attack on Cumae in 524 B.C. Indeed it is not unlikely that the bulk of the population in Etruria continued to be of Umbrian origin, and that the Romanization of this country was facilitated by the partial absorption of the Etruscan conquerors into the Umbrian multitude.
Against the Romans the Umbrians never fought any wars of importance, a fact which may be explained partly by the remoteness of their position, but chiefly by the common hostility of the two nations to the Etruscans. After the downfall of the Etruscan power they made a belated attempt to aid their Samnite kinsmen in their decisive struggle against Rome (308 B.C.); but their communications with Samnium were impeded by the foundation of a great Roman fortress at Narnia (298 B.C.), and at the great battle of Sentinum (295 B.C.), which was fought in their own territory, the Umbrians are not reported to have lent the Samnites any substantial help. It is perhaps on account of this defection that in 200 B.C. they received from the Romans a portion of the Ager Gallicus reconquered from the Senonian Gauls. They offered no opposition to the construction of the Via Flaminia through the heart of their country, and in the Second Punic War withheld all assistance from Hannibal. In the Social War (90‑89 B.C.), they joined the rebels tardily and were among the first to make their peace with Rome. Henceforth the Umbrians no longer played an independent part in Italian history.
The material prosperity of Umbria, in spite of its unfavourable position for commercial intercourse, was relatively great, owing to the fertility of the numerous small valleys which intersect the Apennine system in this region. The chief products of the soil were olives, vines and spelt; the uplands harboured the choicest boars of Italy. In Pliny's time there still existed in Umbria 49 independent communities, and the abundance of inscriptions and the high proportion of recruits furnished to the imperial army attest its continued populousness. Among its most famous natives were the poets Plautus (b. at Sarsina) and Propertius (b. at Assisi).
Of the Umbrians' political and municipal organization little is known. In addition to the city (tota) they seem to have had a larger territorial division in the tribus (trifu, acc.) as we gather from Livy (XXXI.2, "per Umbriam quam tribum Sapiniam vocant"; cf. XXXIII.37) and from the Eugubine Tables ("trifor Tarsinates", VI.B.54). Ancient authors describe the Umbrians as leading effeminate lives, and as closely resembling their Etruscan enemies in their habits (Theopompus, Fragm. 142; Pseudo-Scymnus, 366‑368). It is almost certain that each race influenced and modified the other to a large extent. There is conclusive proof of strong Etruscan influences in Umbria. For instance, they undoubtedly borrowed their alphabet and the art of writing from the Etruscans. Their writing ran from right to left. The alphabet consisted of nineteen letters. It had no separate symbols for O, G, Q; the aspirates and X were wanting; likewise the Etruscan f (8). It also had a symbol peculiar to itself for expressing the sound of palatal k when followed by either e or i. The fact that it is only in towns on the side next Etruria, e.g. Tuder and Iguvium, that a coinage is found indicates that they borrowed the art of minting from that quarter. The Umbrians counted their day from noon to noon. But whether they borrowed this likewise from the Etruscans we do not know (Pliny II.79). In their measuring of land they employed the vorsus, a measure common to them and the Oscans (Frontinus, De Limit. p. 30), 3⅓ of which went to the Roman jugerum.
See Strabo bk. V; T. E. Peet, The Stone and Bronze Ages of Italy and Sicily (Oxford, 1909), pp. 492‑510; B. V. Head, Historia numorum (Oxford, 1887); B. Nissen, Italische Landeskunde; Bücheler, Umbrica (1883); R. S. Conway, Italic Dialects.
2. The modern territorial division is situated in the middle of the peninsula, between Tuscany and the Marches on the N. and E., and Rome and the Abruzzi on the S. and W., and comprising the one province of Perugia, with an area of 3748 sq. m.; pop. (1901), 675,352. Umbria and the two provinces of Ancona and Pesaro and Urbino taken together form an area slightly more extensive than that of the sixth region of Augustus. The surface is mountainous, but affords good pasture, and there are numerous fertile valleys. Many treasures of art and architecture are preserved, and Umbria is in this respect one of the most interesting regions of Italy (see Perugia). Modern Umbria formed down to 1860 a part of the States of the Church.
Two main lines of railway run through the territory. That from Florence to Rome skirts the borders of the province on the west, running north and south, while the Rome-Ancona runs across the province from north-east to south-west. The cross communication is given by three branch lines. In the north a narrow gauge line from Arezzo to Fossato passes through Gubbio.c Perugia, the capital of the province, stands on the line from Terontola to Foligno, while on the extreme south a line passing through Rieti and Aquila, and ultimately reaching Sulmona, starts from Terni on the Rome-Ancona.
(T. As.)
UMFRAVILLE, the name of an English baronial family,
derived from Amfreville in Normandy. Members of this family
obtained lands in Northumberland, including Redesdale and
Prudhoe, from the Norman kings, and a later member, Gilbert
de Umfraville (d. 1245), married Matilda, daughter of Malcolm,
earl of Angus, and obtained this Scottish earldom. Gilbert's
son, Gilbert, earl of Angus (c. 1244-1307), took part in the
fighting between Henry III. and his barons, and in the Scottish
expeditions of Edward I. His son, Robert, earl of Angus
(1277-1325), was taken prisoner by the Scots at Bannockburn,
but was soon released, though he was deprived of the
earldom of Angus and of his Scottish estates. His son and
heir, Gilbert de Umfraville (1310-1381), claimed the earldom,
which he hoped to gain by helping Edward Baliol to win the
Scottish crown, but he failed, and on his death without issue
the greater part of his English estates passed to his niece, Eleanor,
the wife of Sir Henry Talboys (d. 1370), while others, including
Redesdale, Harbottle and Otterbourne, came to his half-brother,
Sir Thomas de Umfraville (d. 1386). Sir Thomas's son, another
Sir Thomas de Umfraville (1362-1 391), left a son, Gilbert¥de
Umfraville (1390-1421), who fought on the Scottish border and
in France under his warlike uncle, Sir Robert de Umfraville
(d. 1436). Although not related in blood he appears to have
inherited the estates in Lincolnshire of the Kyme family, and he
was generally known as the earl of Kyme, though the title was
never properly conferred upon him. In 1415 he fought at Agincourt;
he was afterwards sent as an ambassador to Charles VI.
of France, and arranged an alliance between the English
and the Burgundians. He was killed at the battle of Baugé
on the 22nd of March 1421. His heir was his uncle Sir Robert,
who died on the 29th of January 1436, when the male line of
the Umfraville family became extinct. The chronicler John
Hardyng was for many years in the service of Sir Robert, and
in his Chronicle he eulogizes various members of the family.
UMPIRE, the term used, like “referee,” for a person appointed
by consent to settle disputes arising between opposing parties,
and particularly one chosen to see that the rules of a game are
obeyed. The word itself stands for the Middle English nompere
or noumpere, “a numpere” becoming “an umpire.” The
earlier form represents the Old French nompere, nonpair, i.e. not
equal, odd. The Latin impar, unequal, was similarly used in
the sense of “arbitrator.”
UMRA KHAN, of Iandol (c. 1860-1903), a Pathan chief on the north-western frontier of India, who was chiefly responsible for the Chitral Campaign of 1895. He was the younger son of the khan of Jandol; but he killed his elder brother, seized the throne, and made himself a power on the frontier. In 1894 he held undisputed sway over almost the whole of Bajour, when his restless ambition caused him to interfere in the internal affairs of Chitral. He instigated Amir-ul-Mulk, a half-withed brother of the Chitral chief, to murder his brother Nizam-ul-Mulk, and then threw over the fratricide and supported the claims of his uncle Sher Afzul to the throne. The government of India intervened and ordered Umra Khan to leave Chitral. When he refused, the Chitra] Expedition was dispatched (see Chitral); Umra Khan was driven into exile in Afghanistan, and died there in 1903.
