octrines, however, were finally condemned; and their sect was broken up by a general council, held at Constantinople in 53.

ORIHUELA, a town and episcopal see of Spain, situated in the kingdom and province of Valencia, on its S. boundary, at the foot of a limestone ridge of moderate height, and on both sides of the Segura, which crosses it from W. to E., the communication being maintained by two bridges. The town is not fortified, but there are extensive ruins of a fort on the hill commanding it; and the entrance to the town, on the side of Valencia—the Puerto del Colegio, is a fine lofty arch, surmounted by a stone figure and the city arms. The episcopal palace, erected by Osorio, the bishop, in 1733, has a front of 600 feet in the Calle Mayor, and on the other side is washed by the Segura, by whose inundations it has been much damaged at various times, and is in a ruinous condition; it contains a public library. Among the other principal buildings are—a large barracks at the Murcia gate, also partly ruined, and a new casa consistorial, in which the municipal archives, containing a great number of curious and important documents of national history are preserved. The cathedral is an ancient Gothic structure, erected on the site of a mosque; it was enlarged in 1829, and tastefully decorated. There are three other parish churches. The most ancient of the convents is that of the friars of St Augustine. That of the Franciscans, on the Murcia Road, is a building of different epochs, with a fine large garden. There is a Carmelite convent in the centre of the town, and six other convents of less note, among which may be reckoned, as a kind of convent, the Colegia Patriarcal de Predicadores, at the E. entrance, with a fine church and library. There are three convents of nuns and three of eremites within the town, the most remarkable being that of our Lady of Monserrat, whose image is carried in procession to the cathedral in times of public calamity. The university of Orihuela, founded in 1568 by Fernando de Loaçanes, Archbishop of Valencia, was suppressed in 1835, and part of its revenue applied to the foundation of a college in the university of Valencia. Other educational establishments are,—the theological seminary of San Miguel, founded in 1733 by the bishop Gomez de Teran, containing a fine library and the archives of the diocese; the normal school of the province; and six public elementary schools, besides private institutions. There is an hospital; also a poor-house, founded in 1743 by the bishop just named, and enlarged in 1818; it is capacious and well endowed. Opposite to it stands the maternity hospital, founded in 1764. Agriculture is the principal occupation of the inhabitants, but there are manufactures of woollen and linen clothes, leather, sombreros, and saltpetre; also silk and cotton dye-works. There is a daily corn-market, and a weekly market for all goods on Tuesday, which is well attended. Orihuela is a Roman town, as is testified by ruins and by coins discovered; but unless it be the Orcelis of Pliny there is no mention of it in ancient geography. It was a place of some importance in the Moorish invasion, and was held in 713 successfully by Theodoric against Abd-el-Aziz after the battle of the Guadalate. It was conquered in 1265 by Don Jaime of Aragon for his father-in-law, Don Alonso, King of Castile. The city was sacked in 1520 in the civil war at that time raging, and again in the war of the succession, 1706. In 1648 it was devastated by the plague; in 1651 by an inundation of the river; in the earthquake of 21st March 1829 many houses were destroyed and churches damaged. In the last civil war the city was distinguished by its Carlist tendencies, and was held for some time in 1837 by the Carlist general Porcedell. Pop. in 1849, 17,452.