MUNECAS, Ildefonso de las (moon-yay'-cas), Bolivian patriot, b. in Cochabamba, 15 Aug., 1776; d. near Desaguadero. 7 July, 1816. He studied theology in La Paz, and, after being ordained priest, travelled for some time in the Argentine provinces, and afterward in Europe, whence he returned as chaplain to a high official that had been sent to the viceroyalty of Peru. Soon afterward he was appointed to the parish of the cathedral in Cuzco. He corresponded with his political friends in Bolivia, and when the first revolution of Chuquisaca and La Paz began, he decided to prepare for a general uprising in Peru. He secretly informed his friends and parishioners of his plans, and forwarded arms and ammunition to the insurgents in upper Peru, but was discovered and arrested. His trial for treason had begun in 1813, when he escaped and joined the cacique Pumakahua (q. v.), who possessed great influence among the natives. Muiiecas persuaded him to declare for independence, and an uprising of the Indians followed. While Pumakahua with his native army invested Arequipa, Mufiecas gathered 400 resolute followers and marched toward upper Peru, fomenting on his march the insurrection in the provinces that he passed. After defeating the Spanish forces at Desaguadero, he provided his followers with the cap- tured arms, and attacked La Paz, which he took after a protracted fight on 24 Sept., 1814. When the Spaniards received re-enforcements from Peru they soon recovered La Paz and other cities, but Muiiecas continued a guerilla warfare and soon became a terror to the royalists in the provinces that he occupied. At last he thouglit himself strong enough to give battle to the Spaniards, but after a desperate fight he was totally routed by Col. Gamarra in Colola and taken prisoner with many of his followers, who were immediately executed. It was intended to send him to La Paz to be degraded and then hanged, but on the way, near the scene of his former triumph, he was assassinated, according to the patriots, or, according to the Spaniards, killed by the accidental discharge of a gun. A province in Bolivia was named in his honor.
MUNFORD, William, author, b. in Mecklenburg county, Va., 15 Aug., 1775 ; d. in Richmond, Va., 21 June, 1825. His father, Col. Robert Munford, a soldier of the Revolution, was the author of two dramatic compositions, " The Candidate " and "The Patriots." published at Petersburg, Va., in 1798, and a spirited song of the Revolution. The son was educated at William and Mary, studied law under George Wythe, and was in 1797-1801 a member of the Virginia house of delegates. He was in the state senate in 1801-'5, in the privy council till 1811, and clerk of the house of delegates during the remainder of his life. He was also for several years the reporter of the decisions of the supreme court of appeals of Virginia, of which four volumes (1806-"9) were prepared in conjunction with William W. Hening, and six volumes, from
1810 till 1820, were from his own pen. In 1819 he assisted in revising the statute laws of Virginia. He was also the author of an early volume of poems, and other literary matter (Richmond, 1798), and a translation of the " Iliad " into blank verse, which was published in 1846. In 1806 he delivered a eulogy on his friend, Chancellor Wythe, in the Capitol at Richmond.
MUNGER, Theodore Thornton, clergyman, b. in Bainbridge. Chenango co., N. Y.. 5 March, 18o0. He was graduated at Yale in 1851, and at
the theological seminary in 1855. He was pastor of Congregational churches at Dorchester, Mass., in 1856-'6'0; Haverhill, 1862-70; and Lawrence,
1870'5. He was stationed at San Jose, Cal., for a time, established a Congregational church there in 1875-'6. was pastor at North Adams, Mass., from that time till 1885, and has since had charge of the
United church. New Haven, Conn. In. 1887 he was chosen a fellow of Yale university. Illinois college gave him the degree of D. D. in 1883. He
is the author of "On the Threshold" (Boston, 1881); "The Freedom of the Faith" (1883): "Lamps and Paths" (1885); and "The Appeal to Life " (1887).
MUNK, Jans, Danish navigator, b. in Elsinore
in 1589; d. in the Arctic ocean, 23 June, 1628. He
followed his father's calling, that of a pilot, and
had acquired great reputation, making yearly
voyages from Denmark and Norway to the northern
shores of America when King Christian IV., in
1619, sent him to find the northwestern route to
the Indies, whose existence the recent discoveries
of Hudson and Baffin were supposed to prove
beyond doubt. Sailing from Elsinore, on 16 May,
1619, with two ships and 64 men, Munk sighted
Cape Farewell on 20 June, and penetrated Davis
strait, advancing as far north as 69°. Returning
southward when the ice-fields began to make
navigation dangerous, he entered Chesterfield inlet, in
New Wales, which he named Munk's Vinterhavn.
He had given new names to Hudson and Baffin
bay, caliing the former Mare Christianeum, and
the latter Mare Novum. On his charts Davis strait
is designated as Fretum Christianeum, and all
the fiords and islets of the southern coast of
Greenland bear Latin names. Cold and famine
gradually lessened the number of the explorers, and
in the spring of 1620 Munk and two of his crew
were the only survivors. Their situation was
desperate, yet they managed to repair the smaller
ship, and taking as provisions the frozen bodies of
their dead comrades, they made sail, and after sixty
days sighted again the coast of Norway, on 20
Sept., 1620. The adventures of Munk excited
universal interest. Subscription-lists were circulated
and the money for a second expedition was soon
raised. Munk set out again in March, 1621,
advanced as far as 75° north latitude, and said, on
his return to Elsinore in June, 1623, that he had
seen, farther north, an open sea, which the
icebergs, and especially the want of provisions,
prevented his reaching. This assertion was then
discredited, but cannot now be denied. Munk afterward
resumed his trade, made voyages from
Denmark to North America, and died at sea during a
third expedition to the arctic regions. He
published the narrative of his first expedition under
the title “Efterretuing af navigationen og reisen
til den Nye Danmark af Styrmand Hans Munk”
(Copenhagen, 1623; enlarged ed., 1627). This work
enjoyed great reputation for more than a century,
and was translated into German (Frankfort, 1650);
Dutch (Amsterdam, 1678); French (1680); English
(London, 1685), and other languages.
MUNN, George F., artist, b. in Utica, N. Y.. in
1852. He first studied art under Charles Calverly, the
sculptor, and subsequently at the schools of the
National academy of design at New York. Later
he entered the art-schools at South Kensington,
England, where he received a gold medal, the first
that was awarded to an American, for a clay model
of the Farnese Hercules. He received a silver
medal for life drawing in the schools of the Royal
academy, and was afterward in the studio of
George F. Watts in 1876. He has painted and
sketched in Brittany, and has exhibited at the Dudley
gallery, London, at Birmingham, and elsewhere.
Among his works are “Wild Flowers,” “Roses,”
“Meadow-Sweet,” and “A Sunny Day, Brittany.”
