or Capnio (a Greek equivalent), Johann, a scholar illustrious for his services in the revival of letters and liberation of thought in the fifteenth and following centuries, was born at Pforzheim 28th December 1455. It is stated, on the authority of an ancient chronicle, that his father George was a common messenger; at all events, he was of the humblest ranks of life. A younger brother, Dionysius, who afterwards rose to some distinction, and a sister, Elizabeth, completed the family. At school his sweetness of voice and natural talent for music were remarked, and he was placed in the choir of the chapel of the margrave, who, pleased with his talents, his progress in grammar, and the sweetness of his disposition, sent him to Paris in 1473 with his son Frederic, afterwards bishop of Utrecht. Here he perfected himself in Latin, and applied himself to Greek under Hermemonus of Sparta, the second teacher of Greek in Paris, Georgius Tiphemus having been the first. He also profited by the instructions of Johannes à Lapidé, Tardivus, and Robert Gaguin, supporting himself partly by copying parts of Greek authors for richer students. At the end of 1474 he went to Basle, where, while teaching Latin and Greek, he improved his knowledge of the latter under Andronicus Contoblacus. Here also, or previously at Paris, he came under the influence of Wessel (Lux Mundi) who encouraged him in his Greek studies and initiated him in the elements of Hebrew. At Basle he had access to the valuable Greek manuscripts brought thither at the time of the council by the Cardinal de Ragusa. His simpler method of instruction, and the free exercise of thought and speculation with which he familiarized his pupils in expounding the original text of Aristotle, attracted many, and also brought him much envy and enmity. Having remained at Basle four years, he went to Orleans to study the civil and canon law, and while there taught Latin and Greek with great reputation. He continued these studies in 1480 at Poitiers, and in 1481, having received there the highest degree in law, he returned to his native country, fixing his residence at Tübingen, a town recommended to him by the society of learned men connected with the new university founded by Eberhard im Bart ("the Bearded"), and by the well-known enlightenment of that prince. Here he practised as advocate with great prosperity, and married. Having been taken into Eberhard's confidence, he accompanied him to Rome in 1482, where the regard and esteem he conciliated by his learning, his purer Latin, and eloquence, confirmed him in Eberhard's favour, who till his death, 24th February 1496, continued to employ him in diplomatic business. More important for Reuchlin himself was his intercourse at Rome and Florence, during his two visits to Italy in 1482 and 1489 with Chalcondylas, Marsilius Ficinus, Politianus, and Pico di Mirandola, for from that intercourse his studies and speculations received an entirely new direction.

On his return to Germany in 1482 he remained at Stuttgart with Eberhard. In 1484 he was nominated assessor of the supreme court, and during the life of Eberhard was engaged in many missions which need not be enumerated here. Being employed at the court of the Emperor Frederick III., he so gained the esteem of that potentate as to be ennobled, and presented by him with a valuable Hebrew MS. of the Bible, now preserved in the library of Durlach. From the emperor's Jewish physician, Jakob Jehiel Loanz, he received further instruction in Hebrew. On the death of Eberhard a revolution took place in the court of Würtemberg. Eberhard the younger, who succeeded, dismissed his predecessor's counsellors, and a previous adviser of his own, Holzinger, who had been, at Reuchlin's suggestion, thrown into prison, was restored to favour. Reuchlin, who had everything to fear, fled, first to Worms, and then, on Reuchlin's invitation of his warm friend Johann von Dalberg, Bishop of Worms, to Heidelberg. Here his life seems to have been one of pleasant labour in the most congenial society. He did much for the university: arranged and increased its library, wrote a Manual of Civil Law for the Bursa or law college, made various translations of Greek books, wrote an epitome of universal history, and procured the erection in 1498 of a Greek chair, to which his brother Dionysius was called from Tübingen. He also wrote a comedy entitled Sergius, aimed at Holzinger, and satirizing the dissolute lives of the monks, but was dissuaded by Dalberg from having it acted, and substituted another, Scena Progymnasmata, an imitation of Patelin. Another visit to Rome in 1498, in the cause of Philip the elector-palatine, who had been excommunicated by the Pope for the detention of some monastic revenues, he turned to advantage by availing himself of the instructions in Hebrew of Obadiah Sphorno, a learned Jew, who exacted, however, a heavy price for his lessons. His meeting with Argyropulus, then teaching Greek at Rome, and astonishing him by expounding a passage of Thucydides, is well known. He returned, having succeeded in his mission, and brought with him many manuscripts and printed works. While in Rome a counter revolution had taken place in Württemberg; Eberhard had been deposed, and a council appointed till the majority of Ulric. Reuchlin, therefore, returned to Stuttgart, resolved to devote himself entirely to learning. He was again, however, pressed into public business, being appointed (1501) judge of the Swabian League (renewed in 1500), an office he filled for eleven years. With the duties of this office, and the toils of his profession, he contrived to unite laborious study, the fruit of which appeared in 1505 in his great work Linguae Hebraicae Rudimenta, a work important for that time not only in a philological point of view, but as rendering possible that free study of the original Scriptures on which the religious emancipation that was shortly to follow could only have securely founded itself. Besides this work, he put forth many Latin translations of small Greek works; and by his extensive correspondence exerted great influence in directing the studies of earnest scholars. It is clear also, from an inspection of this correspondence, that, while by no means a profound or systematic thinker, or advocate of formulas, his sound discernment of the true end, and proper methods of education, contributed powerfully to its elevation in Germany, and its liberation from an oppressive pedantry. It may be remarked here also, that these letters are of the highest value for the literary history of a period which, in regard to the subsequent revolution, may be called the period of causes, and which has been too exclusively studied from fixed dogmatic stand-points. While to Luther, as chief, is due the positive Reformation, by proclaiming a return to Scripture and free thought as the basis of a purer Christianity, yet previous to Luther's outburst there had long been going on round Reuchlin, as a centre, a quiet movement of free intelligence which could not fail, in spite of its merely negative and unreligious character, to come at last into open collision with the dominant ignorance and superstition. Only an occasion was wanting; and this occurred in 1509. Johann Pfisterkorn, a converted (or rather apostate) Jew of Cologne, and protege of the Dominicans there, who had already distinguished himself by writing against his former faith, procured, with the assistance of the monks, an order from the Emperor Maximilian that the Jews should give up to be burnt all their books hostile to Christianity. Finding the execution of this order very difficult, partly on account of the restriction stated, partly from the rarity of zeal like his own, he petitioned for a new mandate, removing the restriction, and ordering the destruction of all Jewish books but the Bible. The Reuchlin, emperor named a commission to consider the question, of whom Reuchlin was one. He accordingly forwarded his Opinion to the Elector of Mentz in August 1510. In this able document, which, with the one presently to be mentioned, will be found in Van der Hardt's Histor. Liter. Reformations, the reasoning is almost entirely based on the mischievous results to christian learning and zeal of the proposed destruction, but there are indications of a sound doctrine concerning liberty of conscience, and true perception of the real nature of religion, which cannot be propagated by violence, that must have appeared very strange to the monks of Cologne. The Opinion getting abroad by treachery, Pfaffkorn published a virulent personal reply, entitled Handspiegel ("Mirror"), to which Reuchlin returned an Augenspiegel ("Spectacles"). Frightened at the violent measures the Colognese were taking against this book and the author, he was yet unable to concede the essence of his position, and accordingly the Klare Verstentus in Teutsch, which he published in 1512 by way of sedative, was as offensive as his two previous tracts. His enemies selected Judaizing propositions from it, and published them. Reuchlin replied in a Defensio contra Calumniatores Colonicienses. In 1513, the emperor having imposed silence on both parties, the Dominicans called forth Hochstraten, a Dutch inquisitor, who took charge of the affair as a heresy. We need not follow his proceedings, remarkable only for irregularity and failure. On appeal to Rome in 1516, the Pope (Leo X.) appointed a commission, which by a majority decided in favour of Reuchlin; but Hochstraten, by means, it was said, of bribery, procured from the Pope a mandatum de supersedeendo putting off a settlement of the business at his pleasure. In the meantime the literary warfare raged in Germany: a confederacy of Reuchlinists, the most active of whom were Ulrich von Hutten and Willibald Pirckheimer, was formed; and on the other side, Ortinus Gratius, a Dominican and professor at Cologne, published, under Pfaffkorn's name, many libels against Reuchlin, while Hochstraten sought, among other modes of attack, to find heresy in Reuchlin's cabalistic writings. All these libels and epigrams have perished, but the Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum, which astounded the combatants on both sides in 1516 (part second, 1517), remains an unsurpassed masterpiece of the cruellest and most truthful satire. The laughers, and they are the most of the world, were now all on one side, and the laugh could only be redoubled by the Lamentationes Obscurorum Virorum, which appeared in 1517 as an answer. To answer a laugh is, in any way, a hopeless thing, but to answer it by a lamentation is a desperate thing. In the war between Franz von Sickingen and Duke Ulrich of Württemberg, Reuchlin was obliged to leave Stuttgart, and retired, by the invitation of Duke William of Bavaria, to Ingolstadt, November 1519. While there, his process was settled by the intervention of Sickingen, who sent an embassy to Cologne, threatening that, unless they paid Reuchlin his expenses, and made him compensation and apology, he would make war on the city. The conditions were, after some attempts at compromise, complied with. At Ingolstadt he received a pension of 200 gold crowns annually from the duke; and lectured on Hebrew and Greek to a great concourse of students. He returned in 1521 to Stuttgart, on account of the plague appearing in Ingolstadt, and was immediately invited by the university of Tübingen to teach there. He removed thither, and began his labours, but falling ill, returned to Stuttgart, where he died of jaundice, December 21, 1521. Erasmus, a cold and timid friend when Reuchlin was alive, wrote the dialogue entitled Apothecis Capionis, and introduced him into heaven.

Reuchlin was in his age regarded with singular admiration and affection by scholars of all countries; and Germany still regards him, as well she may, as the patriarch of her erudition. Of his cabalistic philosophy a full account, and a rather one-sided one, will be found in the fourth volume of Brucker's Histor. Crit. Philos. He derived it partly from Mirandola, and partly from his study of the forged cabalistic books of the Jews. A full list of Reuchlin's works will be found in the supplement to Jöcher's Lexikon. His library has been mostly incorporated in that of Carlruhe. A portrait of him exists in the university of Giessen. (W.H.C.)

REUS, a town of Spain, Catalonia, in the province and 9 miles W. of Tarragona, stands at the foot of a chain of hills in a fertile plain, about 4 miles from the sea. It is a bustling, flourishing town, forming a striking contrast to the decaying grandeur of its neighbour city Tarragona. One portion, however, is as old as 1151; the rest was built about six centuries later. This modern town is regularly laid out, with broad streets and squares; cold in winter, and exposed during the summer to the rays of a glaring sun, from which the more ancient town is sheltered by its narrow and crooked lanes. The houses are generally well built: many of the public squares are adorned with fountains; and the largest of them, which is the chief place of resort for the people, is surrounded with wide colonnades. The large Tuscan town-house, with its spacious halls enriched with paintings and statues, is one of the chief buildings; the plain Gothic parish church lifts high its hexagonal tower; the college and schools are accommodated in the splendid buildings of a former Franciscan convent; a Carmelite convent has likewise given place to the hospital, to which belongs the theatre of the town; and there is also an orphan asylum, and a large new prison. Silk, cotton, and linen are the chief produce of the industry of Reus; dyeing, bleaching, tanning, distilling, and other operations are also carried on. The prosperity of the citizens is attested by their many fine villas scattered round the town. The trade too is very considerable; the weekly markets determine the prices of various articles throughout Spain. There is a railway from this place to Tarragona; and a canal connecting Reus with the port of Salou, which is very exposed, and safe only in summer. By this port the produce of the country and of the manufactories in the town is exported abroad; while in return there is much importation of flour, timber, hides, live-stock, &c. During the peninsular war Reus tamely submitted to the French in 1808, and in consequence was much impoverished by their exactions under Macdonald. Pop. 25,084.

REUSS, the name of two principalities in Germany, among the smallest of the states of the German Confederation, but which form the remains of a country that was anciently much more extensive. The country, bounded by Bohemia, Bavaria, and Thuringia, seemed to the German kings to be from its position and natural character, so defended as not to require the protection of a margrave, but was to be governed by officers of the crown; and accordingly divided into five bailiwicks (Pogteien), viz., Weida, Plauen, Gera, Greiz, and Hof. Of these, Weida and Gera belonged in the twelfth century to Henry the Rich, a prince probably descended from the ancient families of Luxemburg, Schwarzburg, and Gleisberg, who afterwards obtained possession of the other three bailiwicks. His four sons, dividing the land among them, founded the lines of Plauen, Greiz, Weida, and Gera. The three last became extinct in 1236, 1532, and 1550 respectively; from the first are descended the present princes of Reuss, from Henry II., second son of Henry the Rich. The family did not at this time bear the name of Reuss, but this title was introduced in the next generation. The son of Henry II. left two sons, who were surnamed, from the nationality of their mothers, Henry the Bohemian and Henry the Russian (Russe or Russ). From the Bohemian descended a line of lords (Herren) of Plauen, which became extinct in 1572; their possessions being lost in various ways to the surrounding states, till the last of them was sold in 1569 by the last of the family to the Elector of Saxony. But the other family, with the name of Reuss and a part of the original territory, was more durable. It was, and still is, a peculiarity in this family, that all its members, in honour, it is said, of the Emperor Henry IV., who first elevated the original Henry the Rich, bear the name of Henry, and were distinguished at first by surnames, or by the titles of Elder, Middle, and Younger; afterwards by numbers, with the necessary provision that after reaching C. in the elder branch, and at the end of each century in the younger, they begin again with I. The two lines at present existing are derived from two of the sons of Henry the Peaceful, who died in 1535. Both branches were raised in 1673 to the rank of counts of the empire and to that of princes,—the elder or Reuss-Greiz line in 1778, and the younger or Reuss-Schleiz in 1806. The younger line was subdivided in 1666 into the branches of Gera, Schleiz, and Lobenstein; the first became extinct in 1802, and its possessions were governed in common by the others, till in 1848 the last prince of Reuss-Lobenstein, Henry LXXII., abdicated in favour of the Prince of Reuss-Schleiz; so that there now exist only the two principalities. The country consists of two parts, separated from each other,—the more northerly bounded N. by Prussia, S. by part of Saxe Weimar, E. and W. by the two parts of Saxe Altenburg; the more southerly lying between Saxony and Bavaria on the S., and parts of Schwartzburg, Prussia, and Saxe Weimar on the N. The former and the western portion of the latter form the principality of Reuss-Schleiz, the remainder that of Reuss-Greiz. The area and population of the two countries are:

| | Sq. miles | Pop. (1855) | |----------------|-----------|-------------| | Reuss-Greiz | 144 | 35,159 | | Reuss-Schleiz | 447 | 89,203 | | Total | 591 | 115,362 |

A considerable part of the principalities is mountainous, being occupied by branches of the Erzgebirge and Frankenalb. This part of the country is for the most part well wooded; but there are also valleys and small plains. The principal rivers that water the country are the Saale and its affluent the Elster, both flowing in general from S. to N. Though in some parts light and sandy, yet the greater part of the soil is fertile, and yields in both principalities the ordinary productions of Germany. The climate is temperate. Among the mineral riches of the land are to be numbered iron, salt, building-stone, slate, potters' and porcelain clay, and alum. Farming is largely carried on. Corn is produced in Reuss-Greiz below, and in Reuss-Schleiz above the demands of the inhabitants. In both there are also raised potatoes, pulse, flax, and hops. Of the former, the most important produce is timber, especially pines and firs; the latter derives much of its wealth from the rearing of cattle; and contained in 1849, 2074 horses, 29,677 horned cattle, 33,419 sheep, 5046 goats, and 14,963 pigs. The principal manufactures in both are those of woollen and cotton fabrics; the larger principality manufactures also tobacco, beer, brandy, pottery, and other articles. There are exported manufactured articles, iron, timber, butter, and cattle. In both principalities the government is in the hands of a prince, limited in each by a separate diet. The highest law tribunal is the upper court of appeal at Jena, beneath which there are courts at Greiz, Gera, and other places. The princes and the great majority of their subjects are of the Lutheran religion. Education is well provided for by numerous elementary schools, two Latin schools, a gymnasium, and three normal seminaries; the university of Jena is considered the national one. The military force of Reuss-Greiz is 609, that of Reuss-Schleiz 260; total, 869. The annual public revenue of the former amounts to about £8400, of the latter £38,000; the expenditure £37,000.

REUTLINGEN, a town of Württemberg, capital of the Reutlingen circle of Schwarzwald, at the foot of the Swabian Alps, on the Echatz, the water of which flows through the town, 6 miles E. of Tübingen, and 20 S. of Stuttgart. It is a stately old town, walled and moated, in an exquisitely beautiful position, with the long line of steep hills, the dark, dense pine forests, green meadows, and rich, waving fields of corn, all combining to enhance the picturesqueness of the scenery, a fine view of which is obtained from the lofty isolated hill Achalm, close at hand. The Protestant church of St Mary is considered the finest ecclesiastical building in Württemberg; it is of elegant proportions, and contains some curious ancient ornaments. A large, handsome town-hall, and a Franciscan convent, now occupied by government offices, are among the other edifices of the town. There are here too several schools and a public library; manufactures of woollen cloth, cotton, leather, hats, &c.; and a considerable trade in these, as well as in the produce of the country. Reutlingen formerly belonged to the counts of Achalm, the ruins of whose castle, on the hill of that name, are still to be seen. Pop. (1855) 12,367.