Arnold, Benedict, 1741-1801, American Revolutionary general and traitor, b. Norwich, Conn. As a youth he served for a time in the colonial militia in the French and Indian Wars. He later became a prosperous trader. Early in the Revolution, his expedition against Fort Ticonderoga joined that of Ethan Allen, and the joint command took the fort. Arnold pushed on to the northern end of Lake Champlain, where he destroyed a number of ships and a British fort. In the Quebec campaign, he invaded Canada (1775) by way of the Maine forests. After a grueling march, the exhausted force reached Quebec. Richard Montgomery arrived from Montreal, and the two small armies launched an unsuccessful assault on Dec. 31, 1775. Arnold was wounded but continued the siege until spring, when Sir Guy Carleton forced him back to Lake Champlain. There he built a small fleet that, although defeated, halted the British advance.

In Feb., 1777, Congress, despite General Washington's protests, promoted five brigadier generals of junior rank to major generalships over Arnold's head. This and subsequent slights by Congress embittered Arnold and may in part have motivated his later treason. Although he soon won promotion by his spectacular defense (1777) against William Tryon in Connecticut, his seniority was not restored. In the Saratoga campaign, his relief of Fort Stanwix and his brilliant campaigning under Horatio Gates played a decisive part in the American victory. He became (1778) commander of Philadelphia, after the British evacuation, and there married Peggy Shippen, whose family had Loyalist sympathies.

In 1779 he was court-martialed because of disputes with civil authorities. He was cleared of all except minor charges and was reprimanded by Washington; nevertheless he was given (1780) command of West Point. He had already begun a treasonable correspondence with Sir Henry Clinton in New York City, and now arranged to betray West Point in exchange for a British commission and money. The plot was discovered with the capture of John André, but Arnold escaped. In 1781, in the British service, he led two savage raids—against Virginia and against New London, Conn.—before going into exile in England and Canada, where he was generally scorned and unrewarded.

Benedict, Saint, d. c.547, Italian monk, called Benedict of Nursia, author of a rule for monks that became the basis of the Benedictine order, b. Norcia (E of Spoleto). He went to Rome to study, then withdrew to Subiaco to live as a hermit; after three years he was renowned for his holiness. He founded a community of monks made up of cells of 13 monks each. This he eventually left, and at Monte Cassino, in an old pagan holy place, he started the first truly Benedictine monastery, although the benedictine order did not come into being until Carolingian times. The fruits of Benedict's experience appear in the Rule of St. Benedict (in Latin), which became the chief rule in Western monasticism under the Carolingians. The Cistercians also follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. The Rule's 73 chapters are full of a spirit of moderation and common sense. They set forth the central ideas of Benedictine monasticism. St. Benedict's sister, St. Scholastica, also was a religious. Feast: Mar. 21.

Benedict, Ruth Fulton, 1887-1948, American anthropologist, b. New York City, grad. Vassar, 1909, Ph.D. Columbia, 1923. She was a student and later a colleague of Franz Boas at Columbia, where she taught from 1924. She did fieldwork among Native Americans and studied contemporary European and Asian cultures. Her works emphasize the concepts of cultural configuration, national character, and the role of culture in individual personality formation. Her widely read books helped popularize the concept of culture and attacked racism and ethnocentrism. She is the author of Concept of the Guardian Spirit in North America (1923), Patterns of Culture (1934), Zuni Mythology (1935), Race: Science and Politics (rev. ed. 1943), and The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture (1946). A collection of her work and biographical data was edited by Margaret Mead under the title An Anthropologist at Work (1959, repr. 1966).

Hebrew Baruch Spinoza

(born Nov. 24, 1632, Amsterdam—died Feb. 21, 1677, The Hague) Dutch Jewish philosopher, a major exponent of 17th-century rationalism. His father and grandfather had fled persecution by the Inquisition in Portugal. His early interest in new scientific and philosophical ideas led to his expulsion from the synagogue in 1656, and he thereafter made his living as a lens grinder and polisher. His philosophy represents a development of and reaction to the thought of René Descartes; many of his most striking doctrines are solutions to difficulties created by Cartesianism. He found three unsatisfactory features in Cartesian metaphysics: the transcendence of God, mind-body dualism, and the ascription of free will both to God and to human beings. To Spinoza, those doctrines made the world unintelligible, since it was impossible to explain the relation between God and the world or between mind and body or to account for events occasioned by free will. In his masterpiece, Ethics (1677), he constructed a monistic system of metaphysics and presented it in a deductive manner on the model of the Elements of Euclid. He was offered the chair of philosophy at the University of Heidelberg but declined it, seeking to preserve his independence. His other major works are the Tractatus Theologico-Politicus (1670) and the unfinished Tractatus Politicus.

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Hebrew Baruch Spinoza

(born Nov. 24, 1632, Amsterdam—died Feb. 21, 1677, The Hague) Dutch Jewish philosopher, a major exponent of 17th-century rationalism. His father and grandfather had fled persecution by the Inquisition in Portugal. His early interest in new scientific and philosophical ideas led to his expulsion from the synagogue in 1656, and he thereafter made his living as a lens grinder and polisher. His philosophy represents a development of and reaction to the thought of René Descartes; many of his most striking doctrines are solutions to difficulties created by Cartesianism. He found three unsatisfactory features in Cartesian metaphysics: the transcendence of God, mind-body dualism, and the ascription of free will both to God and to human beings. To Spinoza, those doctrines made the world unintelligible, since it was impossible to explain the relation between God and the world or between mind and body or to account for events occasioned by free will. In his masterpiece, Ethics (1677), he constructed a monistic system of metaphysics and presented it in a deductive manner on the model of the Elements of Euclid. He was offered the chair of philosophy at the University of Heidelberg but declined it, seeking to preserve his independence. His other major works are the Tractatus Theologico-Politicus (1670) and the unfinished Tractatus Politicus.

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orig. Joseph Alois Ratzinger

(born April 16, 1927, Marktl am Inn, Ger.) Pope from 2005. He was ordained in 1951 and received a doctorate in theology at the University of Munich in 1953. Thereafter he pursued a career as a theologian and teacher at various universities. During the Second Vatican Council (1962–65) he served as an expert adviser and an advocate of reform. In 1977 he was appointed archbishop of Munich; three months later he was made a cardinal. As prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from 1981 to 2005, he enforced doctrinal uniformity in the church and served as a close adviser of Pope John Paul II. He was faced with numerous challenges when he became pope, including a decline in church attendance and in the number of new priests, deep divisions over the direction of the church, and the lingering effects of a sexual-abuse scandal involving priests in various parts of the world.

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orig. Giacomo Della Chiesa

(born Nov. 21, 1854, Pegli, Kingdom of Sardinia—died Jan. 22, 1922, Rome, Italy) Pope (1914–22). Ordained a priest in 1878, he entered the papal diplomatic service. He was made archbishop of Bologna in 1907 and cardinal in 1914. Elected pope a month after the outbreak of World War I, he tried to follow a policy of strict neutrality and concentrated the church's efforts on relief. He later made positive efforts toward reestablishing peace, though his principal attempt in 1917 to mediate the war was unsuccessful.

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orig. Prospero Lambertini

(born March 31, 1675, Bologna, Papal States—died May 3, 1758, Rome) Pope in 1740–58. Nobly born, he received a doctorate in theology and law. Typical of his pontificate were his promotion of scientific learning and his admonition to those drawing up the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (Index of Forbidden Books) to act with restraint. In the Papal States he reduced taxation, encouraged agriculture, and supported free trade. He maintained conciliatory relations with neighbouring kingdoms. A lifelong active scholar, he founded several learned societies and laid the groundwork for the present Vatican Museum. Bernard Garnier, a French cleric who was counter-antipope (1425–33) while Martin V was pope and Clement VIII was antipope, was also called Benedict XIV.

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orig. Pedro de Luna

(born circa 1328, Illueca, Kingdom of Aragon—died 1423, Peñíscola, in Valencia) Antipope (1394–1423). A French professor of canon law, he was named a cardinal in 1375. When the Western Schism began in 1378, he supported the antipope Clement VII. Elected pope at Avignon (see Avignon papacy), he refused French pressure to abdicate and was besieged in the papal palace (1398). Benedict escaped to Provence in 1403 and won back the obedience of France. He refused to yield when deposed by the Councils of Pisa (1409) and Constance (1417).

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(born Jan. 14, 1741, Norwich, Conn.—died June 14, 1801, London, Eng.) American army officer and traitor. He joined the American Revolutionary army in 1775 and contributed to American victories at the Battle of Ticonderoga, at Fort Stanwix, N.Y., and at the Battle of Saratoga, where he was seriously wounded. He was made a major general and placed in command of Philadelphia, where he lived extravagantly and socialized with wealthy loyalist sympathizers, one of whom he married in 1779. Reprimanded for fiscal irregularities in his command, he began secret overtures to the British. After receiving command of the fort at West Point, N.Y. (1780), he offered to surrender it to the British for £20,000. The plot was uncovered after his British contact, John André, was captured. Arnold escaped on a British ship to England, where he died penniless.

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(born Jan. 14, 1741, Norwich, Conn.—died June 14, 1801, London, Eng.) American army officer and traitor. He joined the American Revolutionary army in 1775 and contributed to American victories at the Battle of Ticonderoga, at Fort Stanwix, N.Y., and at the Battle of Saratoga, where he was seriously wounded. He was made a major general and placed in command of Philadelphia, where he lived extravagantly and socialized with wealthy loyalist sympathizers, one of whom he married in 1779. Reprimanded for fiscal irregularities in his command, he began secret overtures to the British. After receiving command of the fort at West Point, N.Y. (1780), he offered to surrender it to the British for £20,000. The plot was uncovered after his British contact, John André, was captured. Arnold escaped on a British ship to England, where he died penniless.

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Benedict is a city in Wilson County, Kansas, United States, along the Verdigris River. The population was 103 at the 2000 census.

Geography

Benedict is located at (37.627014, -95.743500).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 0.2 square miles (0.4 km²), all of it land.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 103 people, 46 households, and 23 families residing in the city. The population density was 700.8 people per square mile (265.1/km²). There were 52 housing units at an average density of 353.8/sq mi (133.8/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 97.09% White and 2.91% Native American.

There were 46 households out of which 23.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.7% were married couples living together, 4.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 50.0% were non-families. 45.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 21.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.24 and the average family size was 3.39.

In the city the population was spread out with 29.1% under the age of 18, 3.9% from 18 to 24, 19.4% from 25 to 44, 31.1% from 45 to 64, and 16.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females there were 94.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.3 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $20,625, and the median income for a family was $30,625. Males had a median income of $35,625 versus $16,250 for females. The per capita income for the city was $11,842. There were 19.0% of families and 27.1% of the population living below the poverty line, including 33.3% of under eighteens and 26.3% of those over 64.

References

External links