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    "source_title": "Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911)",
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    "chunk_id": "1911:mara:2a58542bceb9",
    "title": "MARA",
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    "verified_text": "mara, gertrud elisabeth (1749-1833), german singer, was born at cassel, the daughter of a poor musician named schmeling. from him she learnt the violin, and while still a child her playing at the fair at frankfort was so remarkable that money was collected to provide for her. she was helped by influential friends, and studied under hillel at leipzig for five years, proving to be endowed with a wonderful soprano voice. she began to sing in public in 1771, and was soon recognized as the greatest singer that germany had produced. she was permanently engaged for the prussian court, but her marriage to a debauched violinist named mara created difficulties, and in 1780 she was released. after singing at vienna, munich and elsewhere, she appeared in paris in 1782, where her rivalry with the singer todi developed into a regular faction. in 1784 she went to london, and continued to appear there with great success, with visits at intervals to italy and to paris till 1802, when for some years she retired to russia. she visited england again in 1819, but then abandoned the stage. she went to livonia, and died on the 20th of january 1833 at revel. marabout (the french form of the arab. _murabit_, \"one who pickets his horse on a hostile frontier\"; cf. portug. _marabute_; span. _morabito_), in mahommedan religion a hermit or devotee. the word is derived from _ribat_, a fortified frontier station. to such stations pious men betook them to win religious merit in war against the infidel; their leisure was spent in devotion, and the habits of the convent superseded those of the camp (see m'g. de slane in _jour. as._, 1842, i. 168; dozy, _suppl._ i. 502). thus _ribat_ came to mean a religious house or hospice (_zawiya_). the great sphere of the marabouts is north africa. there it was that the community formed by yahya b. ibrahim and the doctor abdullah developed into the conquering empire of the murabits, or, as christian writers call them, the almoravides (q.v.), and there still, among the berbers, the marabouts enjoy extraordinary influence, being esteemed as living saints and mediators. they are liberally supported by alms, direct all popular assemblies, and have a decisive voice in intertribal quarrels and all matters of consequence. on their death their sanctity is transferred to their tombs (also called marabouts), where chapels are erected and gifts and prayers offered. the marabouts took a prominent part in the resistance offered to the french by the algerian moslems; and they have been similarly active in politico-religious movements in tunisia and tripoli. see l. rinn, _marabouts et khouan_ (algiers, 1884); and the article dervish.",
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