UPSALA
1991
URBAN VIH
paratory school has proved attractive. Its graduates are met the world over, many having won a distinguished name,
Upsala or Uppsala (up-sd'ld), a city in Sweden, on Sala River, 40 miles northeast of Stockholm. It is in a fertile plain with fine buildings and parks. The cathedral, begun in the isth century, is the most celebrated in Sweden. The university, founded in 1474 and richly endowed by Gustavus Adolphus, has fine buildings, over 70 instructors and 1,835 students. There are also connected with it a botanic garden, a min-eralogical collection, a museum and an observatory. Population 24,450.
Ur of the Chaldees, mentioned in Genesis xi: 27-32 as the point from which the family of Abraham migrated to the west, has been identified with a city of southern Babylon, near the Euphrates. This city was the seat of a dynasty of kings before it fell under the sway of Babylon. Yet there are indications that the home of the family of Abraham was higher up the Euphrates than the city of Ur (the modern Mugheir), so that the identification is not certain. The ruins of Ur at Mugheir still stand; their most conspicuous feature being a temple to Sin, the god of the moon.
U'ral Mountains, a part of the boundary between Europe and Asia, separate European Russia from Siberia. The chain is made of a series of parallel ridges in the southern part, running toward the northwest, the highest summit being 4,680 feet. Farther north there are several low ridges, with peaks reaching 5,115 feet, while one low ridge in the extreme north completes the range. The middle part of the range is very rich in minerals, having mines of gold, copper, platinum and iron. Precious stones, as the emerald, beryl, topaz, amethyst and diamond, are also found. The population inhabiting the mountains and supported by the mines is 200,000.
Ural, a river of Russia, separating Europe from Asia. It rises in the Urals, flowing south and southeast for 1,100 miles and emptying into the Caspian. There is very little navigation. Its banks have been fortified by a line of forts, and its fisheries are very valuable.
Ura'nium, a metal first isolated in 1842 from the oxide of uranium, discovered previously by Klapworth. It is found in uranite or pitchblend in Bohemia, Saxony and Cornwall, England, and is prepared by heating a mixture of uranium chloride and sodium chloride with carbon or, preferably, with metallic sodium. It, with its other mineral compounds, possesses a notable radio activity, emitting rays which have a photographic action and make phosphorescent substances luminous.
U'ranus, in Grecian mythology, is sometimes the son, but generally the husband, of Gsea the earth, by whom he became
the father of Oceanus, Saturn, the Cyclops and others. He hated all his children, and confined them in Tartarus; but Cronus, at the instance of his mother, overthrew and dethroned him.
Uranus. See PLANETS. Ur'ban, the name of eight popes, of whom the following deserve special mention:
Urban II, a Frenchman by birth and originally a monk of Cluny, was elected in a council held at Terracina in the year 1088. His name was Otho, and soon after his election he resumed possession of Rome, the fortresses of which had been held by the antipope Guibert, styled Clement III, whom he compelled to withdraw. A great council was held in Piacenza in 1095, in which the antipope and his adherents were excommunicated; and at the same council the crusade was proclaimed. Urban died in 1099, just when the crusade which he had organized was ending in the occupation of Jerusalem.
Urban V (originally William de Grimoard) was the last of the popes who resided at Avignon. By him the papal seat was retransferred to Rome. He was elected pope on the death of Innocent VI in 1362 and died in 1370, leaving the reputation of great piety and of zeal for religion and good morals.
Urban VI, whose name was Bartolommeo Prignani, was the pope under whom the great western schism had its origin. On the death of Gregory XI in 1378, Prignani was elected in a conclave held at Rome in circumstances of great excitement, owing to the apprehensions of the populace that a French pope would be elected and Rome again abandoned. Prignani was crowned under the title of Urban VI, but immediately afterwards 12 French cardinals assembled at Anagni and revoked his election, declaring that they had voted for him under fear of violence. They were joined by three Italian cardinals, and then proceeded to elect the cardinal-bishop of Cambray pope under the title of Clement VII. Clement took up his residence at Avignon, but Urban remained at Rome, where he appointed a number of new cardinals and excommunicated Clement and his adherents. The result was that Urban was recognized as lawful pope by one portion of the church and Clement by the other, each maintaining his claim by extreme measures. Urban was besieged by Charles, king of Naples, at Noyara, whence he withdrew to Genoa, taking with him as prisoners those cardinals of his party with whom he had quarreled, several of whom he is said to have put to death. He died in 1389 from injuries sustained in a fall from his horse.
Urban VIII, the successor of Gregory XV, whose family name was Maffeo Bar-berini, was born at Florence in 1568. After
