A Biographical Dictionary of Freethinkers of All Ages and Nations Part 34

Abd al Hakk ibn Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn Sabin. See Sabin.

Abu Abd'allah Muhammad ibn Ma.s.sara al Jabali. Arabian pantheist b. 881. He lived at Cordova in Spain and studied the works of Empedocles and other Greek philosophers. Accused of impiety, he left Spain and travelled through the East. Returned to Spain and collected disciples whom he led to scepticism. He was the most eminent predecessor of Ibn Rushd or Averroes. Died Oct. 931. His works were publicly burned at Seville.

* Acosta (Uriel), the name of his work was Examen Traditorum Philosophicarum ad legem Scriptam.

Acuna (Rosario de), Spanish writer and lecturess, b. Madrid about 1854. Contributes to Las Dominicales of Madrid. Has written The Doll's House, and other educational works.

* Adams (Robert C.), American Freethought writer and lecturer, the son of the Rev. Needham Adams, b. Boston 1839. He became a sea-captain, and was afterwards s.h.i.+pper at Montreal. Has written in Secular Thought, the Truthseeker and the Freethinker's Magazine, and published rational lectures under the t.i.tle Pioneer Pith, '89. In '89 he was elected President of the Canadian Secular Union.

Admiraal (Aart), Dutch writer, b. Goedereede, 13 Oct. 1833. At first a schoolmaster, he became in '60 director of the telegraph bureau at Schoonhoven. He wrote from '56 for many years in De Dageraad over the anagram "Aramaldi." In '67 he published The Religion of the People under the pseudonym "Bato van der Maas," a name he used in writing to many periodicals. A good mind and heart with but feeble const.i.tution. He died 12 Nov. 1878.

Airoldi (J.) Italian lawyer, b. Lugano (Switzerland), 1829; a poet and writer of talent.

Albaida (Don Jose M. Orense), Spanish n.o.bleman (marquis), one of the founders of the Republican party. Was expelled for his principles; returned to Spain, and was president of the Cortes in 1869.

* Alchindus. Died about 864.

* Aleardi had better be deleted. I am now told he was a Christian.

Alfarabi. See Alpharabius.

Algeri (Pomponio), a youth of Nola. Studied at Padua, and was accused of heresy and Atheism, and burnt alive in a cauldron of boiling oil, pitch, and turpentine at Rome in 1566.

Alkemade (A. de Mey van), Dutch n.o.bleman, who contributed to De Dageraad, and also published a work containing many Bible contradictions, 1862; and in '59 a work on the Bible under the pen name "Alexander de M."

Allais (Denis de). See Vaira.s.se.

Allais (Giovanni), Italian doctor, b. Casteldelfino, 1847.

Almquist (Herman), Swedish, b. 1839, orientalist; professor of philology at the University of Upsala. An active defender of new ideas and Freethought.

Altmeyer (Jean Jacques), Belgian author, b. Luxembourg, 20 Jan. 1804. Was professor at the University of Brussels. He wrote an Introduction to the Philosophical Study of the History of Humanity, '36, and other historical works. Died 15 Sept. 1877.

Amari (Michele), Sicilian historian and orientalist, b. Palmero, 7 July, 1806. In '32 he produced a version of Scott's Marmion. He wrote a standard History of the Musulmen in Sicily. After the landing of Garibaldi, he was made head of public instruction in the island. He took part in the anti-clerical council of '69. Died at Florence, July 1889.

* Amaury de Chartres. According to L'Abbe Ladvocat his disciples maintained that the sacraments were useless, and that there was no other heaven than the satisfaction of doing right, nor any other h.e.l.l than ignorance and sin.

Anderson (Marie), Dutch lady Freethinker, b. the Hague, 2 Aug. 1842. She has written many good articles in de Dageraad, and was for some time editress of a periodical De Twintigste Eeuw (the twentieth century). She has also written some novels. She resides now at Wurzburg, Germany, and contributes still to de Dageraad. As pen-name she formerly used that of "Mevrouw Quarles" and now "Dr. Al. Dondorf."

* Anthero de Quental. This name would be better under Quental.

Apono. See Petrus de Abano. This would probably be best under Abano.

* Aquila. Justinian forbade the Jews to read Aquila's version of the Scriptures.

Aranda (Pedro Pablo Abarca de Bolea), Count, Spanish statesman, b. of ill.u.s.trious family, Saragossa, 18 Dec. 1718. Was soldier and amba.s.sador to Poland. He imbibed the ideas of the Encyclopaedists, and contributed to the expulsion of the Jesuits from Spain in 1767. He also disarmed the Inquisition. In 1792 he was elected Spanish minister to France. He was recalled and exiled to Aragon, where he died in 1799.

Argilleres (Antoine), at first a Jacobin monk and afterwards a Protestant preacher, was tortured several times, then decapitated and his head nailed to a gibbet at Geneva, 1561-2, for having eight years previously taken the part of Servetus against Calvin at Pont-de-Veyle in Bresse.

* Arnould (Victor). Has continued his Tableau in the Positivist Revue and La Societe Nouvelle. From 1868 to '73 he edited La Liberte, in which many a battle for Freethought has been fought.

Ascarate (Gumezindo de), Spanish professor of law at the University of Madrid and Republican deputy, b. Leon about 1844. One of the ablest Radical parliamentary orators; in philosophy, he is a follower of Krause. He has written Social Studies, Self-Government and Monarchy, and other political works.

Aszo y Del Rio (Ignacio Jordan de), Spanish jurist and naturalist, b. Saragossa, 1742. Was professor at Madrid, and left many important works on various branches of science. In his political works he advocated the abolition of ecclesiastical power. Died 1814.

* Aubert de Verse (Noel) had probably better be omitted, although accused of blasphemy himself, I find he wrote an answer to Spinoza, which I have not been able to see.

Auerbach (Berthold), German novelist of Jewish extraction, b. Nordstetten, 28 Feb. 1812. Devoted to Spinoza, in '41 he published a life of the philosopher and a translation of his works, having previously published an historical romance on the same subject. Died Cannes, 8 Feb. 1882.

* Aymon (Jean). La vie et L'Esprit de M. Benoit Spinoza (La Haye, 1719) was afterwards issued under the famous t.i.tle Treatise of Three Impostors.

* Bahrdt (Karl Friedrich). The writings of this enfant terrible of the German Aufklarung fill 120 volumes.

* Bailey (William Shreeve) was born 10 Feb. 1806. He suffered much on account of his opinions. Died Nashville, 20 Feb 1886. Photius Fisk erected a monument to his memory.

* Bancel (Francis Desire). In his work Les Harangues de l'Exil, 3 vols., 1863, his Freethought views are displayed. He also wrote in La Revue Critique.

Barnaud (Nicolas), of Crest in Dauphine. Lived during the latter half of the sixteenth century. He travelled in France, Spain, and Germany, and to him is attributed the authors.h.i.+p of a curious work ent.i.tled Le Cabinet du Roy de France, which is largely directed against the clergy.

Barreaux. See des Barreaux.

Barth (Ferdinand), b. Mureck, Steyermark Austria, 1828. In '48 he attained reputation as orator to working men and took part in the revolution. When Vienna was retaken he went to Leipzig and Zurich, where he died in 1850, leaving a profession of his freethought.

Bartrina, Spanish Atheistic poet, b. Barcelona, 1852, where he died in 1880.

Bedingfield (Richard, W. T.), Pantheistic writer, b. May, 1823, wrote in National Reformer as B.T.W.R., established Freelight, '70. Died 14 Feb. 1876.

* Berigardus (Claudius), b. 15 Aug. 1578.

* Bertillon (Louis Adolphe). In a letter to Bp. Dupanloup, April, '68, he said, You hope to die a Catholic, I hope to die a Freethinker. Died 1883.

* Berwick (George J.) M.D., Dr. Berwick, I am informed, was the author of the tracts issued by Thomas Scott of Ramsgate with the signature of "Presbyter Anglica.n.u.s."

Blein (F. A. A.), Baron, French author of Essais Philosophiques, Paris, 1843.

Blum (Robert), German patriot and orator, b. Cologne, 10 Nov. 1807. He took an active part in progressive political and religious movements, and published the Christmas Tree and other publications. In '48 he became deputy to the Frankfort Parliament and head of the Republican party. He was one of the promoters at the insurrection of Vienna, and showed great bravery in the fights of the students with the troops. Shot at Vienna, 9 Nov. 1848.

* Blumenfleld (J. C.), this name I suspect to be a pseudonym.

Bolin (A. W.), a philosophic writer of Finland, b. 2 Aug. 1835. Studied at Helsingford, '52, and became Doctor of Philosophy in '66, and Professor in '73. He has written on the Freedom of the Will, The Political Doctrines of Philosophy, etc. A subject of Russian Finland; he has been repeatedly troubled by the authorities for his radical views on religious questions.

Bolivar (Ignacio), Spanish professor of natural history at the University of Madrid, and one of the introducers of Darwinian ideas.

Boppe (Herman C.), editor of Freidenker of Milwaukee, U.S.A.

Borsari (Ferdinand), Italian geographer, b. Naples, author of a work of the literature of American aborigines, and a zealous propagator of Freethought.

Bostrom (Christopher Jacob), Swedish Professor at Upsala, b. 4 Jan. 1797. Besides many philosophical works, published trenchant criticism of the Christian h.e.l.l creed. Died 22 March, 1866.