Bulgaria. The Bulgarians now invaded | Thrace and Macedonia. In 1189 the emperor Frederick I. appeared on the confines of Bulgaria, on his expedition to Jerusalem, and at Adrianople was met by an ambassador of Peter, who proposed to Frederick to support him with forty thousand men, if he would join him in attacking the Greek emperor. But Frederick declined the proposition. A short time afterwards Asan destroyed a Greek army, and made the commander, Isaac Sebastocrator, prisoner. Some time after this victory Asan was killed by his kinsman Joannes, or Juancus (Joannicus), who is said to have besprinkled Asan's royal dress with a deadly poison, in consequence of which the king died. Asan reigned nine years, according to Nicetas, but neither the beginning of his reign nor the year of his death has been correctly ascertained: he died, probably, in the beginning of the reign of Alexius III. (1195 till 1203). Asan left two sons, Joannes and Alexander; his successor was his brother Peter, who was killed by one of his kinsmen a short time afterwards, whereupon one Joannes came to the throne, who seems to have been a younger brother of Asan and Peter. The rebellion of the Bulgarians was supported by great numbers of Wallachians (MoroVlachi, or Blachi), who lived then in the mountains of Macedonia and Thessaly, and who rebelled as early as 1186. Hence the new Bulgarian kingdom, which lasted till the fourteenth century, is called by several historians the Bulgaro-Wallachian kingdom. (Acropolita, c. 12, 13, 20; Nicetas, Isaacius, i. 4-6, ii. 1, iii. 3, 4, 8, Alexius Angelus, i. 4—6; Du Cange, Illyricum Vetus et Novum, p. 105, 106.) W. P. A'SAN II, JOANNES (Joánnes Asánes, 'Iwávvns 'Aσávns), king of Bulgaria, the son of Asan I., did not ascend the throne till a considerable time after the death of his father, who was succeeded by his brother Peter. Peter's successor was one Joannes, after whose death, the throne was usurped by his sister's son, Vorylas, or Phrorylas. Asan, whose life was put in danger by Vorylas, fled to Russia, found assistance there, and returned with an army. He attacked and defeated his rival in 1217 or 1218, and Vorylas shut himself up in the fortified town of Trinobium, now Tirnova, where he was blockaded for seven years by the forces of Asan. The inhabitants at last surrendered the town, in spite of the threats of Vorylas, who fled, but was taken by some soldiers of Asan, and had his eyes put out. Asan's authority was no longer disputed. He was successful in a war with Theodore Angelus, despot of Epirus, who had assumed the title of emperor, and whom he defeated in 1227. Theodore fell into the hands of the victor, who punished him with the loss of his eyes. They nevertheless became friends, and Asan married the daughter of the blind prince. About 1234 Asan made an alliance with Joannes Vatatzes, the Greek emperor of Nicæa, and in the following year they laid siege to Constantinople, then in possession of the Latins, but were compelled to abandon the siege, after having been routed in a decisive battle (1236). The friendship between Asan and Joannes Vatatzes did not last. They had conquered the greater part of Macedonia and Thrace, which they divided between them, but the partition led to differences, in consequence of which Asan broke his alliance with the Greek emperor, and not only made his peace with the Latin emperor of Constantinople, John of Brienne, but soon afterwards concluded an alliance with him. This event would have caused still more satisfaction among the Latins, had not Asan, who was a Roman Catholic, passed over to the Greek church, to which his subjects belonged, a step in which he showed rather prudence than fickleness, with which he is reproached by the historians. It was, perhaps, his apostacy which induced king Andreas II. of Hungary, who was his fatherin-law, to make war upon him, and it seems that Pope Gregory IX. excited Andreas to this, for he preached the cross in order to encourage the Western barons to join the king of Hungary. The result of the war is not known; it was probably terminated by a speedy peace. Asan died in the month of June, 1241; during his reign the limits of the Bulgarian kingdom were nearly as extensive as in the beginning of the eleventh century. Asan was twice married. His first wife was Mary, princess of Hungary, whose father, King Andreas II., is said to have been seized by Asan on his return from Jerusalem, and kept a prisoner till he promised to give his daughter in marriage to Asan. The children of Asan and Mary wereCaloman, who succeeded his father; Helena, who married Theodore Lascaris II., emperor of Nicæa; and Thamar, a princess of whom nothing is known. Asan's second wife was Irene, the daughter of the despot-emperor Theodore Angelus, by whom he had Michael, the successor of his brother Caloman, and two daughters. (Acropolita, c. 13, 20, 31— 40; Du Cange, Historia Franco-Byzantina, iv., Illyricum Vetus et Novum, p. 107, 108.) W. P. A'SAN III., JOA'NNES (Joánnes Asánes, 'Iwávvns ’Aσávns), king of Bulgaria, was the son of king Mitzes, or Mytza, who was driven out from his kingdom, and died at Troy. He married Irene, the daughter of Michael VIII. Palæologus, emperor of Constantinople, by whose assistance he recovered the throne of Bulgaria in 1279. He lost it in 1281, by a usurper Terter, or Terteres, and fled to Constantinople, where he was kindly received by Michael, who conferred upon him the dignity of despot of Romania. Asan III. was the last king of Bulgaria of the Asanian by C. Julius Cæsar against Pharnaces, was defeated by him in Armenia, but in the mean time Asander revolted from his master with the hope of receiving his kingdom from the Romans. When Pharnaces was defeated by Cæsar in the battle of Zeleia, he fled to Sinope, and there took ship for the Bosporus. Landing in the Tauric Chersonese, he attempted to recover his kingdom, but Asander opposed him, and Pharnaces lost his life in the contest. Cæsar made Mithridates of Pergamus, who had assisted him in the war in Egypt, king of the Bosporus, and intrusted to him the prosecution of the war against Asander. Mithridates attempted to take possession of the kingdom, but he was defeated by Asander, who kept possession of the Bosporus, in which he was subsequently confirmed by Augustus with the title of king. He put an end to his life by starvation, about B.C. 16, being then ninety-three years old, because his forces were deserting to one Scribonius, who claimed a descent from the great Mithridates. We may probably attribute to this Asander the construction of the great wall, described by Strabo, 360 stadia long, across the isthmus of the Tauric Chersonese, which was designed to protect the peninsula against the wild tribes. There were ten turrets in every stadium, or 600 feet. Spanheim assigns an extant gold coin to this king. Dion Cassius, when he speaks of the death of Asander, says that he married Dynamis, the daughter of Pharnaces, and that after Asander's death she became the wife of Scribonius, who also took possession of the kingdom, which Asander had bequeathed to his wife. (Bell. Alex., 78; Dion Cassius, xlii. 46-48, and Reimar's Note on c. 47; liv. 24; Appian, Mithridat., 120; Strabo, vii. 311, xiii. 625, and the Note of Casaubon; Lucian, Macrob. 17.) dynasty. He died at Constantinople, and his | tius Calvinus. Calvinus, who had been sent descendants belonged to the high nobility of the Greeks: several of them became conspicuous in the Byzantine history. Maria, the daughter of Asan III., married the famous Roger de Flor. Demetrius and Michael Asan fled to Italy after the capture of Constantinople. (Pachymeres, vi. 8, 9, vii. 20; Du Cange, Illyricum Vetus et Novum, p. 109, 110, 114.) W. P. ASANDER ("Aσavòpos), a son of Philotas, and brother of Parmenio, was appointed by Alexander the Great, B.C. 334, governor of Lydia, and of all the former satrapy of Spithridates. In conjunction with Ptolemy he defeated Orontobates, a Persian, who had possession of the citadel of Halicarnassus and other strong places in Caria. Asander and Nearchus, with some Greek mercenaries, joined Alexander at Zariaspa, B.C. 328. After the death of Alexander he received the satrapy of Caria. Antipater engaged him to oppose Attalus, the son of Andromenes, and Alcetas, the brother of Perdiccas, but Asander had the worse in the contest. Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, formed an alliance with Asander, who was then a powerful man, and possessed many cities. About this time Asander had established himself in Lycia, and extended his conquests as far as the coast of Cappadocia, on the Euxine: Amisus alone held out against him. In B.C. 315, Antigonus sent his general Ptolemy against Asander, but Asander was supported by the alliance of Ptolemy and a force sent to Asia under Prepelaus by Cassander. In the year B.C. 313, however, Asander, being hard pressed by Antigonus, capitulated on the following terms: he was to give up all his soldiers to Antigonus, to restore the Greek cities to their independence, and to receive his satrapy as a gift, and to be faithful to Antigonus. Asander gave his brother Agathon as a hostage, but in a few days repenting of his bargain, he contrived to get his brother out of the hands of Antigonus, and sent to Seleucus and Ptolemy to ask for their aid. Nothing more is known of him. Those few facts show that he was active in the troubled period which followed Alexander's death, but the events of his life are very confused. (Arrian, i. 18, &c.; Diodorus, xviii. 3, xix. 62, 68, 75; Arrian apud Phot., Biblioth. Cod. 92; Droysen, Geschichte der Nachfolger Alexander, and the Note, p. 325, on the confusion between Cassander and Asander in Diodorus, and p. 353 on the inscription which relates to Asander, the son of Agathon, who was the brother of the elder Asander.) G. L. ASANDER ("Aσavdpos), a king of the Bosporus, in the Tauric Chersonese. Asander, before he seized the kingdom, was appointed governor of the Bosporus (B.c. 47), by King Pharnaces the Second, when he was setting out on his expedition to oppose Cn. Domi VOL. III. G. L. ASAPH, SAINT, was, according to an old opinion, the first bishop of St. Asaph, in Flintshire, North Wales. According to Henry Wharton, cited below, the first bishop of that see, which was then called Llan-Elwy, was St. Kentigernus, who afterwards became bishop of Glasgow. Before he went to Scotland he appointed Asaph abbot of the monastery, founded by Kentigernus at Llan-Elwy. Asaph afterwards became bishop of that see, which either then or at some time after received the name of St. Asaph. Asaph succeeded Kentigernus about A.D. 600, or perhaps in 590, or even fifty or sixty years before that time. All this is very uncertain, as we may see from Wharton; nor are there any proofs of Asaph being the author of two works which are attributed to him. The works are "Ordinationes Ecclesiæ (St. Asaphi)," and "Vita Scti Kentigerni," which is contained in the first volume of " Acta Sanctorum," ad 13 Januarii. (H. Wharton, Historia de Episcopis et Decanis Londinensibus, necnon de Epis 3 B copis et Decanis Assavensibus, pp. 302, 8; ASCA'NI, PELLEGRINO, a distin- E. L. ASCARELLI, or ASCARIEL, DEBO), a Jewish lady, who lived at Rome, of which city she was probably a native, during the latter part of the sixteenth century. She was the wife of R. Joseph Ascariel, commonly called Ascarelli, and was well versed in Hebrew and Italian literature. She also showed considerable skill in Italian versification. She is the author of a translation into Italian verse of the "Mahon Hasshoalim" ("The Dwelling-place of those who pray"), which is a collection of sacred poetry by R. Moses Rieti : it was first printed at Venice, in Hebrew and Italian, by Daniello Giunta, A.m. 5362 (a.d. 1602), 12mo.; edited by David de la Rocca, who prefixed to it a laudatory epistle to the authoress. The little volume also comprises the following translations into Italian verse by Debora, namely, the Hebrew hymn of R. Bechaji ben Joseph which commences "Barki Naphshi” (“Bless, O my Soul"); 2, the "Viddui Gadol" ("Great Confession") of R. Nissim; and 3, the "Seder Haaboda" (“Order of Service"), in which is explained the ritual and order of the sacrifices for the day of expiation, as set forth in the "Machazor," or service-book of the Spanish synagogues. This collection was printed a second time at | Venice by Jo. de Gara, edited by R. Samuel de Castelnuovo. At the end of this edition is "Bakkasha" (a Petition), offered up in the Roman synagogues at the time of circumcision. Debora Ascarelli appears to have been still living in the year 1602, when the first edition of her translations appeared. Bartolocci says that he saw her husband's name inscribed on a window of the great synagogue at Rome, which is called "Keneseth Hahecal" ("The Synagogue of the Temple"), with the date A.M. 5320 (A.D. 1560). (Bartoloccius, Biblioth. Mag. Rabb. ii. 1,2, iv. 238, 239; Wolfius, Biblioth. Hebr. i. 287, iii. 176; De Rossi, Dizion. Storic. degl. Autor. Ebr. i. 56.) C. P. H. A'SCARUS (Aσkaрos), a Theban sculptor, who executed a statue of Jupiter crowned with flowers and holding a thunderbolt in his right hand, which was dedicated at Olympia by the Thessalians, out of spoils taken from the Phocians. Ascarus is said by Pausanias to have been the scholar of a Sicyonian artist, but he does not mention his name. Some antiquarians have supposed it was Canachus; others Ageladas, but there is no authority for believing there was a Sicyonian sculptor so called. [AGELADAS.] (Pausanias, v. 24.) R. W. jun. ASCELIN, NICOLAS, the name of a Dominican, who appears to have been sent, with three others of his order, by Innocent IV., by way of Syria, to the Tartar chiefs in Asia Minor, at the same time that Jehan de Plan Carpin was sent by the way of Poland and Russia to the court of the Khan. The very brief and unsatisfactory account of Ascelin's mission that has been handed down to us is contained in the "Miroir Historial" of Vincent of Beauvais, who derived his information from Simon of St. Quentin, one of Ascelin's associates. In the French version of Vincent's history, printed at Paris in 1495-6, the narrative of the expedition is contained in the 2nd chapter, and in the 40th to the 52nd chapters (inclusive) of the 32nd book. It contains little more than an account of the proceedings and treatment of the envoys in the camp of Bajothnoi (Baju-Novian?), a Tartar general: from some incidental remarks, however, we may form a vague conjecture as to their route. They appear to have landed at Acre; to have proceeded to Tripolis (written in one place Triphel, and in another Triphlis); to have associated to their mission in that city a friar of the name of Guichard, who had resided seven years in the East; and thence to have advanced to the camp of Bajothnoi, a distance, it is stated, of fifty-nine days' journey from Acre. Ascelin and the other envoys displayed great firmness in resisting the intimidation used to induce them to worship Bajothnoi after the Tartar fashion. They refused to proceed to the court of the Grand Khan, alleging that their mission was simply to the first Tartar army they should meet, and not to any particular prince or potentate. This renders it probable that they were merely despatched by the Pope, in the hope that they might be able to arrest the advance of the Tartar hordes until Plan Carpin had penetrated to the court of the Grand Khan, and effected an arrangement with him. Bajothnoi appears to have been stationed in Persia, and to have been invested with autho- | rity over the governors of Aleppo, Mosul, Armenia, and Georgia. Ascelin is said to have been three years and seven months absent from Rome on this mission, during almost the whole of which time he was accompanied by brothers Alberic and Alexander. Brother Simon (from whom Vincent had his information) remained with him two years and six weeks, and Guichard, whom they picked up at Tripolis, only five months. Of the previous and subsequent life of Ascelin we have been unable to find any account. The_short_notice of his mission communicated to Vincent by brother Simon is of little value for Oriental history or geography; but it affords a striking picture of the collision between the head of the Christian church and the Tartar chief, each claiming divine authority, and each surprised at the presumption of his rival. (Miroir Historial de Vincent de Beauvais, Paris, 1495-6; Bergeron's edition of the 40th to the 52nd chapter of the 32nd book of Vincent's History, collated with a manuscript in the library of M. Petau. Bergeron's version was re-printed at Paris in 1830, together with the travels of Benjamin of Tudela, &c.) W. W. 735 ASCENSIUS. [BADIUS.] ASCH, GEORG THOMAS VON, was born at St. Petersburg, in 1729. He studied under Haller, and, after travelling in Belgium, England, and France, received his doctor's degree, in 1750, at Göttingen, to which university he was always afterwards a liberal benefactor, contributing largely to its library and museums. He served for many years as general staff surgeon in the Russian army during the war with Turkey. At his death, in 1807, he was the oldest member of the Medical College of St. Petersburg, physician-in-chief to the army, and a baron of the Russian empire. The work by which Von Asch is best known is his inaugural dissertation, with the title "Dissertatio Inauguralis de Primo Pare Nervorum Medulla Spinalis," Göttingen, 1750, 4to. It is prefaced by a brief but very elegant farewell address from Haller, who speaks of Von Asch as his assiduous companion in the anatomical theatre, his constant auditor, and his affectionate attendant in his severe sickness. It contains 66 a very full history of all the preceding observations of the same nerve, an accurate account of its origin and distribution, and some excellent plates. It is altogether an admirable monograph, one of the best of the great number which were written under the guidance and encouragement of Haller, and to which the advance of anatomical science in his time was mainly due. Besides this dissertation, Von Asch published an account of the plague which prevailed at Jassy Tschuma about the year 1770. The letter in which this was written is translated in Baldinger's Magazin vor Aerzte," st. vi. p. 473, 1778. It relates chiefly to the treatment of the disease. When the attack came on slowly, stimulants were used; when it was sudden, emetics and stimulants; and by these Von Asch believed that the danger of the disease might almost always, if met in due time, be averted. If early treatment was neglected, half the patients died, whatever was done for them: bleeding and all lowering means were always injurious. Von Asch is said also to have published an account of the precautions to be adopted during the plague, in Russian and Polish, and to have assisted in editing the Russian Pharmacopoeia. ASCH, PETER ERNST VON, a younger brother of the above, with whom he is often confounded, was one of the most esteemed practitioners of his time in Moscow. He also was a surgeon in the army. The only work by which he is known is the dissertation written when he took his doctor's degree at Göttingen, in 1756, and which has the title "De Natura Spermatis Observationibus Microscopicis indagata." In this he denied that the seminal corpuscles are caudate; and maintained that corpuscles exactly like them 3 B 2 exist in many other fluids. He probably both used a bad microscope and made his observations carelessly, for he did not discriminate between the true seminal corpuscles and the infusoria which formed in the putrid fluids that he examined. He is said also to have written a military medical report from Landsberg, in 1758. (Richter, Geschichte der Medicin in Russland, iii. 486; G. T. von Asch, De Primo Pare Nervorum; Haller, Elementa Physiologiæ, vii. 520.) J.P. ASCH, PIETER JÄNZEN VÁN, a clever Dutch landscape-painter, born at Delft in 1603. His father, Johan van Asch, was a portrait painter. He excelled in pictures of a small size; but though he lived to be old, his works are scarce, for, says Houbraken, a great deal of his time was taken up in attending upon his aged parents. (Houbraken, Groote Schouburg, &c.) R. N. W. ASCHAM, ANTHONY, a clergyman resident in Yorkshire, in the year 1553, was presented to the vicarage of Burniston in that county, by King Edward VI. The following notice of him is from the Appendix to Hearne's edition of Heming's "Chartularium Ecclesiæ Wigorniensis." "Anthony Ascham, after some studye in the liberall sciences, chiefly gave himselfe to Astrologie, wherin, to purchase himselfe some opinion of secret and profound knowledge, he published certaine almanacks and prognostications. In them he declared and expounded the meaning of blasing starres, and other meteors alreadye past, and also what the influence of the celestiall bodyes did forshewe hereafter to come. Hee was a Priest, and lived in Yorkeshire in Anno 1553." 2. His works are, 1. "A treatise of Astronomie, declaring what herbs and all kinde of medicines are appropriate, and under the influence of the planets, signes, and constellations also how ye shall bring the virtue of the heavens and nature of the starres to every part of man's body being diseased," &c., London, 1550, 8vo., and 1559, 8vo. "A Prognostication made for the yere of our Lord God 1552," London, 1552, 8vo. 3. "A Treatise of Astronomie, declearing the leap year, and what is the cause thereof; and how to know St. Matthias' day for ever, with the marvellous motion of the sun, both in his proper circle, and by the moving that he hath of the 10th, 9th, and 8th sphere," London, 1552, 8vo. 4. “An Almanacke or procognostication made for the year of our Lord God MVCLV," London, 1554, broadside. 5. "Treatyse, made 1547, of the state and disposition of the worlde, with the alterations and changing thereof thro' the hyest Planets, called Maxima, Major, Media, and Minor, declaring the very tyme of the day, houre, and minute that God created the sonne, moone, and starres, and the places where they were fyrst set in the Heavens, and the beginning of their movings and so contynued to this day whereby the worlde hath receyved influence, as shall be declared by example from the Creation unto this present year of our Lord, to come last day Januarye," London, 1558, 8vo. (Tanner, Bibliotheca Britannico-Hibernica, 51; Heming, Chartularium Ecclesia Wigorniensis, edidit T. Hearnius, vol. ii., Appendix, 647; Watt, Bibliotheca Britannica.) G. B. ASCHAM, ANTHONY, was born at Boston, in Lincolnshire, and educated at Eton College, whence he was elected, in 1633 or 1634, to King's College, Cambridge. After taking the degree of A.M., he travelled for some time beyond sea, but, returning to his native country about the commencement of the civil war, he joined the Presbyterians, took the covenant, and, according to Wood, "sided with the Independents," and "became a great creature of the Long Parliament,” by whose authority he was, in 1646, made tutor to James, Duke of York, who had been taken prisoner at Oxford. Cole observes, that "by his factious and anti-monarchical principles he was much trusted by the fanatics, by whom he was employed in drawing up the king's tryal." About this time he wrote a work, entitled "A Discourse: wherein is examined, what is particularly lawfull during the Confusions and Revolutions of Government; or how farre a man may lawfully conforme to the powers and commands of those who with various successes hold kingdoms divided with civill or forreigne warres, whether it be, 1. In paying Taxes. 2. In Personall Service. 3. In taking Oaths. 4. In a man's giving himselfe up to a finall allegiance, in case the warre end to the advantage of the unjust power or party. Likewise, Whether the nature of Warre be inconsistent with the nature of the Christian Religion?" The first edition of this treatise, on the title-page of which the author's name is erroneously printed Ashcam, was published in 1648, in a small octavo volume; a second appeared in the following year, and another, under a slightly modified title, and without the author's name, in 1689. In 1649 Don Alonzo de Cardinas, the Spanish ambassador in London, who was very anxious to establish a good understanding between Spain and the new English government, gave the Parliament reason to believe that an ambassador from them would be favourably received by the King of Spain, and accordingly on the 31st of January, 1649-50, Ascham was appointed ambassador to Madrid. Lord Clarendon, who was at that time residing at the Spanish Court as one of the ambassadors of Charles II., states, that on his landing in Spain, the English ambassadors “expostulated with Don Lewis de Haro with some warmth, that his Catholic Majesty should be the first Christian prince that would receive an ambassador from the odious and execrable murderers of a Christian King, his brother and ally; which |