Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 3, Athens-BOI

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A U G —A U N
most extravagant and luxurious in Europe, and lie himself
as the most dissolute and magnificent of princes. His lavish
expenditure, though it enriched his capital with treasures
of art, impoverished both Poland and Saxony, and laid the
foundations for the future misfortunes of those countries.
He died, 1st February 1733, from mortification of an old
wound. Of his numerous natural children, the most
famous was the distinguished general, Maurice of Saxony.
AUGUSTUS III., or Frederick Augustus II., Elector
of Saxony and King of Poland, only legitimate son of
Augustus the Strong, was born at Dresden, 7th October
1696. He was brought up in the Protestant faith, but in
1712, while on his travels, he entered the Church of Rome,
though his change of opinion was not publicly known till
1717, In 1733 he succeeded his father as elector of
Saxony, and put forward claims to the kingdom of Poland.
The Polish nobles, however, had become dissatisfied with
foreign rule, and endeavoured to reinstate Stanislaus Lesz-
czinski, whose daughter was married to Louis XV. of France.
Russia and Austria, probably bribed, but certainly dread¬
ing French influence in Poland, supported Augustus, who
was elected, though in an informal manner, and by
their aid established himself in the kingdom. On the
death of Charles of Austria in 1740, Saxony at first
joined the league against Maria Theresa, but jealousy of the
Prussian successes in the first campaign caused Augustus
to unite with the empress when war broke out a second
time in 1744. His forces were completely defeated by
Frederick, and Saxony was overrun and pillaged by the
Prussian troops. Eleven years later Augustus joined the
alliance against Frederick, which gave rise to the Seven
Years’ War. He was again unfortunate; the whole Saxon
army was surrounded and compelled to surrender at Pirna
in 1756, and during the remainder of the war Saxony and
Poland were the seats of operations, and suffered severely.
Augustus died 5th October 1763, surviving only by a few
months the peace of Hubertsburg. During his reign
considerable additions were made to the collections of art
treasures formed by his father, and Dresden began to be
celebrated throughout Europe for its china and pictures.
AUK, a name common to several species of sea-fowl
belonging, with one exception, to the family Alcidce. Of
these, special interest attaches to the Great Auk, or Gare-
fowl (Aha impennis), from the circumstance that there is
no authentic record of its having been taken, or even seen
alive, for more than a quarter of a century. In the autumn
of 1821 Dr Fleming, while on a cruise through the Hebrides,
observed and described one which had been taken alive
in the sea off St Kilda and put on board the yacht. With
a rope attached to one of its legs, this specimen was
occasionally allowed to disport itself in its native element,
where it astonished every one by the rapidity with which
it swam under water. On one of these occasions it got
loose from its bonds, and was soon beyond reach of pursuit.
Another specimen had been observed a few years before off
Papa Westra, one of the Orkney Islands, but in spite of
the exertions of the crew of a six-oared boat, continued for
several hours, the auk could not be overtaken. This
specimen, however, was afterwards secured, and is now in
the British Museum. The Great Auk measures about three
feet in length, has a large bill, but wings so small as to be
totally useless for flying, serving, however, as powerful
swimming organs It is said to have laid a single egg on
the bare rock,—usually, from the inability of the bird to
rise on wing to the higher cliffs, close to the water edge.
Its food, according to Fabricius, consisted of the lump¬
sucker and other fishes of a similar size. From the earliest
existing accounts, the Great Auk does not appear to have
ever been more than an occasional visitant to the British
Isles, and then chiefly to the sea around St Kilda and the
Orkneys, while Iceland, the Faroes, and the islets about
Newfoundland, appear to have been its proper home. The
probability that this bird is now totally extinct gives
special value to the remains of it now existing. These,
according to Professor Newton, are as follows : 71 or 72
skins, 9 skeletons, 38 or 41 detached bones of different
birds, and 65 eggs. The other Auks are the Puffin, the
Razorbill, and the Little Auk, all widely distributed along
the northern-temperate and Arctic coasts.
AULIC COUNCIL (from the Latin aula, a hall, in
German, Reichshofrath), one of the two supreme courts
of the old Germanic empire, the other being the imperial
chamber (Reichskammergericht). It was called into exist¬
ence in 1501 by the Emperor Maximilian, and was by
him intended to counterbalance the influence of the im¬
perial chamber, which he had been compelled to form by
the states six years before. The Aulic Council had in
many respects equal power with the chamber; from its
decisions there wTas no appeal, and under its special juris¬
diction were included the consideration of the imperial
reserved rights, fees, and privileges, the settlement of
disputes as to precedence among the several states, and
the arrangement of matters relating to the Italian posses¬
sions of the empire. All questions of law could be sub¬
mitted either to this council or to the chamber. The
members were at first appointed by the emperor, at whose
death the court dissolved, and new appointments were made
by his successor. The power of the council increased
under several of the emperors; it was formally recognised
as coequal with the imperial chamber; and after the peace
of Westphalia its organisation was altered so as to meet the
requirements of the time. It then and afterwards consisted
of a president, vice-president, and eighteen councillors, all
selected and paid by the emperor, and of a vice-chancellor,
whose appointment rested with the electorate of Mainz.
Six members were Protestants, and the votes of these six,
when unanimous, could not be overturned by any majority
of the others. The councillors were divided into two
parties—the first consisting of the counts and barons, the
second of the men of learning, who possessed equal rights
with the nobles, but were more highly paid. At the
dissolution of the old Germanic imperial system in 1806,
the Aulic Council in its former signification came to an
end, though an Austrian court bearing the same title still
continued to sit in Vienna.
AULIS, a town in Boeotia, supposed to have been
situated on a rocky peninsula between two bays, about
three miles S. of Chalcis. During the Trojan war it was
the rendezvous of the Greek fleet, and has obtained cele¬
brity as the scene of the sacrifice of Iphigenia. Pausanias
states that in his day there was still to be seen here the
temple of Artemis ascribed to Agamemnon.
AUMALE, formerly Adeema.rle, from the Latin Alba
Marla, a town of France, in the department of Seine
Inhirieure, on the banks of the Bresle, 35 miles N.E. of
Rouen. Grain and hemp are cultivated in the neighbour¬
hood 5 cloth is manufactured; and the town has a trade in
wool and cattle. Population, 2229. Aumale was erected
by William the Conqueror into a countship, which was
afterwards held in succession by the houses of Castile,
Dammartin, Harcourt, and Lorraine; and in 1547 it was
raised to the rank of a dukedom in favour of Francis of
Lorraine. It afterwards passed to the house of Savoy,
from whom it was purchased in 1675 by Louis XIY., who
conferred it as an apanage on one of his natural sons. In
1769 it came into possession of the house of Orleans. The
earl of Albemarle, in the British peerage, derives his title
from Aumale.
AUNGERVYLE, Richard, commonly known by the
name of Richard de Bury, was born in 1281, at Bury St