d'Abelard, that his philosophical performance could be judged
at first hand; of his strictly philosophical works only one,
the ethical treatise Scito te ipsum, having been published
earlier, namely, in 1721. Cousin's collection, besides giving
extracts from the theological work Sic et Non (an assemblage
of opposite opinions on doctrinal points, culled from the
Fathers as a basis for discussion, the main interest in which
lles in the fact that there is no attempt to reconcile the
different opinions), includes the Dialectica, commentaries
on logical works of Aristotle, Porphyry and Boothius, and a
fragment, De Generibus et Speciebus. The last-named
work, and also the psychological treatise De Inteilectibus,
published apart by Cousin (in Fragmens Philosophiques,
vol. ii.), are now considered upon internal evidence not to
be hy Abelard himself, but only to have sprung out of his
school. A genuine work, the Glossulae super Porphyrium,
from which Charles de Remusat, in his classical monograph
Abelard (1845), has given extracts, remains in manuscript.
The general importance of Abelard lles in his having fixed
more decisively than any one before him the scholastic manner
of philosophizing, with its object of giving a formally
rational expression to the received ecclesiastical doctrine
. However his own particular interpretations may have been
condemned, they were conceived in essentially the same spirit
as the general scheme of thought afterwards elaborated in
the 13th century with approval from the heads of the church.
Through him was prepared in the Middle Age the ascendancy
of the philosophical authority of Aristotle, which became
firmly established in the half-century after his death, when
first the completed Organon, and gradually ail the other
works of the Greek thinker, came to be known in the schools:
before his time it was rather upon the authority of Plato
that the prevailing Realism sought to lean. As regards his
so-called Conceptualism and his attitude to the question of
Universals, see SCHOLASTICISM. Outside of his dialectic,
it was in ethics that Abelard showed greatest activity of
philosophical thought; laying very particular stress upon
the subjective intention as determining, if not the moral
character, at least the moral value, of human action. His
thought in this direction, wherein he anticipated something
of modern speculation, is the more remarkable because his
scholastic successors accomplished least in the field of
morals, hardly venturing to bring the principles and rules of
conduct under pure philosophical discussion, even after the
great ethical inquiries of AAstotle became fully known to them.
BIBLIOGRAPHY --Abelard's own works remain the best sources
for his life, especially his Historia Culamitatum, an
autobiography, and the correspondence with Heloise. The
literature on Abelard is extensive, but consists principally
of monographs on different aspects of his philosophy.
Charles de Remusat's Abelard (2 vols., 1845) remains an
authority; it must be distinguished from his drama Abelard
(1877), which is an attempt to give a picture of medieval
life. McCabe's life of Abelard is written closely from
the sources. eee also the valuable analysis by Nitsch
in the article ``Abalard'' There is a comprehensive
bibliograohy in U. Chevalier, Repertoire des sources
hist. du moyen age, s. ``Abailard.'' (G. C. R.; J. T. S.*)
ABELIN, JOHANN PHILIPP, an early 16th-century German
chronicler, was born, probably, at Strasburg, and died there
between the years 1634 and 1637. He wrote numerous histories
over the pseudonyms of Philipp Arlanibaus, Abeleus and Johann
Eudwighottfaed or Gotofredus, his earliest works of importance
being his history of the German wars of Gustavus Adolphus,
entitled Arma Suecica (pub. 1631-1634, in 12 parts), and the
Inventarium Sueciae (1632)---both compilations from existing
records. His best known work is the Theatrum Europaeum, a
series of chronicles of the chief events in the history of the
world down to 1619. He was himself responsible for the first two
volumes. It was continued by various writers and grew to
twenty-one volumes (Frankf. 1633-1738). The chief interest
of the work is, however, its illustration by the beautiful
copperplate engravings of Matthaus Meriah (1593-1650). Abelin
also wrote a history of the antipodes, Historia Antipodum
(posthumously pub. Frankf. 1655), and a history of India.
See G. Droysen, Arlanibaeus, Godofredus, Abelinus (Berlin,
1864); and notice in Allgemeine Deutsche Biographic.
ABENCERRAGES, a family or faction that is said to have held a
prominent position in the Moorish kingdom of Granada in the 15th
century. The name appears to have been derived from the Yussuf
ben-Serragh, the head of the tribe in the time of Mahommed
VII., who did that sovereign good service in his struggles
to retain the crown of which he was three times deprived.
Nothing is known of the family with certainty; but the name
is familiar from the interesting romance of Gines Perez de
Hita, Guerras civiles de Granada, which celebrates the feuds
of the Abencerrages and the rival family of the Zegris, and
the cruel treatment to which the former were subjected. J.
P. de Florian's Gonsalve de Cordoue and Chateaubriand's Le
dernier des Abencerrages are imitations of Perez de Hita's
work. The hall of the Abencerrages in the Alhambra takes its
name from being the reputed scene of the massacre of the family.
ABENDANA, the name of two Jewish theologians. (1) JACOB
(1630-i695), rabbi (Hakham) of the Spanish Jews in London
from 1680. Like his brother Isaac, Jacob Abendana had
a circle of Christian friends, and his reputation led to
the appreciation of Jewish scholarship by modern Christian
theologians. (2) ISAAC (c. 1650-1710), his brother,
taught Hebrew at Cambridge and afterwards at Oxford. He
compiled a Jewish Calendar and wrote Discourses on the
Ecclesiastical and Civil Polity of the Jews (1706).
ABENEZRA (IBN EZRA), or, to give him his full name,
ABRAHAM BEN MEIR IBN Ezra (1092 or 1093-1167), one of the
most distinguished Jewish men of letters and writers of the
Middle Ages. He was born at Toledo, left his native land of
Spain before 1140 and led until his death a life of restless
wandering, which took him to North Africa, Egypt, Italy (Rome,
Lucca, Mantua,Verona), Southern France(Narbonne, Beziers),
Northern France (Dreux), England (London), and back again to
the South of France. At several of the above-named places he
remained for some time and developed a rich literary activity.
In his native land he had already gained the reputation of a
distinguished poet and thinker; but, apart from his poems, his
works, which were all in the Hebrew language, were written
in the second period of his life. With these works, which
cover in the first instance the field of Hebrew philology and
Biblical exegesis, he fulfilled the great mission of making
accessible to the Jews of Christian Europe the treasures of
knowledge enshrined in the works written in Arabic which he
had brought with him from Spain. His grammatical writings,
among which Moznayim (``the Scales,'' written in 1140)
and Zahot (``Correctness,'' written in 1141) are the most
valuable, were the first expositions of Hebrew grammar in the
Hebrew language, in which the system of Hayyuj and his school
prevailed. He also translated into Hebrew the two writings
of Hayyuj in which the foundations of the system were laid
down. Of greater original value than the grammatical works of
Ibn Ezra are his commentaries on most of the books of the Bible,
of which, however, a part has been lost. His reputation as an
intelligent and acute expounder of the Bible was founded on his
commentary on the Pentateuch, of which the great popularity is
evidenced by the numerous commentaries which were written upon
it. In the editions of this commentary (ed. princ. Naples
1488) the commentary on the book of Exodus is replaced by a
second, more complete commentary of Ibn Ezra, while the
first and shorter commentary on Exodus was not printed until
1840. The great editions of the Hebrew Bible with rabbinical
commentaries contained also commentaries of Ibn Ezra's on the
following books of the Bible: Isaiah, Minor Prophets, Psalms,
Job, Pentateuch, Daniel; the commentaries on Proverbs, Ezra
and Nehemiah which bear his name are really those of Moses
Kimhi. Ibn Ezra wrote a second commentary on Genesis as he
had done on Exodus, but this was never finished. There are
second commentaries also by him on the Song of Songs, Esther and
Daniel. The importance of the exegesis of Ibn Ezra consists
in the fact that it aims at arriving at the simple sense of
the text, the so-called ``Pesohat,'' on solid grammatical
principles. It is in this that, although he takes a great
part of his exegetical material from his predecessors, the
originality of his mind is everywhere apparent, an originality
which displays itself also in the witty and lively language of his
commentaries. To judge by certain signs, of which Spinoza
in his Tractatus Theologico Politicus makes use, Ibn
Ezra belongs to the earliest pioneers of the criticism of the
Pentateuch. His commentaries, and especially some of the longer
excursuses, contain numerous contributions to the philosophy of
religion. One writing in particular, which belongs to this
province (Vosod Mera), on the division and the reasons
for the Biblical commandments, he wrote in 1158 for a London
friend, Joseph b. Jacob. In his philosophical thought
neo-platonic ideas prevail; and astrology also had a place
in his view of the world. He also wrote various works on
mathematical and astronomical subjects. Ibn Ezra died on the
28th of January 1167, the place of his death being unknown.
Among the literature on Ibn Ezra may be especially mentioned:
M. Friedlander, Essays on the Writings of Ibn Ezra
(London, 1877); W. Bacher, Abraham Ibn Ezra als Grammatiker
(Strasburg, 1882); M. Steinschneider, Abraham Ibn Ezra, in
the Zeitschrift fur Mathematik und Physik, Band xxv.,
Supplement; D. Rosin, Die Religions philosophie Abraham
Ibn Ezra's in vols. xiii. and xliii. of the Monatschrift
fur Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judenthums; his Diwan
was edited by T. Egers (Berlin, 1886): a collection of his
poems, Reime und Gedichte, with translation and commentary,
were published by D. Rosin in several annual reports of the
Jewish theological Seminary at Breslau (1885--1894). (W. BA.)
ABENSBERG, a town of Germany, in the kingdom of Bavaria, on the
Abens, a tributary of the Danube, 18 m. S.W. of Regensburg,
with which it is connected by rail. Pop. 2202. It has a small
spa, and its sulphur baths are resorted to for the cure of
rheumatism and gout. The town is the Castra Abusina of the
Romans, and Roman remains exist in the neighbourhood. Here,
on the 20th of April 1809, Napoleon gained a signal victory
over the Austrians under the Archduke Louis and Genegal Hiller.
ABEOKUTA, a town of British West Africa in the Egba
division of the Yoruba country, S. Nigeria Protectorate. It
is situated in 7 deg. 8' N., 3 deg. 25' E., on the Ogun river, 64
m. N. of Lagos by railway, or 81 m. by water. Population,
approximately 60,000. Abeokuta lies in a beautiful and fertile
country, the surface of which is broken by masses of grey
granite. It is spread over an extensive area, being surrounded
by mud walls 18 miles in extent. Abeokuta, under the reforming
zeal of its native rulers, was largely transformed during
the early years of the 20th century. Law courts, government
