formed of English exiles in the French army, and received a wound at the siege of La Bassée in 1647. Charles in misfortune had understood something of his nephew's devotion, and wrote to him in the friendliest terms, and though the prince had by no means forgiven Digby, Colepeper and others of the council, he obtained command of a Royalist fleet. The k ing's enemies were now no longer the Presbyterians and the majority of the English people but the stern Independent community, with whose aims and aspirations he could not have any sympathy whatever. A long and unprofitable naval campaign followed, which extended from Kinsale to Lisbon and from Toulon to Cape Verde. But the prince again quarrelled with the council, and spent six years (1654-60) in Germany, during which period nothing is known of him, except that he vainly attempted (as also before and afterwards) to obtain the apanage to which as a younger son he was entitled from his brother the elector palatine. At the Restoration he settled in England again, receiving from Charles II. an annuity and becoming a member of the privy council. He never again fought on land, but, turning admiral like Blake and Monk, he bore a brilliant part in the Dutch Wars. He died at his house in Spring Gardens, Westminster, on the 29th of November 1682.
Apart from his military renown, Prince Rupert is a distinguished figure in the history of art as one of the earliest mezzotinters. It has often been said that he was the inventor of mezzo tint engraving, but this is erroneous, as he obtained the secret from a German olicer, Ludwig von Siegen. One of the most beautiful and valuable of early mezzo tints is his “ Head of St John the Baptist.” He was also interested in science, experimented with the manufacture of gunpowder, the boring of guns and the casting of shot, and invented a modified brass called “prince's metal.”
Prince Rupert was duke of Cumberland and earl of Holderness in the English peerage. He was unmarried, but left two natural children; one a daughter who married General Emmanuel Scrope Howe and died in 1740, and the other a son, whose mother (who claimed that she was married to the prince) was Frances, daughter of Sir Henry Bard, Viscount Bellamont. The son was killed in 1686 at the siege of Buda. See E. Warburton's Life of Pr. Rupert (London, 1849) and additional authorities quoted in the memoir by C. H. Firth in the Dict. Nat. Biog.
RUPERT (1352-1410), German king, and, as Rupert III.,
elector palatine of the Rhine, was a son of the elector Rupert
II. and Beatrice, daughter of Peter II., king of Sicily. He was
born at Amberg on the 5th of May 1352, and from his .early
years took part in the government of the Palatinate to which
he succeeded on his father's death in 1398. He was one of the
four electors who met at Oberlahnstein in August 1400 and declared
King Wenceslaus deposed. This was followed by the
election of Rupert as German king at Rense on the ZISI of that
month, and by his coronation at Cologne on the 6th of the
following January. Winning some recognition in S. Germany,
he made an expedition to Italy, where he hoped to receive the
imperial crown, and to crush Gian Galleazzo Visconti, duke of
Milan. In the autumn of I4OI he crossed the Alps, but his
troops, checked before Brescia, melted away, and in 1402
Rupert, too poor to continue the campaign, returned to Germany.
The news of this failure increased the disorder in
Germany, but the king met with some success in his efforts to
restore peace, and in October 1403. he was recognized by Pope
Boniface IX. It was only the indolence of Wenceslaus that
prevented his overthrow, and in 1406 he was compelled to' make
certain concessions. The quarrel was complicated by the papal
schism, but the king was just beginning to make some headway
when he died at his castle of Landskron near Oppenheim on the
18th of May 1410 and was buried at Heidelberg. He married
Elizabeth, daughter of Frederick IV. of Hohenzollern, burgrave
of Nuremburg, and left three sons and four daughters. Rupert,
who earned the surname of Clemens, was brave and generous,
but his resources were totally inadequate to bear the strain of
the German kingship.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.-J. Chmel, Regesta chronalogico-diplomatic Ruperli regis Romanorum (Frankfort, 1834); C. Hofler, Ruprecht van, der Pfalz genannt Clem rémischer Kénig (Freiberg, 1861); L. Hiiusser, Gesehichle der Rheinisehen Pfalz (Heidelberg, 1845); Th. Lindner, Geschichte des Deutschen. Reiches vom Ende des 14 Jahrhunderts bis zur Reformation (Brunswick, 1875-80), part i.; A. Winkelmann, Der Romzug Ruprechts van der Pfatz (Innsbruck, 1892); and J. Véeiz)s§ .cker, Die Urkundeii der A probation K énig Ruprechts (Berlin, 1 QQ .
RUPERT'S LAND, a former district of Canada. The generous
charter of Charles II. given in 1670 to the Hudson's Bay Company
gave rights of possession, trade and administration of
justice “ of all those seas, straights and bays, rivers, lakes,
creeks and sounds, in whatsoever latitude they shall be, that lie
within the entrance of the straights commonly called Hudson's
straights, together with all the lands, countries and territories
upon the coasts and confines of the seas, straights, bays, lakes,
rivers, creeks and sounds aforesaid, which are not now actually
possessed by any of our subjects, or by the subjects of any other
Christian prince or state.”
The general interpretation given to this was that it included all the country drained into Hudson Bay. As Prince Rupert was first governor of the Hudson's Bay Company his name was given to the concession under the name “ Rupert's Land.” It will be observed that Athabasca, New Caledonia and British Columbia were not included in this grant. They were held under the title Indian Territories by the Hudson's Bay Company by licence terminable every twenty-one years, the last term closing with 1859. Rupert's Land was transferred to Canada by the imperial government in 1870, and ceased to exist as a political name. It is still used as the title of the episcopal diocese, which is in the main coincident with the province of Manitoba.
RUPILIUS, PUBLIUS, Roman statesman, consul in 132 B.C.
During the inquiry that followed the death of Tiberius Gracchus,
conducted by himself and his colleague Popillius Laenas, he
proceeded with the utmost severity against the supporters of
Gracchus. In the same year he was dispatched to Sicily, where
he suppressed the revolt of the slaves under Eunus. During
131 he remained as proconsul of the island, and, with the
assistance of ten commissioners appointed by the senate, drew
up regulations for the organization of Sicily as a province.
These regulations were known by the title of leges Rupiliae,
though they were not laws in the strict sense. Rupilius was
subsequently brought to trial (123 B.C.) and condemned for
his treatment of the friends of Gracchus. The disgrace of his
condemnation, added to disappointment at the failure of his
brother to obtain the consulship in spite of the efforts of Scipio,
caused his death shortly afterwards.
See Cicero, De Am. 19, Tusc. disp. iv. 17, in Verr. ii. 13, 15; Diod. Sic. xxxiv. I, 20; Vell. Pat. ii. 7.
RUPPIN, or Neuruppin, a town of Germany, in the Prussian
province of Brandenburg, lies on the W. bank of a small lake,
the Ruppiner See, 37 m. N.W. of Berlin by rail. Pop. (1905)
18,555. The town, which was rebuilt in fine, regular fashion
after a destructive tire in 1787, contains three Protestant
churches, a Roman Catholic church and various educational
and benevolent institutions. Its inhabitants are employed in
the manufacture of cloth, starch and machinery, in iron founding
and lithography. Important cattle and horse fairs
are held here. Ruppin received municipal rights in 1256.
The small town of Altruppin, lying at the north end of the lake, has a 15th-century church and some small manufactures. Pop. (1905) 1813.
See Heydemann, Neuere Geschichte der Stadt Neuruppin (Neuruppin, 1863); and G. Bittkau, Altere Geschichte der Stadt Neuruppin (Neuruppin, 1887).
RUSELLAE, an ancient town of Etruria, Italy, about 10 m.
S.E. of Vetulonia and 5 m. N.E. of Grosseto, situated on a hill
with two summits, the higher 636 ft. above sea-level. It was
one of the twelve cities of the Etruscan confederation, and was
taken in 294 B.C. by the Romans. In 205 B.C. it contributed
grain and timber for the needs of Scipio's fleet. A colony was
founded here either by the Triumviri or by Augustus. The
place was deserted in 1138, and the episcopal see was transferred
