BUCCLEUCH

buccleuch, dukes of. the substantial origin of the ducal house of the scotts of buccleuch dates back to the large grants of lands in scotland to sir walter scott of kirkurd and buccleuch, a border chief, by james ii., in consequence of the fall of the 8th earl of douglas (1452); but the family traced their descent back to a sir richard le scott (1240-1285). the estate of buccleuch is in selkirkshire. sir walter scott of branxholm and buccleuch (d. 1552) distinguished himself at the battle of pinkie (1547), and furnished material for his later namesake's famous poem, _the lay of the last minstrel_; and his great-grandson sir walter (1565-1611) was created lord scott of buccleuch in 1606. an earldom followed in 1619. the second earl's daughter anne (1651-1732), who succeeded him as a countess in her own right, married in 1663 the famous duke of monmouth (_q.v._), who was then created 1st duke of buccleuch; and her grandson francis became 2nd duke. the latter's son henry (1746-1812) became 3rd duke, and in 1810 succeeded also, on the death of william douglas, 4th duke of queensberry, to that dukedom as well as its estates and other honours, according to the entail executed by his own great-grandfather, the 2nd duke of queensberry, in 1706; he married the duke of montagu's daughter, and was famous for his generosity and benefactions. his son charles william henry (d. 1819), grandson walter francis scott (1806-1884), and great-grandson william henry walter montagu douglas scott (b. 1831), succeeded in turn as 4th, 5th and 6th dukes of buccleuch and 6th, 7th, and 8th dukes of queensberry. the 5th duke was lord privy seal 1842-1846, and president of the council 1846. it was he who at a cost of over £500,000 made the harbour at granton, near edinburgh. he was president of the highland and agricultural society, the society of antiquaries and of the british association. the 6th duke sat in the house of commons as conservative m.p. for midlothian, 1853-1868 and 1874-1880; his wife, a daughter of the 1st duke of abercorn, held the office of mistress of the robes. see sir w. fraser, _the scotts of buccleuch_ (1878). bucentaur (ital. _bucintoro_), the state gallery of the doges of venice, on which, every year on ascension day up to 1789, they put into the adriatic in order to perform the ceremony of "wedding the sea." the name _bucintoro_ is derived from the ital. _buzino d' oro_, "golden bark," latinized in the middle ages as _bucentaurus_ on the analogy of a supposed gr. [greek: boukentauros], ox-centaur (from [greek: bous] and [greek: kentauros]). this led to the explanation of the name as derived from the head of an ox having served as the galley's figurehead. this derivation is, however, fanciful; the name _bucentaurus_ is unknown in ancient mythology, and the figurehead of the bucentaurs, of which representations have come down to us, is the lion of st mark. [v.04 p.0658] the name bucentaur seems, indeed, to have been given to any great and sumptuous venetian galley. du cange (_gloss._, _s.v._ "bucentaurus") quotes from the chronicle of the doge andrea dandolo (d. 1354): _cum uno artificioso et solemni bucentauro, super quo venit usque ad s. clementem, quo jam pervenerat principalior et solemnior bucentaurus cum consiliariis_, &c. the last and most magnificent of the bucentaurs, built in 1729, was destroyed by the french in 1798 for the sake of its golden decorations. remains of it are preserved at venice in the museo civico correr and in the arsenal; in the latter there is also a fine model of it. the "marriage of the adriatic," or more correctly "of the sea" (_sposalizio del mar_) was a ceremony symbolizing the maritime dominion of venice. the ceremony, established about a.d. 1000 to commemorate the doge orseolo ii.'s conquest of dalmatia, was originally one of supplication and placation, ascension day being chosen as that on which the doge had set out on his expedition. the form it took was a solemn procession of boats, headed by the doge's _maesta nave_, afterwards the bucentaur (from 1311) out to sea by the lido port. a prayer was offered that "for us and all who sail thereon the sea may be calm and quiet," whereupon the doge and the others were solemnly aspersed with holy water, the rest of which was thrown into the sea while the priests chanted "purge me with hyssop and i shall be clean." to this ancient ceremony a sacramental character was given by pope alexander iii in 1177, in return for the services rendered by venice in the struggle against the emperor frederick i. the pope drew a ring from his finger and, giving it to the doge, bade him cast such a one into the sea each year on ascension day, and so wed the sea. henceforth the ceremonial, instead of placatory and expiatory, became nuptial. every year the doge dropped a consecrated ring into the sea, and with the words _desponsamus te, mare_ (we wed thee, sea) declared venice and the sea to be indissolubly one (see h. f. brown, _venice_, london, 1893, pp. 69, 110). bucephalus (gr. [greek: boukephalos]), the favourite thracian horse of alexander the great, which died in 326 b.c., either of wounds received in the battle on the hydaspes, or of old age. in commemoration alexander built the city of bucephala (boukephala), the site of which is almost certainly to be identified with a mound on the bank of the river opposite the modern jhelum. see especially arrian v. 20; other stories in plutarch, _alex._ 6; curtius vi. 8. for the identification of bucephala, vincent a. smith, _early hist. of india_ (2nd ed., 1908), pp. 65, 66 note. bucer (or butzer), martin (1491-1551), german protestant reformer, was born in 1491 at schlettstadt in alsace. in 1506 he entered the dominican order, and was sent to study at heidelberg. there he became acquainted with the works of erasmus and luther, and was present at a disputation of the latter with some of the romanist doctors. he became a convert to the reformed opinions, abandoned his order by papal dispensation in 1521, and soon afterwards married a nun. in 1522 he was pastor at landstuhl in the palatinate, and travelled hither and thither propagating the reformed doctrine. after his excommunication in 1523 he made his headquarters at strassburg, where he succeeded matthew zell. henry viii of england asked his advice in connexion with the divorce from catherine of aragon. on the question of the sacrament of the lord's supper, bucer's opinions were decidedly zwinglian, but he was anxious to maintain church unity with the lutheran party, and constantly endeavoured, especially after zwingli's death, to formulate a statement of belief that would unite lutheran, south german and swiss reformers. hence the charge of ambiguity and obscurity which has been laid against him. in 1548 he was sent for to augsburg to sign the agreement, called the _interim_, between the catholics and protestants. his stout opposition to this project exposed him to many difficulties, and he was glad to accept cranmer's invitation to make his home in england. on his arrival in 1549 he was appointed regius professor of divinity at cambridge. edward vi. and the protector somerset showed him much favour and he was consulted as to the revision of the book of common prayer. but on the 27th of february 1551 he died, and was buried in the university church, with great state. in 1557, by mary's commissioners, his body was dug up and burnt, and his tomb demolished; it was subsequently reconstructed by order of elizabeth. bucer is said to have written ninety-six treatises, among them a translation and exposition of the psalms and a work _deregno christi_. his name is familiar in english literature from the use made of his doctrines by milton in his divorce treatises. a collected edition of his writings has never been published. a volume known as the _tomus anglicanus_ (basel, 1577) contains those written in england. see j.w. baum, _capito and butzer_ (strassburg, 1860); a. erichson, _martin butzer_ (1891); and the articles in the _dict. nat. biog._ (by a.w. ward), and in herzog-hauck's _realencyklopadie_ (by paul grunberg).