Page:EB1911 - Volume 02.djvu/940

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892
AUBURN—AUCH
  

interests. The principal manufactures are cordage and twine, agricultural implements, engines, pianos, boots and shoes, cotton and woollen goods, carpets and rugs, rubber goods, flour and machinery. The total factory product in 1905 was valued at $13,420,863; of this $2,890,301 was the value of agricultural implements, in the manufacture of which Auburn ranked fifth among the cities of the United States. There are a number of grey and blue limestone quarries, one of which is owned and operated by the municipality.

Settled soon after the close of the War of Independence, Auburn was laid out in 1793 by Captain John L. Hardenburgh, a veteran of the war, and for some years was known as Hardenburgh’s Corners. In 1805, when it was made the county-seat, it was renamed Auburn. It was incorporated in 1814, and was chartered as a city in 1848.

See C. Hawley, Early Chapters of Cayuga History (Auburn, 1879).

AUBURN (from the Low Lat. alburnus, whitish, light-coloured), ruddy-brown; the meaning has changed from the original one of brownish-white or light yellow (citrinus, in Promptorium Parvulorum), probably through the intensification of the idea of brown caused by the early spelling “abron” or “abrown.”

AUBUSSON, PIERRE D’ (1423–1503), grand-master of the order of St John of Jerusalem, and a zealous opponent of the Turks, was born in 1423. He belonged to a noble French family, and early devoted himself to the career of a soldier in the service of the emperor Sigismund. Under the archduke Albert of Austria he took part in a campaign against the Turks, and on his return to France sided with the Armagnacs against the Swiss, greatly distinguishing himself at the battle of St Jacob in 1444. He then joined the order of the knights of Rhodes, and successfully conducted an expedition against the pirates of the Levant and an embassy to Charles VII. He soon rose to the most important offices in the order, and in 1476 was elected grand-master. It was the period of the conquests of Mahommed II., who, supreme in the East, now began to threaten Europe. In December 1479 a large Turkish fleet appeared in sight of Rhodes; a landing was effected, and a vigorous attack made upon the city. But in July of the next year, being reinforced from Spain, the knights forced the Mussulmans to retire, leaving behind them 9000 dead. The siege, in which d’Aubusson was seriously wounded, enhanced his renown throughout Europe. Mahommed was furious, and would have attacked the island again but for his death in 1481. His succession was disputed between his sons Bayezid and Jem. The latter, after his defeat by Bayezid, sought refuge at Rhodes under a safe-conduct from the grand-master and the council of the knights. What followed remains a stain on d’Aubusson’s memory. Rhodes not being considered secure, Jem with his own consent was sent to France. Meanwhile, in spite of the safe-conduct, d’Aubusson accepted an annuity of 45,000 ducats from the sultan; in return for which he undertook to guard Jem in such a way as to prevent his design of appealing to the Christian powers to aid him against his brother. For six years Jem, in spite of frequent efforts to escape, was kept a close prisoner in various castles of the Rhodian order in France, until in 1489 he was handed over to Pope Innocent VIII., who had been vying with the kings of Hungary and Naples for the possession of so valuable a political weapon. D’Aubusson’s reward was a cardinal’s hat (1489), and the power to confer all benefices connected with the order without the sanction of the papacy; the order of St John received the wealth of the suppressed orders of the Holy Sepulchre and St Lazarus. The remaining years of his life d’Aubusson spent in the attempt to restore discipline and zeal in his order, and to organize a grand international crusade against the Turks. The age of the Renaissance, with Alexander Borgia on the throne of St Peter, was, however, not favourable to such an enterprise; the death of Jem in 1495 had removed the most formidable weapon available against the sultan; and when in 1501 d’Aubusson led an expedition against Mytilene, dissensions among his motley host rendered it wholly abortive. The old man’s last years were embittered by chagrin at his failure, which was hardly compensated by his success in extirpating Judaism in Rhodes, by expelling all adult Jews and forcibly baptizing their children. In the summer of 1503 he died.

See P. Bouhours, Hist, de Pierre d’Aubusson (Paris, 1676; Hague, 1793; abridged ed. Bruges, 1887); G. E. Streck, Pierre d’Aubusson, Grossmeister, &c. (Chemnitz, 1873); J. B. Bury in Cambridge Mod. Hist. vol. i. p. 85, &c. (for relations with Jem).

AUBUSSON, a town of France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Creuse, picturesquely situated on the river Creuse 24 m. S.E. of Guéret by rail. Pop. (1906) 6475. It has celebrated manufactories of carpets, &c., employing about 2000 workmen, the artistic standard of which is maintained by a national school of decorative arts, founded in 1869. Nothing certain is known as to the foundation of this industry, but it was in full activity at least as far back as 1531. From the 10th to the 13th century Aubusson was the centre of a viscounty, and the viscountess Marguerite, wife of Rainaud VI., was sung by many a troubadour. After the death of the viscount Guy II. (a little later than 1262) Aubusson was incorporated in the countship of La Marche by Hugh XII. of Lusignan, and shared in its fortunes. Louis XIV. revived the title of viscount of Aubusson in favour of François, first marshall de la Feuillade (1686). From the family of the old viscounts was descended Pierre d’Aubusson (q.v.). Admiral Sallandrouze de Lamornaix (1840–1902) belonged to a family of tapestry manufacturers established at Aubusson since the beginning of the 19th century. Aubusson was also the native place of the novelists Léonard Sylvain, Julien Sandeau and Alfred Assollant (1827–1886).

See Le Père Anselme, Hist. généalogique de la maison de France, vol. v. pp. 318 et seq.; P. Mignaton, Hist. de la maison d’Aubusson (Paris, 1886); Cyprien Pérathon, Hist. d’Aubusson (Limoges, 1886).  (A. T.) 


AUCH, a city of south-western France, capital of the department of Gers, 55 m. W. of Toulouse on the Southern railway. Pop. (1906) 9294. Auch is built on the summit and sides of a hill at the foot of which flow the yellow waters of the Gers. It consists of a lower and upper quarter united in several places by flights of steps. The streets are in general steep and narrow, but there is a handsome promenade in the upper town, laid out in the 18th century by the intendant Antoine Mégret d’Etigny. Three bridges lead from the left to the right bank of the Gers, on which the suburb of Patte d’Oie is situated. The most interesting part of the town lies in the old quarter around the Place Salinis, a spacious terrace which commands an extensive view over the surrounding country. On its eastern side it communicates with the left bank of the river by a handsome series of steps; on its north side rises the cathedral of Sainte-Marie. This church, built from 1489 to 1662, belongs chiefly to the Gothic style, of which it is one of the finest examples in southern France. The façade, however, with its two square and somewhat heavy flanking towers dates from the 17th century, and is Greco-Roman in architecture. Sainte-Marie contains many artistic treasures, the chief of which are the magnificent stained-glass windows of the Renaissance which light the apsidal chapels, and the 113 choir-stalls of carved oak, also of Renaissance workmanship. The archbishop’s palace adjoins the cathedral; it is a building of the 18th century with a Romanesque hall and a tower of the 14th century. Opposite the south side of the cathedral stands the lycée on the site of a former Jesuit college. Only scanty remains are left of the once celebrated abbey of St Orens. The ecclesiastical seminary contains an important library with a collection of manuscripts, and there is a public library in the Carmelite chapel, a building of the 17th century. The former palace of the intendants of Gascony is now used as the préfecture. Auch is the seat of an archbishopric, a prefect and a court of assizes, and has tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a chamber of commerce, a lycée, training-colleges, a school of design, a branch of the Bank of France and an important lunatic asylum. The manufactures include agricultural implements, leather, vinegar and plaited sandals, and there is a trade in brandy, wine, cattle, poultry and wool; there are quarries of building-stone in the neighbourhood.

Auch (Elimberris) was the capital of a Celtiberian tribe, the Ausci, and under the Roman domination was one of the most