EMPSON

empson, sir richard (d. 1510), minister of henry vii., king of england, was a son of peter empson, an influential inhabitant of towcester. educated as a lawyer he soon attained considerable success in his profession, and in 1491 was one of the members of parliament for northamptonshire and speaker of the house of commons. early in the reign of henry vii. he became associated with edmund dudley (q.v.) in carrying out the king's rigorous and arbitrary system of taxation, and in consequence he became very unpopular. retaining the royal favour, however, he was made a knight in 1504, and was soon high steward of the university of cambridge, and chancellor of the duchy of lancaster; but his official career ended with henry's death in april 1509. thrown into prison by order of the new king, henry viii., he was charged, like dudley, with the crime of constructive treason, and was convicted at northampton in october 1509. his attainder by the parliament followed, and he was beheaded on the 17th or 18th of august 1510. empson left, so far as is known, a family of two sons and four daughters, and about 1513 his estates were restored to his elder son, thomas. see francis bacon, _history of henry vii_., edited by j.r. lumby (cambridge, 1881); and j.s. brewer, _the reign of henry viii_., edited by j. gairdner (london, 1884). empyema (from gr. [greek: en], within, and [greek: pyon], pus), a term in medicine applied to an accumulation of purulent fluid within the cavity of the pleura (see lung: _surgery_). empyrean (from the med. lat. _empyreus_, an adaptation of the gr. [greek: erpnros], in or on the fire, [greek: pyr]), the place in the highest heaven, which in ancient cosmologies was supposed to be occupied by the element of fire. it was thus used as a name for the firmament, and in christian literature for the dwelling-place of god and the blessed, and as the source of light. the word is used both as a substantive and as an adjective. having the same greek origin are the scientific words "empyreuma" and "empyreumatic," applied to the characteristic smell of burning or charring vegetable or animal matter.