special discussions of Eusebius’ separate works, particularly of his Church History, and of his character as an historian, cannot be referred to here. Elaborate bibliographies will be found in McGiffert’s
translation, and in Preuschen’s article in Herzog-Hauck. (A. C. McG.)
EUSEBIUS [of Emesa] (d. c. 360), a learned ecclesiastic of the Greek church, was born at Edessa about the beginning of the
4th century. After receiving his early education in his native
town, he studied theology at Caesarea and Antioch and philosophy
and science at Alexandria. Among his teachers were
Eusebius of Caesarea and Patrophilus of Scythopolis. The
reputation he acquired for learning and eloquence led to his being
offered the see of Alexandria in succession to the deposed Athanasius
at the beginning of 339, but he declined, and the council
(of Antioch) chose Gregory of Cappadocia, “a fitter agent for
the rough work to be done.” Eusebius accepted the small
bishopric of Emesa (the modern Homs) in Phoenicia, but his
powers as mathematician and astronomer led his flock to accuse
him of practising sorcery, and he had to flee to Laodicea. A
reconciliation was effected by the patriarch of Antioch, but
tradition says that Eusebius finally resigned his charge and lived
a studious life in Antioch. His fame as an astrologer commended
him to the notice of the emperor Constantius II., with whom he
became a great favourite, accompanying him on many of his
expeditions. The theological sympathies of Eusebius were with
the semi-Arian party, but his interest in the controversy was
not strong. His life was written by his friend George of Laodicea.
He was a man of extraordinary learning, great eloquence and
considerable intellectual power, but of his numerous writings
only a few fragments are now in existence.
See Migne, Patrol. Graec. vol. lxxxvi.
EUSEBIUS [of Myndus], Greek philosopher, a distinguished Neoplatonist and pupil of Aedesius who lived in the time of
Julian, and who is described by Eunapius as one of the “Golden
Chain” of Neoplatonism. He ventured to criticize the magical
and theurgic side of the doctrine, and exasperated the emperor,
who preferred the mysticism of Maximus and Chrysanthius.
He devoted himself principally to logic. Stobaeus in the Sermones
collected a number of ethical dicta of one Eusebius, who may
perhaps be identical with the Neoplatonist.
The fragments have been collected by Mullach in his Fragmenta Phil. Graec., and by Orelli, in Opuscula veter. graec. sentent. et moral.
EUSEBIUS [of Nicomedia] (d. 341?), Greek bishop and theologian,
was the defender of Arius in a still more avowed manner
than his namesake of Caesarea, and from him the Eusebian or
middle party specially derived its name, giving him in return
the epithet of Great. He was a contemporary of the bishop of
Caesarea, and united with him in the enjoyment of the friendship
and favour of the imperial family. He is said to have been
connected by his mother with the emperor Julian, whose early
tutor he was. His first bishopric was Berytus (Beirut) in Phoenicia,
but his name is especially identified with the see of Nicomedia,
which, from the time of Diocletian till Constantine
established his court at Byzantium, was regarded as the capital
of the eastern part of the empire. He warmly espoused the cause
of Arius in his quarrel with his bishop Alexander, and wrote a
letter in his defence to Paulinus, bishop of Tyre, which is preserved
in the Church History of Theodoret. Trained in the school
of Lucian of Antioch, his views appear to have been identical
with those of Eusebius of Caesarea in placing Christ above all
created beings, the only begotten of the Father, but in refusing
to recognize him to be “of the same substance” with the Father,
who is alone in essence and absolute being.
At the council of Nicaea Eusebius of Nicomedia earnestly opposed, along with his namesake of Caesarea, the insertion of the Homousian clause, but after being defeated in his object he also signed the creed in his own sense of ὅμοιος κατ᾽ οὐοίαν. He refused, however, to sign the anathema directed against the Arians, not, as he afterwards explained, because of his variance from the Athanasian theology, but “because he doubted whether Arius really held what the anathema imputed to him” (Sozom. ii. 15). After the council he continued vigorously to espouse the Arian cause, and was so far carried away in his zeal against the Athanasians that he was temporarily banished from his see as a disturber of the peace of the church. But his alienation from the court was of short duration. He retained the confidence of the emperor’s sister Constantia, through whose influence he was promoted to the see of Nicomedia, and by her favour he was restored to his position, and speedily acquired an equal ascendancy over the emperor. He was selected to administer baptism to him in his last illness. There seems no doubt that Eusebius of Nicomedia was more of a politician than a theologian. He was certainly a partisan in the great controversy of his time, and is even credited (although on insufficient evidence) with having used unworthy means to procure the deposition of Eustathius, the “orthodox” bishop of Antioch (Theodoret i. 21). His restless ambition and love of power are not to be denied. To the last he defended Arius, and at the time of the latter’s sudden death, 336, it was chiefly through his menace, as representing the emperor, that the church of Constantinople was thrown into anxiety as to whether the leader should be readmitted to the bosom of the church. The death of Constantine followed hard upon that of Arius; and Eusebius, who was promoted in 339 to the see of Constantinople, became the leader of the anti-Nicene party till his own death in (probably) 341. The real activity of Eusebius and his party must be studied in connexion with the Arian controversy (see Arius).
EUSKIRCHEN, a town of Germany, in the Prussian Rhine
province, on a plateau lying to the E. of the Eifel range, at the
junction of railways from Cologne and Bonn and 10 m. W. of the
latter. Pop. (1905) 10,285. It has an Evangelical and a Roman
Catholic church, and its industries include cloth, sugar and
stocking manufactures, besides breweries and tanneries.
EUSTACE, the name of four counts of Boulogne.
Eustace I., a son of Count Baldwin II., held the county from 1046 until his death in 1049.
His son, Eustace II. (d. 1093), count of Boulogne, was the husband of Goda, daughter of the English king Æthelred the Unready, and aunt of Edward the Confessor. Eustace paid a visit to England in 1051, and was honourably received at the Confessor’s court. A brawl in which he and his servants became involved with the citizens of Dover led to a serious quarrel between the king and Earl Godwine. The latter, to whose jurisdiction the men of Dover were subject, refused to punish them. His contumacy was made the excuse for the outlawry of himself and his family. In 1066 Eustace came to England with Duke William, and fought at the battle of Hastings. In the following year, probably because he was dissatisfied with his share of the spoil, he assisted the Kentishmen in an attempt to seize Dover Castle. The conspiracy failed, and Eustace was sentenced to forfeit his English fiefs. Subsequently he was reconciled to the Conqueror, who restored a portion of the confiscated lands.
Eustace died in 1093, and was succeeded by his son, Eustace III., who went on crusade in 1096, and died about 1125. On his death the county of Boulogne came to his daughter, Matilda, and her husband Stephen, count of Blois, afterwards king of England, and in 1150 it was given to their son, Eustace IV.
Eustace IV. (d. 1153) became the heir-apparent to his father’s possessions by the death of an elder brother before 1135. In 1137 he did homage for Normandy to Louis VII. of France, whose sister, Constance, he subsequently married. Eustace was knighted in 1147, at which date he was probably from sixteen to eighteen years of age; and in 1151 he joined Louis in an abortive raid upon Normandy, which had accepted the title of the empress Matilda, and was now defended by her husband, Geoffrey of Anjou. At a council held in London on the 6th of April 1152 Stephen induced a small number of barons to do homage to Eustace as their future king; but the primate, Theobald, and the other bishops declined to perform the coronation ceremony on the ground that the Roman curia had declared against the claim of Eustace. The death of Eustace, which occurred during the next year, was hailed with general satisfaction as opening the possibility of a peaceful settlement between Stephen and his rival, the young Henry of Anjou. The Peterborough Chronicle, not content with voicing this sentiment, gives Eustace a bad
