The smaller writings of Böckh began to be collected in his lifetime. Three of the volumes were published before his death, and four after (Gesammelte kleine Schriften, 1858-1874). The first two consist of orations delivered in the university or academy of Berlin, or on public occasions. The third, fourth, fifth and sixth contain his contributions to the Transactions of the Berlin Academy, and the seventh contains his critiques. Böckh’s lectures, delivered from 1809-1865, were published by Bratuschek under the title of Encyclopädie und Methodologie der philologischen Wissenschaften (2nd ed, Klussmann, 1886). His philological and scientific theories are set forth in Elze, Über Philologie als System (1845), and Reichhardt, Die Gliederung der Philologie entwickelt (1846). His correspondence with Ottfried Müller appeared at Leipzig in 1883. See Sachse, Erinnerungen an August Böckh (1868); Stark, in the Verhandlungen der Würzburger Philologensammlung (1868); Max Hoffmann, August Böckh (1901); and S. Reiter, in Neue Jahrbucher für das klassische Altertum (1902), p. 436.
BÖCKLIN, ARNOLD (1827-1901), Swiss painter, was born at Basel on the 16th of October 1827. His father, Christian Frederick Böcklin (b. 1802), was descended from an old family of Schaffhausen, and engaged in the silk trade. His mother, Ursula Lippe, was a native of the same city. In 1846 he began his studies at the Düsseldorf academy under Schirmer, who recognized in him a student of exceptional promise, and sent him to Antwerp and Brussels, where he copied the works of Flemish and Dutch masters. Böcklin then went to Paris, worked at the Louvre, and painted several landscapes; his “Landscape and Ruin” reveals at the same time a strong feeling for nature and a dramatic conception of scenery. After serving his time in the army he set out for Rome in March 1850, and the sight of the Eternal City was a fresh stimulus to his mind. So, too, was the influence of Italian nature and that of the dead pagan world. At Rome he married (June 20, 1853) Angela Rosa Lorenza Pascucci. In 1856 he returned to Munich, and remained there four years. He then exhibited the “Great Park,” one of his earliest works, in which he treated ancient mythology with the stamp of individuality, which was the basis of his reputation. Of this period, too, are his “Nymph and Satyr,” “Heroic Landscape” (Diana Hunting), both of 1858, and “Sappho” (1859). These works, which were much discussed, together with Lenbach’s recommendation, gained him his appointment as professor at the Weimar academy. He held the office for two years, painting the “Venus and Love,” a “Portrait of Lenbach,” and a “Saint Catherine.” He was again at Rome from 1862 to 1866, and there gave his fancy and his taste for violent colour free play in his “Portrait of Mme Böcklin,” now in the Basel gallery, in “An Anchorite in the Wilderness” (1863); a “Roman Tavern,” and “Villa on the Sea-shore” (1864); this last, one of his best pictures. He returned to Basel in 1866 to finish his frescoes in the gallery, and to paint, besides several portraits, “The Magdalene with Christ” (1868); “Anacreon’s Muse” (1869); and “A Castle and Warriors” (1871). His “Portrait of Myself,” with Death playing a violin (1873), was painted after his return again to Munich, where he exhibited his famous “Battle of the Centaurs” (in the Basel gallery); “Landscape with Moorish Horsemen” (in the Lucerne gallery); and “A Farm” (1875). From 1876 to 1885 Böcklin was working at Florence, and painted a “Pietà,” “Ulysses and Calypso,” “Prometheus,” and the “Sacred Grove.” From 1886 to 1892 he settled at Zürich. Of this period are the “Naiads at Play,” “A Sea Idyll,” and “War.” After 1892 Böcklin resided at San Domenico, near Florence. An exhibition of his collected works was held at Basel from the 20th of September to the 24th of October 1897. He died on the 16th of January 1901.
His life has been written by Henri Mendelssohn. See also F. Hermann, Gazette des Beaux Arts (Paris, 1893); Max Lehrs, Arnold Böcklin, Ein Leitfaden zum Verständniss seiner Kunst (Munich, 1897); W. Ritter, Arnold Böcklin (Gand, 1895); Katalog der Böcklin Jubiläums Ausstellung (Basel, 1897).
(H. Fr.)
BOCLAND, Bockland or Bookland (from A.S. boc, book), an original mode of tenure of land, also called charter-land or deed-land. Bocland was folk-land granted to individuals in private ownership by a document (charter or book) in writing, with the signatures of the king and witenagemot; at first it was rarely, if ever, held by laymen, except for religious purposes. Bocland to a certain extent resembled full ownership in the modern sense, in that the owner could grant it in his lifetime, in the same manner as he had received it, by boc or book, and also dispose of it by will. (See also [Folkland].)
BOCSKAY, STEPHEN [István] (1557-1606), prince of Transylvania, the most eminent member of the ancient Bocskay family, son of György Bocskay and Krisztina Sulyok, was born at Kolozsvár, Hungary. As the chief councillor of Prince Zsigmond Báthory, he advised his sovereign to contract an alliance with the emperor instead of holding to the Turk, and rendered important diplomatic services on frequent missions to Prague and Vienna. The enmity towards him of the later Báthory princes of Transylvania, who confiscated his estates, drove him to seek protection at the imperial court (1599); but the attempts of the emperor Rudolph II. to deprive Hungary of her constitution and the Protestants of their religious liberties speedily alienated Bocskay, especially after the terrible outrages inflicted on the Transylvanians by the imperial generals Basta and Belgiojoso from 1602 to 1604. Bocskay, to save the independence of Transylvania, assisted the Turks; and in 1605, as a reward for his part in driving Basta out of Transylvania, the Hungarian diet, assembled at Modgyes, elected him prince (1605), on which occasion the Ottoman sultan sent a special embassy to congratulate him and a splendid jewelled crown made in Persia. Bocskay refused the royal dignity, but made skilful use of the Turkish alliance. To save the Austrian provinces of Hungary, the archduke Matthias, setting aside his semi-lunatic imperial brother Rudolph, thereupon entered into negotiations with Bocskay, and ultimately the peace of Vienna was concluded (June 23, 1606), which guaranteed all the constitutional and religious rights and privileges of the Hungarians both in Transylvania and imperial Hungary. Bocskay, at the same time, was acknowledged as prince of Transylvania by the Austrian court, and the right of the Transylvanians to elect their own independent princes in future was officially recognized. The fortress of Tokaj and the counties of Bereg, Szatmár and Ugocsa were at the same time ceded to Bocskay, with reversion to Austria if he should die childless. Simultaneously, at Zsitvatorok, a peace, confirmatory of the peace of Vienna, was concluded with the Turks. Bocskay survived this signal and unprecedented triumph only a few months. He is said to have been poisoned (December 29, 1606) by his chancellor, Mihály Kátay, who was hacked to bits by Bocskay’s adherents in the market-place of Kassa.
See Political Correspondence of Stephen Bocskay (Hung.), edited by Károly Szábo (Budapest, 1882); Jenö Thury, Stephen Bocskay’s Rebellion (Hung.), Budapest, 1899.