bishop Athelm, and in 926 was made Bishop of Ramsbury. In 942 Dunstan's influence gained Odo the archbishopric. The archbishop-elect at once declared his intention of becoming a monk, thus placing himself at the head of the party of reform in the Church, whose object it was to encourage monasticism, introduce the Benedictine rule, and enforce celibacy amongst the clergy. During the reign of Edred this party had the ascendency, but his successor, Edwy, seems to have joined the party of the secular clergy. Odo and Dunstan declared that Edwy's marriage with Elgiva was unlawful, and after a great deal of violent dispute, Edwy consented to divorce her. The story of Odo's cruel persecution of Elgiva is in all probability absolutely mythical. [DUNSTAN.]

William of Malmesbury; Hook, Archbishops of Canterbury.

Odo, Bishop of Bayeux (d. 1096), was the half-brother of William the Conqueror, whom he accompanied and greatly assisted in his invasion of England. In 1067, during William's absence in Normandy, he acted as regent of the kingdom in conjunction with William Fitz-Osbern. Their harsh and oppressive rule contributed to the risings of the English in various parts of the country, which disquieted the early part of William I.'s reign. However, in 1073 he was again appointed regent, and helped to crush the rebellion of the Earls of Hereford and Norfolk. He was muuificently rewarded, raised to the second rank in the kingdom, and given the earldom of Kent and several rich manors. He now aimed at the papacy, but his ambitious projects were cut short by the king, who had him arrested as Earl of Kent, and committed to prison, where he remained till William's death. Though he was released and restored to his earldom and estates by Rufus, he joined Robert in his invasion of England. Being taken prisoner he was compelled to quit the country, and retired to Normandy, where he acted as minister to Robert, and accompanying him Crusade died, it is said, at the siege of

Antioch.

on the

Ordericus Vitalis, Hist. Eccles.; Freeman, Norman Conquest.

O'Donnell, BALDEARG, the descendant of an ancient Celtic race, was in the service of the Spanish government when he heard that his countrymen had risen against the Revolution settlement of 1688. The Spanish king refused him permission to join them. He thereupon made his escape, and after a circuitous route through Turkey he landed at Kinsale. His appearance excited great enthusiasm; 8,000 Ulster men joined him, and he came to the assistance of the garrison at the first siege of Limerick. After the defeat of the Irish at Aghrim it was hoped that he would come to the defence

of Galway. But he studiously held aloof. Soon afterwards he joined the English army with a few of his devoted followers, and on several occasions did valuable service to William.

Macaulay, Hist. of Eng.

O'Donnell, HUGH, called Red Hugh (d. 1602), was son and heir of Rory O'Donnell, Earl of Tyrconnel. In 1588 he was treacherously seized by order of Sir John Perrot, and kept a prisoner at Dublin as a hostage for his father's good behaviour. He, however, escaped after three years' captivity, and at once joined Hugh O'Neil. In 1601 he commanded the O'Donnells, who marched with O'Neil to raise the siege of Kinsale, and their defeat there is said to have been, in part at least, due to his impetuosity. In 1602 he sailed to Spain with a long train of followers, and was received by the court with great distinction, but died soon afterwards.

Moore, Hist. of Ireland.

O'Donnell, RORY, Earl of Tyrconnel (d. 1618), was brother of Red Hugh O'Donnell. In 1603 he gave up his Irish title, and received a grant of his lands and the earldom from James I. In 1607, however, he seems to have conspired with O'Neil, Earl of Tyrone, and with him at all events he went abroad, where he died after being attainted

in 1612.

O'Donnells, THE SEPT OF THE, were powerful in Ulster, where the O'Neils were their hereditary foes and rivals. Calwagh O'Donnell was captured by Shane O'Neil, together with the Countess of Argyle, his wife, in 1560, and remained a prisoner till 1564, and even then he had to purchase his release by the loss of a large part of his lands. In James's reign, however, he regained his possessions, and became Earl of Tyrconnel. Soon afterwards, being involved in a plot, he fled, and, with his family, became prominent at the Spanish court.

Froude, Hist. of Eng.

Offa, King of Mercia (757-796), was of the royal house of Mercia, though not nearly related to Ethelbald, the last sovereign in the direct line of descent. He drove out the usurper Beornred, and quickly made himself master of the kingdom. Under him Mercia became the greatest power in Britain. He thoroughly subdued Kent by his victory at Otford in 774, inflicted in 777 a great defeat on Wessex at Bensington, and annexed Oxfordshire to Mercia. He frequently defeated the Welsh, and pushed the boundaries of Mercia westward. To protect his frontiers he constructed from the Wye to the Dee a dyke, the remaining traces of which still bear his name. To strengthen his power he got leave from the Pope in 786 to establish at Lichfield an archbishopric independent of the see of Canterbury. The murder of Ethel

bert of East Anglia is one great blot on Offa's character. On the whole he appears to have been a wise and humane ruler, and to have encouraged learning. He drew up a code of laws which have unfortunately perished. He was very liberal to the Church both at home and abroad, and founded many monasteries, among which was the great abbey of St. Albans.

Anglo-Saxon Chron.; Matthew Paris, Vite duorum Offarum; Lappenberg, Anglo-Saxon Kings; J. R. Green, The Making of England. Offaley, LORD THOMAS (d. 1536), was the

He

eldest son of the ninth Earl of Kildare. renounced his allegiance to the sovereign power, and broke out into open rebellion. He was totally defeated near Naas, and sent to England as a prisoner, where he and five of his uncles were hanged at Tyburn.

Oglethorpe, GENERAL JAMES EDWARD (h. 1698, d. 1785), after serving in the army with distinction, was returned to Parliament as member for Haslemere (1722). He was celebrated for his philanthropy, and founded the colony of Georgia, and an asylum for debtors.

Olaf (Anlaf), HAROLDSON (or ST. OLAF) (d. 1030), was brought up in the kingdom of Novgorod, and at an early age put to sea on a buccaneering expedition. He next appears as the friend of the Norman dukes, and fought as Ethelred's ally in England. Finding that Canute had his hands full in England, he resolved to make an attempt for the crown of Norway, and, leaving England, was successful in establishing himself there. Canute, when he found himself secure in England, set out with a magnificent fleet, largely manned by English, to assert his supremacy, which Olaf had denied. The Norwegian king filed before him into Sweden, where he managed to secure the help of many outlaws and broken men. With them, and a faithful knot of personal friends, he returned to Norway to regain his throne. At the battle of Sticklestead, he was defeated and slain (1030). His body was hastily buried, but was later taken up, being found incorrupt, and buried in great state in a shrine at Trondhjem (Drontheim). Many English churches are consecrated to him. Tooley Street, in London, still preserves his name in the old Danish quarter.

Snorro Sturleson, Heimskringla; Skulason, Olajs Saga apud Scripta Hist. Islandorum; Saxo Grammaticus, Hist. Danica, lib. x.; Maurer, Bekehrung des Norwegischen Stammes.

Olaf (Anlaf), TRYGWASON (d. 1000), was the son of a Norwegian sea-king of royal blood, and was probably born in the British Isles. The accounts of his early days, which originate in a Latin chronicle, now lost, are not to be trusted. His first appearance in English annals is probably 988, when Watchet was harried, and Gova, the

Devonish thane, slain, and many men with him; but in 993 we are told how he came with 450 ships to Stone, and thence to Sand. wich, and thence to Ipswich, harrying all about, and so to Maldon. Here he was met by Brihtnoth, the famous ealdorman, whom he defeated and slew. Next year, with Sweyn, the Danish king, he laid siege to London, but failed to take it. They then harried, burnt, and slew all along the seacoasts of Essex, Kent, Sussex, and Hamp shire. On receipt of £16,000 they agreed to a peace, and Olaf promised never again to visit England save peacefully. Next spring he went to Norway and wrested the kingdom from Earl Hacon; here he ruled for five years, during which time he established Christianity in the various districts of Norway and her colonies. He disappeared mysteriously after a battle that he had lost; rumours of his living at Rome and the Holy Land as a hermit were long rife in the North.

Anglo-Saxon Chron.; Snorro Sturleson, Heimskringla, Maurer, Bekehrung des Norwegiscar Stammes, 1856.

Oldcastle, SIR JOHN, LORD COBHAM (d. 1417), was a member of the royal household and a personal friend of Henry V. He was the leader of the Lollards. In 1413 the clergy determined to strike a blow at them by indicting Oldcastle. He refused to appear before Convocation, and was excommunicated. At last, compelled to attend before a spiritual court at St. Paul's, he yet refused to recant his opinion, and re-asserted many of his former statements, declaring, among other things, that "the Pope, the bishops, and the friars constituted the head, the members, and the tail of antichrist." Thereupon he was pronounced a heretic, and imprisoned in the Tower. Making his escape, he was expected to put himself at the head of a large body of followers, who assembled in St. Giles's Fields; but Henry's promptitude prevented the rising, and Oldcastle escaped from Lon don. In 1415 he attempted to excite a rebellion, and in 1417 he was captured in the Welsh Marches, and put to death as a heretic and a traitor. "Perhaps we shall most safely conclude," says Dr. Stubbs, "from the tetor of history, that his doctrinal creed was far sounder than the principles which guided either his moral or political conduct." Sir John Oldcastle married the heiress of the barony of Cobham, and in her right was sur moned to Parliament as Lord Cobham, by which name he is often known. [LOLLARIS

Old Sarum is generally regarded as the Roman Sorbiodunum. The Saxons in 552 captured it from the Britons, and named it Searesbyrig. In 960 a Witenagemot was held at Old Sarum, and the barons were assembled here by William in 105 From the reign of the Conqueror til the thirteenth century it was the seat of a

bishop; but the town then followed the church, which was rebuilt in the plain; and hereafter it has continued to be almost deserted. Nevertheless, it sent two members to Parliament, and it was for Old Sarum that William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, first sat (1735). In 1832 it was disenfranchised by the Reform Bill.

Olive Branch Petition, THE (July, 1775), was the ultimatum on the part of the American colonies prior to the War of Independence. It was a petition drawn up by Congress, urging the king to direct some mode of reconciliation. Respectful and conciliatory, the petition proposed no terms or conditions, though it was generally understood that the colonies would insist on the repeal of the obnoxious statutes, and would require some solemn charter regulating the relations of the two countries in the future. The petition was entrusted to Richard Penn, joint proprietor of the influential colony of Pennsylvania. But on his arrival in London in August, 66 no minister waited on him or sent for him, or even asked him one single question about the state of the colonies." The king would have nothing to do with the petition or its bearer. The American envoys foresaw too clearly that the result of the refusal would be bloodshed; but Lord Dartmouth only expressed the popular misconception of the gravity of the situation, when he said that if he thought the refusal would be the cause of shedding one drop of blood he would never have concurred in it. [George III.]

Bancroft, Hist. of American Revolution, ii., c. 49; Stanhope, Hist. of Eng., vi., c. 52. Omdut-ul-Omrah, Nabob of the Carnatic, on the death of Mahomet Ali (1795) succeeded to the throne and debts of his father. During his administration the prosperity of the country was rapidly declining, and the resources of government were threatened with extinction. He was, however, surrounded by European money-lenders, and enabled to pay the English subsidy, and thus defer the crisis for a short time. Lord Hobart, Governor of Madras, proposed that the mortgaged districts should be ceded to the Company in lieu of the subsidy. This the Nabob refused, and also a similar proposition by Lord Mornington in 1799. On the outbreak of hostilities with Tippoo, Lord Wellesley demanded a war contribution of three lacs of pagodas; this was promised, but not paid. Various propositions of cession were made in lieu of subsidy, but all were refused. Meanwhile the Nabob had continued the intercourse and correspondence with Tippoo which his father had begun in violation of the Treaty of 1792, and at the capture of Seringapatam proofs of this were discovered. Before, however, any action was taken the Nabob died (1800).

Welles'ey Despatches; Mill, Hist. of India; Wilks, Mysore.

Omichund was a wealthy banker of Moorshedabad, who became acquainted with the plot which Meer Jaffier had arranged with Clive for the destruction of Surajah Dowlah. He demanded £300,000 as a bribe for silence. Clive therefore caused two treaties to be made out-the real one on white paper, in which Omichund was not mentioned, and the other, the false one, on red. Clive and the committees signed both, but Admiral Watson refused to sign the false one. Clive therefore forged his signature. When Omichund became aware of the deception that had been practised upon him, he lost his reason.

Macaulay, Essays.

O'Neil, CONN, Earl of Tyrone (d. circa 1552), joined the Geraldines in their rebellion, and for a long time maintained himself against the English forces. In 1542 he consented to resign his title of "The O'Neil," and, being refused the earldom of Ulster, went over to England, and was made Earl of Tyrone: his favourite, though illegitimate, son Matthew being elevated at the same time to the peerage as Lord Dungannon and the earldom entailed on him. On his death, a furious struggle broke out between Matthew's son and his uncle Shane, in which the latter triumphed.

O'Neil, HUGH, Earl of Tyrone, called "the arch rebel" (d. 1616), was the son of Matthew, Baron of Dungannon, who was himself the base son of Conn O'Neil, the first Earl of Tyrone. He first appears as commander of a troop of horse on the queen's side against Desmond. In 1587 the rank and title of Earl of Tyrone is acknowledged to be his, and, on his appeal to the queen, he is also invested with the lands attached to the earldom. He married the daughter of Sir H. Bagenal, but was suspected of having carried her off by force. Afterwards he was

the ally of Red Hugh O'Donnell, but, nevertheless, he still temporised while he sought to obtain help from Spain. In 1597 he at last threw off the mask, and, assuming the royal title of "The O'Neil," allied himself with the neighbouring clans. After some fighting, he seemed ready to submit, and allowed the English to rebuild Blackwater Fort. He was soon in arms again, however, and, in 1589, he overthrew Sir H. Bagenal in person at the battle of Blackwater. Ulster, Connaught, and Leinster in consequence rose. The queen, now thoroughly alarmed, sent over the Earl of Essex as Lord-Lieutenant. He brought with him ample powers, and an army of 20,000 foot and 2,000 horse, the largest Ireland had ever seen. The two leaders met near Ballyduich, in the middle of the river Brenny; a truce was arranged, and Essex consented to submit O'Neil's demands to the queen. They included complete freedom of religion and the

restoration of all forfeited land to the O'Neils, the O'Donnells, and to Desmond. Essex soon after left Ireland, and Lord Mountjoy succeeded him as commander of the English forces. The rest of the country gradually submitted, but O'Neil still held out in hopes of foreign succour. In 1601, 5,000

Spaniards at last landed at Kinsale, and some 2,000 more at Castlehaven. Kinsale was at once besieged by Lord Mountjoy and the Earl of Thomond. O'Neil, joined by O'Donnell, and by Captain Tyrel with the 2,000 Spaniards from Castlehaven, marched to raise the siege. Against his own better judgment, he engaged the English forces on Dec. 23, 1601, and was defeated with a loss of 1,200 killed. In crossing the Blackwater on his retreat, he suffered another severe loss and was himself dangerously wounded. The Lord-Deputy then followed him into Tyrone, took his forts, ravaged the country, and even broke to pieces the old stone seat on which the O'Neils had been from time immemorial inaugurated as chiefs. When all hopes of Spanish succour came to an end by the surrender of Kinsale, and finally by the capture of Dunboy and the non-sailing of the Spanish armament, Mountjoy induced the queen to accept O'Neil's submission, which he made at Mellefont, being reinstated in his earldom of Tyrone. James I. at first treated him very kindly, but, when the English shire system began to be introduced and the penal laws began to be carried out, Tyrone conspired with Tyrconnel and the Spaniards. In 1607, thinking himself discovered, he fled the country and settled in Rome, where he died in 1616. His lands were confiscated after his flight. By the death of his sons soon after, this branch of the O'Neils became extinct.

Froude, Eng. in Ireland; Moore, Hist. of Ireland; Camden, Annales rerum Anglicarum et Hibernicarum, Moryson, Hist. of Ireland, 1635. O'Neil, OWEN ROE (d. 1680), had been an officer in the Spanish service, but returned to Ulster, and in July, 1642, assumed the command. He was soon hailed as "The O'Neil," though he was not in the direct line of descent. The Council entrusted him with the command in Ulster; but he was not at first very successful, and had to appeal to them for help. But, on June 5, 1646, he won the splendid victory over Monroe's Scots and English at Benburb. He was opposed to the reconciliation between Ormonde and the Catholics, and, in 1649, went so far as to come to an agreement with Monk; but, after Rathmines, the English Parliament refused to agree to this treaty, and he then proceeded to join Ormonde. Before he could effect his purpose, however, he was struck down by illness, or, as some say, poison, and died at Clonacter, in Cavan. Lecky says of him that "during the whole of his career he showed himself an able and honourable man.'

Lecky, England in the Eighteenth Century;

Froude, English in Ireland; Warner: Carte, Hist. of the Life of James, Duke of Ormonde. O'Neil, SHANE (d. 1567), was the legitimate eldest son of Conn O'Neil. By Henry VIII's patent the earldom of Tyrone, as granted to Conn, was to descend to Matthew, his base son, and his heirs. Matthew had before Conn's death fallen by Shane's hand, but his son was supported by England. Shane O'Neil, however, got recognised as the O'Neil by a large part of the clan, and held out in rebellion against the Earl of Sussex, his personal foe. An attempt to set up O'Donnell against him led to that chief's capture, and his wife, the Countess of Argyle, became Shane's mistress (1560). Nevertheless, however, Shane professed himself anxious for peace, and even for an English wife; at last he was induced with this view to go over to England, where he was well received by Elizabeth, but not allowed to return. When, however, in 1561, the young Earl of Tyrone was murdered by one of his kinsmen, Shane was allowed to depart and at once succeeded to all his nephew's power. In 1564 the Lord-Deputy made an attempt at a meeting with Shane at Dundalk to induce him to liberate O'Donnell, who was still his prisoner. This he finally did, but on terms sufficiently humiliating for England and its ally. Soon after he concluded a treaty with Sir Thomas Cusacke, in accord ance with which he submitted; he was, how. ever, allowed to call himself the O'Neil till an English title should be found for him and the garrison of Armagh was withdrawn. This treaty he observed very faithfully, and in accordance with the wishes of the English he attacked and for the time destroyed the Island Scots in 1564. When Sir H. Sidney came over as Lord-Deputy, he refused to restore O'Donnell's lands, and ravaged the Pale; in consequence he was attacked by the united forces of the Lord-Deputy, of the Pale. and of the O'Donnells, and in 1567 all his forts were taken, and his own clan abandoned him. He fled to the Scots, but Oge MacCormel, determined to revenge the defeat and fall of his brother, and had him murdered in his camp. Shane's head was stuck up in Dublin by order of the Lord-Deputy. Shane was a remarkable character, and seems to have governed Ulster uncommonly well. It is also evident that he had made a favourable impression on Elizabeth.

Moore, Hist. of Ireland; Sidney Papers; Froude, Hist. of Eng.

O'Neil, SIR PHELIM (d. 1652), a relation of the last Earl of Tyrone, was one of the leaders in the Ulster rising of 1641. He was a weak man, and the only one among the leaders who seems to have really allowed and encouraged outrages. At first he spared the prisoners, but after meeting with some reverses, he began to execute his prisoners and on one occasion even burnt down

Armagh. Early in 1642 he announced that he was entrusted with a royal commission, and showed in support of his assertion a parchment with the Great Seal of Scotland. It was probably, but not certainly, torn from an old charter. He also began to style himself the O'Neil. In July, 1642, however, the command dropped from his feeble hands, and Owen Roe O'Neil, his successor, expressed in strong terms horror and disgust at his conduct. Sir Phelim's mother, on the other hand, had greatly distinguished herself in protecting the Protestants from her son's cruelty. Sir Phelim's chief success in actual warfare was obtained over the garrison of Drogheda. In 1652 he was tried before the High Court of Justice at Kilkenny, presided over by Fleetwood, and, together with some 200 others, convicted and executed.

Froude, Eng. in Ireland; Carte, Hist. of the Life of James, Duke of Ormonde.

O'Neils, THE SEPT OF THE, was the regal race of Ulster, descended from the ancient race which governed Ireland before the days of Brian Boru. In Edward Bruce's invasion their chief resigned his title to the crown. The regal title of the O'Neil was, however, always Lorne by their chief when he was in arms against England. In Elizabeth's time the O'Neil submitted (circa 1543), and became Earl of Tyrone, being refused the earldom of Ulster.

Moore, Hist. of Ireland.

Orangemen, THE, was a term which began to be used as early as 1689, and was applied to the upholders of Revolution principles. On Sept. 21, 1796, the first Orange lodge was instituted by the Peep o' Day Boys, after the celebrated battle of Diamond. The lodges soon multiplied, their chief object at that time being to disarm the Catholics, who indeed had no right to keep arms. By 1797 they could muster 200,000 men. Many noblemen and gentlemen joined them, and it was their influence which counteracted that of the United Irishmen in the north. In 1798 the rebels were more afraid of them than of the regular troops, but Lord Camden, perhaps rightly, refused to employ them, and thereby give a sectarian character to the rebellion. In 1825 they were dissolved by the Association Bill. In 1836 they, however, again numbered 145,000 members in England and 125,000 in Ireland. The Duke of Cumberland was Grand Master, and the Orangemen were suspected of a wish to change the succession in his favour by force of arms. Consequently, after a parliamentary inquiry, their lodges were broken up. In 1845 they were again revived, and many faction fights followed in Ireland. In 1869 great excitement was created by the arrest of their Grand Master for violating the Party Processions Act.

Fronde, Eng. in Ireland; May, Const. Hist.; McCarthy, Hist. of Our Own Times.

Ordainers, THE LORDS, consisted of earls, barons, and bishops, appointed in March, 1310, to hold office till Michaelmas, 1311, and to draw up ordinances for the reform of the realm. A precedent for the appointment of such a commission was found in the proceedings of the Oxford Parliament of 1258, and in both cases it is noticeable that the Commons had no share in the matter. The Ordainers were twenty-one in number, viz., seven bishops, eight earls, and six barons.

Ordeal. This name, once written ordál and ordel, etymologically signifies a distribution into "deals" or parts, then a discriminating, and then a deciding (Ger. Urtheil), and was given to a peculiar method of reaching the facts in criminal cases that made a feature of the Anglo-Saxon judicial system. Though represented as an inheritance from Pagan times, it is described as "a reference to the direct judgment of God," and would seem to have been allowed as an alternative to those who failed in or shrank from the process by compurgation or by oath. "If he dare not take the oath," says an old law, "let him go to the triple ordeal." But the recorded details will not warrant a positive statement. We only know that under certain circumstances, while the court, sheriff, bishop, thegns, &c., declared the law, the ordeal was expected to reveal the facts. The ceremony took place in church. After three days of severe discipline and austere diet, having communicated and made oath that he was innocent, the accused person, standing between twelve friends and twelve foes, when a special service had concluded, plunged his arm into boiling water, drew out a stone or lump of iron, and had his arm bandaged by the priest. This was the ordeal of water; or he was called on to seize a bar of iron that had lain on a fire till the last collect of the service had been read, carry it for three feet, and hasten to the altar, when the priest promptly applied the bandages. This was the ordeal of iron. If in three days' time the priest could say the arm was healed, the sufferer was pronounced guiltless, if not, he was judged as one convicted of God. Minor or less accredited ordeals were the corsned, or eating of the consecrated or accused morsel, and the casting of the subject, bound, into deep water. If the former did not choke, if the latter threatened to drown, it was taken as a proof of innocence. Walking on burning ploughshares also appears as an ordeal, but seldom, if ever, save in incredible stories, as in that told of Emma, Canute's widow.

Ordeal continued after the Conquest. The Conqueror allowed it to Englishmen when challenged by Normans in place of the newlyintroduced trial by battle. "Domesday," Prof. Freeman tells us, "is full of cases in which men offer to prove their rights battle or by ordeal." In the Assize of Northampton (1176) it is ordered that men presented

by