but when Louis attained his majority Ermengarde abandoned the reins of government, and retired to a convent in Placentia, where she died.—J. T.
ERNEST, of Bavaria, Archbishop of Cologne, was the son of Albert V., duke of Bavaria, and of Anne of Austria. He was born in 1554, and died in 1612. His ecclesiastical promotion was very rapid; he was nominated archbishop of Cologne in his twenty-ninth year. His predecessor, however, who had been deposed, made a stout resistance, and it was not without a desperate struggle, and much shedding of blood, that Ernest obtained possession of this dignity. Nor, indeed, did he afterwards show himself worthy of it. He was dissolute, factious, and an oppressor; and it was only by his severity against the protestants that he reconciled himself to the pope, who had been justly indignant at his excesses.—R. M., A.
ERNEST I., of Zell, Duke of Brunswick-Luneburg, born in 1497, was educated at the university of Wittenberg, where he enjoyed the instructions of Spalatin, and embraced the principles of Luther. When his father, Duke Henry I., was laid under the ban of the empire, he and his brother Otto obtained the administration of the duchy, which they continued to hold after the removal of Henry's attainder in 1527. Having substituted the protestant for the catholic worship among their subjects, they formed alliance with the elector of Saxony and other adherents of the Reformation, and appended their names to the celebrated protest against the decision of the diet of Spires. Ernest sat also in the diet of Augsburg, and joined the league of Smalkalden. From that period till his death in 1546 he took a prominent part in the measures of the protestant princes, particularly in the overthrow of the Münster Anabaptists, and in the defeat of the catholic duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel.—W. B.
ERNEST-AUGUSTUS, sixth duke of Brunswick-Luneburg, born in 1629, was educated for the church, and passed through several subordinate ecclesiastical offices into the dignity of bishop of Osnabruck. After the death of his eldest brother, his mediation restored a good understanding between the two who still preceded him in the rights of seniority; and in 1668 he joined the elder of them, who had inherited the duchy, in sending succour to the Venetians under the count of Waldeck. Having subsequently joined the coalition of Germany, Spain, and Holland against France, he took part in the battle of Consarbruck in 1675; captured Marshal de Crequi in Treves towards the close of the same campaign; and, in the course of the three following years, distinguished himself in the field at Maestricht, Charleroi, and St. Denis. After succeeding to his higher political position, he assisted in opposing the Turks in Hungary, and again contributed to the succour of the Venetians. The services which he rendered also to the Emperor Leopold and his allies, against Louis XIV. of France, in Suabia and the Netherlands, procured his nomination to the electorate of Hanover. Notwithstanding the opposition which this imperial decree encountered, and its consequent suspension, he continued to give his active support to the allies till the peace of Ryswick in 1697. In the following year he died, leaving his Hanoverian sovereignty to his eldest son, George, who subsequently succeeded to the English throne. His daughter Sophia married Frederick of Brandenburg, and became queen of Prussia.—W. B.
ERNEST I., surnamed the Pious, Duke of Saxe-Gotha, was born in 1601, and bore arms in the Thirty Years' war. He subsequently ruled the duchy of Franconia, by appointment of his brother, Bernard of Weimar, commander of the Swedish forces. After the peace of Prague he married Elizabeth Sophia, only daughter of the duke of Altenburg, in whose right he afterwards inherited that dukedom. His accession to the sovereignty of Saxe-Gotha in 1640 gave that country a prudent and able ruler; and the interest which he took in its religious condition procured for him his honourable surname.—W. B.
ERNEST II., Duke of Saxe-Gotha, born in 1745, was a wise and beneficent prince. His administration of the duchy, which extended from 1772 to 1804, repaired the evil effects of the Seven Years' war, and gave birth to many important charitable institutions. He was also a patron of science, and the founder of the observatory at Seeberg.—W. B.
ERNEST AUGUSTUS, King of Hanover and Duke of Cumberland, was the fifth son of George III., king of Great Britain, and was born June 5, 1771. He studied for some time at Göttingen, along with his brothers, the dukes of Sussex and Cambridge; entered the army in 1793; and ultimately attained the rank of field-marshal. In 1815 the duke of Cumberland married, at Strelitz, the Princess Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, and widow, first of Prince Frederick Louis of Prussia, and secondly of Prince Frederick William of Solms Braunfels. This marriage was so obnoxious to Queen Charlotte, the duke's mother, that the duchess was forbidden the court; and this circumstance, together with the refusal of the house of commons to increase his allowance, caused the duke to leave England and to take up his residence for some years in Berlin. He was a violent politician, and, on his return to this country, took a prominent part in resisting the claims of the Roman catholics, put himself at the head of the Brunswick clubs, and assisted in organizing Orange lodges in the army. He succeeded to the throne of Hanover on the death of his brother, William IV., in 1837, and, true to his arbitrary principles, immediately abolished the constitution. But he was compelled, during the revolution of 1848, to make some concessions to public opinion. He died in 1851, and was succeeded by his son, George V.—J. T.
ERNESTI, August Wilhelm, nephew of Johann August—born November 26, 1733; died July 20, 1801—was professor in the university of Leipzig. His reputation chiefly depends on his valuable editions of Livius, 1769, and of Ammianus Marcellinus, 1773.—K. E.
ERNESTI, Johann August, a distinguished German theologian and philologist, was born at Tennstadt, Thuringia, August 4, 1707, and died, September 11, 1781. He studied theology in the universities of Wittenberg and Leipzig. His appointment to a mastership in the Thomas-schule at Leipzig induced him, however, to turn to the study of the classical languages with no less ardour and perseverance than he had done to his theological pursuits. In 1756 he was raised to the chair of eloquence in the university, and three years later to a chair of theology. He was the first who brought the philological method and criticism to bear upon the explanation of the scriptures, and by this means paved the road to a solid and liberal knowledge of the
