[Witch of Endor], a divining woman consulted by King Saul, who affected to call up the spirit of Samuel, who foretold his defeat and doom.
[Witenagemot] (assembly of the wise), name given to the national council or Parliament of England in Anglo-Saxon times, agreeably to whose decisions the affairs of the kingdom were managed; it consisted of the bishops, royal vassals, and thanes.
[Wither, George], poet, born at Arlesford, in Hampshire, and educated at Magdalen College, Oxford; was imprisoned for his first poem, a satire, "Abuses Stript and Whipt," in 1613; his subsequent productions betray true poetic inspiration, and special passages in them are much admired; he was a religious poet, and is much belauded by Charles Lamb; in the Civil War he espoused the Puritan side, and in his zeal in its behalf raised a troop of horse (1588-1667).
[Witherspoon, John], Scottish theologian, born at Tester; was minister at Paisley; became president of the college at New Jersey, U.S.; died at Princeton; wrote "Ecclesiastic Characteristics" against the Moderates, also on justification and regeneration (1722-1794).
[Witsius, Hermann], Dutch theologian; became professor at Leyden; wrote on what are in old orthodox theology called the "Covenants," of which there were reckoned two, one of works, under the Mosaic system, and the other of grace, under the Christian (1636-1708).
[Wittekind], leader of the Saxon struggle against Charlemagne; annihilated the Frankish army in 783, in retaliation for which Charlemagne executed 4500 Saxons he had taken prisoners, which roused the entire Saxon people to arms, and led to a drawn battle at Detmold, upon which Wittekind accepted baptism, and was promoted to a dukedom by the Frankish king; he fell in battle with Gerold, a Swabian duke, in 807.
[Wittenberg] (13), a town in Prussian Saxony, on the right bank of the Elbe, 50 m. SW. of Berlin; was the capital of the electorate of Saxony, and a stronghold of the Reformers; is famous in the history of Luther, and contains his tomb; it was on the door of the Schlosskirche of which he nailed his famous 95 theses, and at the Elster Gate of which he burned the Pope's bull, "the people looking on and shouting, all Europe looking on."
[Wizard of the North], name given to Sir Walter Scott, from the magic power displayed in his writings.
[Woden], the German and Anglo-Saxon name for [Odin] (q. v.).
[Wodrow, Robert], Scottish Church historian, born at Glasgow; studied at the University, became librarian, and settled as minister at Eastwood, Renfrewshire; was diligent with his pen; left 50 volumes of MSS., only one of which was published in his lifetime, "History of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland from the Restoration to the Revolution," the rest having been in part published by several antiquarian societies since (1679-1734).