Dermot Mac Murragh, the last Irish King of Leinster, attained the throne in 1140. Having carried off the wife of O'Ruare, Prince of Leitrim, he was attacked by the latter, and after a contest of some years driven out of Ireland (1167). He then did homage to the English king, and with the help of Richard, Earl of Pembroke, recovered his kingdom, but died in the same year (1170), and was succeeded by Pembroke, who had married his daughter.
Dernburg, Bernhard, German financier and administrator, born in Darmstadt in 1865. His father was an editor of the Berliner Tageblatt. At the age of nineteen he came to New York to study banking methods, stayed there for several years, and on his return to Germany became director of a financial company. In 1906 he succeeded Prince von Hohenlohe Langenburg as Colonial Secretary. During his administration the condition of German colonies, and especially of German East Africa, was greatly improved. From 1914 to 1915 he was a zealous organizer of German propaganda in the United States, but was subsequently compelled to leave the country.
Déroulède, Paul, French poet, politician, and agitator, born in Paris in 1846, died there in 1914. Called to the Bar in 1870, he served in the Franco-Prussian War, and afterwards carried on an active and passionate agitation for a war of revenge against Germany. He founded the Ligue des Patriotes, which was suppressed by the Government in 1889, was an ardent supporter of General Boulanger, and one of the leaders of the reactionary forces during the Dreyfus case. He sat in the Chamber of Deputies from 1893 to 1895 and from 1898 to 1899. In 1900 he plotted against the Republic, and sought to bring about a nationalist coup d'état with a view to overthrowing the parliamentary constitution. Found
guilty, he was sentenced to ten years' exile, but was allowed to return in 1905, under the law of amnesty. His works include: Chants de Soldat (1872); Nouveaux Chants de Soldat (1875); Chants du paysan (1894); Poésies Militaires (1896); La Moäbite, a religious drama (1880), forbidden by the Censor; and L'Helman, a patriotic play (1877).
Derrick, a simple kind of crane, chiefly used on board ship, consisting of a stout pole swung from a mast, and carrying hoisting-tackle at its upper end. The name is derived from that of a celebrated hangman.
Derringer, a small pocket pistol with a short barrel and a large calibre (usually .41), very effective at short range. It is named after its inventor, a gun-smith in the United States of America, and would seem to have been first used in about 1850. It is a single-shot weapon, and so has largely been superseded by revolvers and automatic pistols.
Der´vish, or Dervise (Pers., 'seeking doors' or beggar, and equivalent to the Ar. fakir), a Mohammedan devotee, distinguished by austerity of life and the observance of strict forms. There are many different orders of dervishes, the underlying idea of most of them being the revival and increase of the Moslem faith. Some live in monasteries, others lead an itinerant life, others devote themselves to menial or arduous occupations. They are respected by the common people, and the mendicants among them carry a wooden bowl into which the pious cast alms. One of their forms of devotion is dancing or whirling about, another is shouting or howling, uttering the name Allah, accompanied by violent motions of the body, till they work themselves into a frenzy and sometimes fall down foaming at the mouth. They are credited with miraculous powers, and are consulted for the interpretation of dreams and the cure of diseases. See Mohammedanism.—Bibliography: E. W. Lane, Modern Egyptians; J. P. Brown, The Dervishes, or Oriental Spiritualism; S. M. Zwemer, Arabia, the Cradle of Islam.
Der´went, the name of four rivers in England, in Derbyshire, Yorkshire, Durham, and Cumberland respectively, the last draining Derwentwater Lake. Also a river in Tasmania.
Derwentwater, James Radcliffe, third and last Earl of, one of the leaders in the rebellion of 1715, born in London 28th June, 1689. The standard of revolt having been raised in Scotland, Lord Derwentwater commenced the movement in England on 6th Oct., 1715, but was forced, along with the other Jacobite nobles, to surrender at discretion on 13th of Nov. He was executed on Tower Hill 24th Feb., 1716, his estates being confiscated, and in 1735 granted to Greenwich Hospital.
Der´wentwater, or Keswick Lake, a beautiful lake in Cumberland, England, in the vale of Keswick. It is about 3 miles in length and 1½ miles in breadth, and stretches from Skiddaw on the north to the hills of Borrowdale. Near the south-east corner is the celebrated cascade of Lodore. Its waters are carried to the sea by the Derwent.