containing articles on various subjects was first used in the Gentleman’s Magazine (1731), described as “a monthly collection, to treasure up as in a magazine” articles on the subjects with which it was proposed to deal.
MAGDALA (more correctly Makdala), a natural stronghold in the country of the Wollo Gallas, Abyssinia, about 250 m. W. of Jibuti on the Gulf of Aden, in 11° 22′ N., 39° 25′ E. The basaltic plateau of which it consists rises 9110 ft. above the sea. It is about three-quarters of a mile in length by less than half a mile in breadth, and lies more than a thousand feet higher than the neighbouring plain of Arogié. Chosen about 1860 by the emperor Theodore of Abyssinia as his principal stronghold in the south, Magdala owes its celebrity to the fact that, as the place of imprisonment of the English captives, it became the goal of the great English Expedition of 1868. At the time of its capture it contained huts for a population of about three thousand. The whole rock was burned bare by order of the commander of the British force, Sir Robert Napier, who, on being raised to the peerage for his services on this occasion, took the title of Lord Napier of Magdala. The plateau was subsequently refortified by the Abyssinians.
See Clements Markham, History of the Abyssinian Expedition (1869); and H. Rassam, British Mission to Theodore (1869).
MAGDEBURG, a city of Germany, capital of the Prussian
province of Saxony, a fortress of the first rank and one of the
principal commercial towns of the German Empire. It lies in
a broad and fertile plain, mainly on the left bank of the Elbe,
88 m. S.W. from Berlin and at the junction of main lines to
Leipzig, Brunswick, Cassel and Hamburg. Pop. (1885), 159,520;
(1890), 202,234; (1905), 240,661. It consists of the town proper,
and of the five suburbs of Friedrichstadt, Wilhelmstadt, Neustadt,
Sudenburg and Buckau; the last four are separated from
the town by the ramparts and glacis, but are all included within
the new line of advanced bastions, while Friedrichstadt lies
on the right bank of the river. In the Elbe, between the old
town and the Friedrichstadt, lies an island whereon stands the
citadel; this is united with both banks by bridges. With the
exception of the Breite Weg, a handsome thoroughfare running
from north to south, the streets of the town proper are narrow
and crooked. Along the Elbe, however, extend fine promenades,
the Fürstenwall and the Fürsten Üfer. To the south of the
inner town is the Friedrich Wilhelms Garten, a beautiful park
laid out on the site of the celebrated convent of Berge, which
was founded in 968 and suppressed in 1809. By far the most
important building in Magdeburg is the cathedral, dedicated to
SS Maurice and Catherine, a handsome and massive structure
of the 14th century, exhibiting an interesting blending of
Romanesque and Gothic architecture. The two fine western
towers were completed about 1520. The interior contains the
tombs of the emperor Otto the Great and his wife Edith, an
English princess, and the fine monument of Archbishop Ernest
(d. 1513), executed in 1495 by Peter Vischer of Nüremberg.
The Liebfrauenkirche, the oldest church in Magdeburg, is an
interesting Romanesque edifice of the 12th and 13th centuries,
which was restored in 1890–1891. The chief secular buildings
are the town-hall (Rathaus), built in 1691 and enlarged in 1866,
the government offices, the palace of justice, the central railway
station and the exchange. The Breite Weg and the old market
contain numerous fine gable-ended private houses in the style
of the Renaissance. In front of the town-hall stands an equestrian
statue of Otto the Great, erected about 1290. The modern
streets are spacious, and the houses well-built though monotonous.
There are two theatres, an agricultural college, an art
school, several gymnasia, a commercial and other schools, an
observatory, and two fine hospitals. The first place amongst
the industries is taken by the ironworks (one being a branch of
the Krupp firm, the Grusonwerke, employing about 4000 hands),
which produce naval armour and munitions of war. Of almost
equal importance are the sugar refineries and chicory factories.
Then come establishments for making tobacco, gloves, chocolate,
artificial manure, cement, varnish, chemicals and pottery. There
are also distilleries and breweries, and factories for the
manufacture of cotton and silk goods. Magdeburg is the central
market in Germany for sugar and chicory, but trades extensively
also in cereals, fruit, vegetables, groceries, cattle, horses, wool,
cloth, yarn, leather, coal and books. A new winter harbour,
made at a cost of £400,000, facilitates the river traffic along the
Elbe. Three million tons of merchandise pass Magdeburg, going
upstream, and nearly 1 million tons, going downstream, annually.
Magdeburg is the headquarters of the IV. corps of the German
army and the seat of the provincial court of appeal and administrative
offices, and of a Lutheran consistory.
History.—Magdeburg, which was in existence as a small trading settlement at the beginning of the 9th century, owes its early prosperity chiefly to the emperor Otto the Great, who established a convent here about 937. In 968 it became the seat of an archbishop, who exercised sway over an extensive territory. Although it was burnt down in 1188, Magdeburg became a flourishing commercial town during the 13th century, and was soon an important member of the Hanseatic League. Its bench of jurats (Schöppenstuhl) became celebrated, and “Magdeburg law” (Magdeburger Recht), securing the administrative independence of municipalities, was adopted in many parts of Germany, Poland and Bohemia. During the middle ages the citizens were almost constantly at variance with the archbishops, and by the end of the 15th century had become nearly independent of them. It should, however, be noted that Magdeburg never became a free city of the Empire. The town embraced the Reformation in 1524, and was thenceforth governed by Protestant titular archbishops (see Bishop). On the refusal of the citizens to accept the “Interim,” issued by the emperor Charles V., Magdeburg was besieged by Maurice of Saxony in 1550, and capitulated on favourable terms in November 1551. During the Thirty Years’ War it was twice besieged, and suffered terribly. It successfully resisted Wallenstein for seven months in 1629, but was stormed and sacked by Tilly in May 1631. The whole town, with the exception of the cathedral, and about 140 houses, was burned to the ground, and the greater part of its 36,000 inhabitants were butchered without regard to age or sex, but it recovered from this deadly blow with wonderful rapidity. By the peace of Westphalia (1648) the archbishopric was converted into a secular duchy, to fall to Brandenburg on the death of the last administrator, which happened in 1680. In 1806 Magdeburg was taken by the French and annexed to the kingdom of Westphalia, but it was restored to Prussia in 1814, on the downfall of Napoleon. Otto von Guericke (1602–1686), the inventor of the air-pump, was burgomaster of Magdeburg. Count Lazare Carnot died here in exile, and was buried in the cemetery, but his remains were exhumed in 1889 and conveyed to Paris. Luther was at school here, and sang in the streets for bread with other poor choristers.
See W. Kawerau, Aus Magdeburgs Vergangenheit (Halle, 1886) O. von Guericke, Geschichte der Belagerung, Eroberung und Zerstörung von Magdeburg (Magdeburg, 1887); M. Dittmar, Beiträge zur Geschichte der Stadt Magdeburg (Halle, 1885); F. W. Hoffmann, Geschichte der Stadt Magdeburg (Magdeburg, 1885–1886); F. Hülsse, Die Einführung der Reformation in der Stadt Magdeburg (Magdeburg, 1883); R. Volkholz, Die Zerstörung Magdeburgs 1631 (Magdeburg, 1892); W. Leinung and R. Stumvoll, Aus Magdeburgs Sage und Geschichte (Magdeburg, 1894); and the Urkundenbuch der Stadt Magdeburg (1892).
The Archbishopric of Magdeburg was carved out of the bishopric of Halberstadt when it was founded in 968, and its history is largely bound up with that of the city and of the prelates who have ruled the see. The first archbishop was Adalbert, and he and his successors had six or seven suffragan bishops. Several of the archbishops took very prominent parts in German politics. Early in the 15th century their residence was fixed at Halle, and about the same time it became the custom to select them from one of the reigning families of Germany, most often from the house of Brandenburg. The doctrines of the reformers made their appearance in the diocese early in the 16th century, and soon Archbishop Sigismund, a son of Joachim II., elector of Brandenburg, openly avowed his adherence to Lutheranism. After the issue of the edict of
