to determine the course of battles and to select brave warriors for Valhalla (q.v.). Beings with the same name (waelcyrgean) were known also in England, where we find them associated with witches. The name is used in Anglo-Saxon glossaries to translate various Latin terms for “War-goddess” or “Fury” (Bellona, Erinys, &c.). See Teutonic Peoples, ad fin. (H. M. C.)
VALLA, LORENZO, or Laurentius (c. 1406–1457), Italian humanist, was born at Rome, of parents from the neighbourhood of Piacenza, about 1406, his father, Luca delle Vallea, being an advocate. He was educated at Rome, attending the classes of eminent professors, among them Leonardi Bruni and Giovanni Aurispa (c. 1369–1459), from whom he learned Latin and Greek. In 1431 he became a priest, and after trying
vainly to secure a position as apostolic secretary in Rome he
went to Piacenza, whence he proceeded to Pavia, where he
obtained a professorship of eloquence. Valla wandered from
one university to another, accepting short engagements and
lecturing in many cities. During this period he made the
acquaintance of Alphonso V. of Aragon, whose service he
entered about 1435. Alphonso made Valla his private secretary, defended him against the attacks of his numerous enemies, and at a later date encouraged him to open a school in Naples.
By this time Valla had won a high reputation by his dialogue De Voluptate, and by his treatise De Elegantiis Latinae Linguae. In the former work he contrasted the principles of the Stoics with the tenets of Epicurus, openly proclaiming his sympathy with those who claimed the right of free indulgence for man’s natural appetites. It was a remarkable utterance. Here for the first time the paganism of the Renaissance found deliberate expression in a work of scholarly and philosophical value. De Elegantiis was no less original, although in a different sphere of thought. This work subjected the forms of Latin grammar and the rules of Latin style and rhetoric to a critical examination, and placed the practice of composition upon a foundation of analysis and inductive reasoning. The same originality and critical acumen were displayed in his treatise on the Donation of Constantine (De falso credita et ementita Constantini donatione declamatio) , written in 1439 during the pontificate of Eugenius IV., in which the nature of the forged document known as the Constitutum Constantini was for the first time exposed (see Donation of Constantine). From Naples Valla continued his war against the Church. He showed that the supposed letter of Christ to Abgarus was a forgery, and by throwing doubt upon the authenticity of other spurious documents, and by questioning the utility of monastic life, he aroused the anger of the faithful. He was compelled to appear before an inquisitory tribunal composed of his enemies, and he only escaped by the special intervention of Alphonso. He was not, however, silenced; he ridiculed the Latin of the vulgate and accused St Augustine of heresy. In 1444 he visited Rome, but in this city also his enemies were numerous and powerful, and he only saved his life by flying in disguise to Barcelona, whence he returned to Naples. But a better fortune attended him after the death of Eugenius IV. in February 1447. Again he journeyed to Rome, where he was welcomed by the new pope, Nicholas V., who made him an apostolic secretary, and this entrance of Valla into the Roman Curia has been justly called “the triumph of humanism over orthodoxy and tradition.” Valla also enjoyed the favour of Pope Calixtus III. He died in Rome on the 1st of August 1457.
All the older biographical notices of Valla are loaded with long accounts of his many literary and theological disputes, the most famous of which was the one with Poggio (q.v.), which took place after his settlement in Rome. It is almost impossible to form a just estimate of Valla’s private life and character owing to the clouds of dust which were stirred up by this and other controversies, in which the most virulent and obscene language was employed. He appears, however, as a vain, jealous and quarrelsome man, but he combined the qualities of an elegant humanist, an acute critic and a venomous writer, who bad committed himself to a violent polemic against the temporal power of Rome. In him posterity honours not so much the scholar and the stylist as the man who initiated a bold method of criticism, which he applied alike to language, to historical documents and to ethical opinions. Luther had a very high opinion of Valla and of his writings, and Cardinal Bellarmine calls him praecursor Lutheri, while Sir Richard Jebb says that his De Elegantiis “marked the highest level that had yet been reached in the critical study of Latin.”
Collected, but not quite complete, editions of Valla’s works were published at Basel in 1540 and at Venice in 1592 fol., and De Elegantiis was reprinted nearly sixty times between 1471 and 1536. For detailed accounts of Valla’s life and work see G. Voigt, Die Wiederbelebung des classischen Alterthums (1880–81); J. A. Symonds, Renaissance in Italy (1897–99); G. Mancini, Vita di Lorenzo Valla (Florence, 1891); M. von Wolff, Lorenzo Valla (Leipzig, 1893); J. Burckhardt, Kultur der Renaissance (1860); J. Vahlen, Laurentius Valla (Berlin, 1870); L. Pastor, Geschichte der Päpste, Band ii. English trans, by F. I. Antrobus (1892); the article in Herzog-Hauck’s Realencyklopädie, Band xx. (Leipzig, 1908) ; and J. E. Sandys, Hist. of Class. Schol. ii. (1908), pp. 66–70.
VALLADOLID, an inland province of Spain, one of the
eight into which Old Castile was divided in 1833; bounded
on the N. by Leon and Palencia, E. by Burgos, S. by Segovia,
Avila and Salamanca, and W. by Zamora. Pop. (1900)
278,561; area, 2922 sq. m. The province belongs entirely
to the basin of the Duero (Douro), which traverses it from E.
to W., and within its limits receives the Pisuerga (with the
Esgueva) on the right, and the Duraton, the Cega, the united
Adaja and Eresma, the Zapardiel and the Trabancos on the
left. The country watered by these rivers is for the most
part flat and exceedingly fertile, the only part that can be called
in any sense hilly being in the north-west, where the low Montes
de Torozos occur. For the excellence and abundance of its
grain crops Valladolid shares with the Tierra de Campos in
Palencia the title of granary of the Peninsula.
Besides wheat, maize, barley and oats, the province produces hemp, flax, various fruits, red and white wine, oil and madder. The Montes de Torozos are thinly covered with oaks and other timber, and there are forests in the S.E. The pastures are extensive and large numbers of asses, mules and sheep, as well as some horses and cattle, are reared. Honey, wax and silk are also produced. The woollen fabrics of Valladolid were once highly esteemed, but this industry has now greatly declined, although in the larger towns there are still linen and cloth factories, besides iron foundries, tanneries, saw-mills and flour-mills. But agriculture is by far the foremost industry of the province. Trade is facilitated by the Canal de Castilla, which connects Valladolid, on the Pisuerga, with Alar del Rey, in Palencia, also on that river. See Palencia (province). Valladolid is traversed by the national highways from Madrid to Santander, Leon and Corunna, and by the Calatayud and Salamanca roads. It is also traversed from N. to S. by the northern railway from Madrid to France via Irun, which has branches from Valladolid to Medina del Rioseco, and from Medina del Campo to Salamanca and Zamora. Apart from the capital Valladolid, Nava del Rey (6148), Medina del Campo (5971) and Medina del Rioseco (5007) are the only towns with more than 5000 inhabitants. For an account of the people and history of the province, see Castile.
VALLADOLID, a town of Mexico, in the state of Yucatan,
90 m. S.E. of Merida, with which it is connected by rail. Pop.
about 5000. It is situated in a healthy and fertile part of
Yucatan, and is a resort for invalids. It has a number of old
churches, a Jesuits' college, town hall, hospital and aqueduct, and the better class of residences are of the usual type, low, large-roomed structures in the midst of gardens. It was founded in 1544, soon after the conquest, and was planned to be a great ecclesiastical centre, but these plans were not realized and its churches and other fine buildings have fallen into decay. Its manufactures include cotton goods and tobacco. The inhabitants, chiefly descendants of the ancient Mayas, have frequently revolted against their rulers. In 1910 they were in a state of insurrection, assisted by the wild tribesmen of the neighbouring territory of Quintana Roo, on which occasion Valladolid was captured by them and many of its officials and prominent white residents were massacred.
VALLADOLID, the capital of the Spanish province of Valladolid, situated 2228 ft. above sea-level, at the confluence of the river Pisuerga with the Esgueva. Pop. (1900) 68,789. Valladolid is an archbishopric, and the seat of an army corps,
