BLOET, ROBERT (d. 1123), English bishop, was chancellor to William I. and Rufus. From the latter he received the see of Lincoln (1093) in succession to Remigius. His private character was indifferent; but he administered his see with skill and prudence, built largely, and kept a magnificent household, which served as a training-school even for the sons of nobles. Bloet was active in assisting Henry I. during the rebellion of 1102, and became that monarch’s justiciar. Latterly, however, he fell out of favour, and, although he had been very rich, was impoverished by the fines which the king extorted from him. Perhaps his wealth was his chief offence in the king’s eyes; for he was in attendance on Henry when seized with his last illness. He was the patron of the chronicler Henry of Huntingdon, whom he advanced to an archdeaconry.
Henry of Huntingdon and W. Malmesbury (De Gestis Pontificum) are original authorities. See E.A. Freeman’s William Rufus; Sir James Ramsay, The Foundations of England, vol. ii.
(H. W. C. D.)
BLOIS, LOUIS DE (1506-1566), Flemish mystical writer, generally known under the name of Blosius, was born in October 1506 at the château of Donstienne, near Liége, of an illustrious family to which several crowned heads were allied. He was educated at the court of the Netherlands with the future emperor Charles V. of Germany, who remained to the last his staunch friend. At the age of fourteen he received the Benedictine habit in the monastery of Liessics in Hainaut, of which he became abbot in 1530. Charles V. pressed in vain upon him the archbishopric of Cambrai, but Blosius studiously exerted himself in the reform of his monastery and in the composition of devotional works. He died at his monastery on the 7th of January 1566.
Blosius’s works, which were written in Latin, have been translated into almost every European language, and have appealed not only to Roman Catholics, but to many English laymen of note, such as W.E. Gladstone and Lord Coleridge. The best editions of his collected works are the first edition by J. Frojus (Louvain, 1568), and the Cologne reprints (1572, 1587). His best-known works are:—the Institutio Spiritualis (Eng. trans., A Book of Spiritual Instruction, London, 1900); Consolatio Pusillanimium (Eng. trans., Comfort for the Faint-Hearted, London, 1903); Sacellum Animae Fidelis (Eng. trans., The Sanctuary of the Faithful Soul, London, 1905); all these three works were translated and edited by Father Bertrand Wilberforce, O.P., and have been reprinted several times; and especially Speculum Monachorum (French trans. by Félicité de Lamennais, Paris, 1809; Eng. trans., Paris, 1676; re-edited by Lord Coleridge, London, 1871, 1872, and inserted in “Paternoster” series, 1901).
See Georges de Blois, Louis de Blois, un Bénédictin au XVIème siècle (Paris, 1875), Eng. trans. by Lady Lovat (London, 1878, &c.).
BLOIS, a town of central France, capital of the department of Loir-et-Cher, 35 m. S.W. of Orleans, on the Orleans railway between that city and Tours. Pop. (1906) 18,457. Situated in a thickly-wooded district on the right bank of the Loire, it covers the summits and slopes of two eminences between which runs the principal thoroughfare of the town named after the philosopher Denis Papin. A bridge of the 18th century from which it presents the appearance of an amphitheatre, unites Blois with the suburb of Vienne on the left bank of the river. The streets of the higher and older part of the town are narrow and tortuous, and in places so steep that means of ascent is provided by flights of steps. The famous château of the family of Orleans (see [Architecture]: Renaissance Architecture in France), a fine example of Renaissance architecture, stands on the more westerly of the two hills. It consists of three main wings, and a fourth and smaller wing, and is built round a courtyard. The most interesting portion is the north-west wing, which was erected by Francis I., and contains the room where Henry, duke of Guise, was assassinated by order of Henry III. The striking feature of the interior façade is the celebrated spiral staircase tower, the bays of which, with their beautifully sculptured balustrades, project into the courtyard (see [Architecture], Plate VIII. fig. 84). The north-east wing, in which is the entrance to the castle, was built by Louis XII. and is called after him; it contains picture-galleries and a museum. Opposite is the Gaston wing, erected by Gaston, duke of Orleans, brother of Louis XIII., which contains a majestic domed staircase. In the north corner of the courtyard is the Salle des États, which, together with the donjon in the west corner, survives from the 13th century. Of the churches of Blois, the cathedral of St Louis, a building of the end of the 17th century, but in Gothic style, is surpassed in interest by St Nicolas, once the church of the abbey of St Laumer, and dating from the 12th and 13th centuries. The picturesqueness of the town is enhanced by many old mansions, the chief of which is the Renaissance Hôtel d’Alluye, and by numerous fountains, among which that named after Louis XII. is of very graceful design. The prefecture, the law court, the corn-market and the fine stud-buildings are among the chief modern buildings.