I/iston/. — The territory now included in the grand- duchy of Oldenburg was in ancient times occupied by the Teutonic race of the Chauci, who were subsequently merged with the more generalh' known Frisii, or Fris- ians; and the land, under the names of Ammergau and Lerigau, was for a long period included among the do- minions of the dukes of Saxony. In 1180, the counts of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst succeeded in establish- ing independent states from the territories of Henry the Lion, which fell into a condition of disorganization after his downfall. This family has continued to rule Olden- burg. On the death, in 1GG7, of count Anthony Gun- ther, the wisest and best of the Oldenburg rulers, his dominions, in default of nearer heirs, fell to the Danish reigning family, a branch of the house of Oldenburg, and continued for a century to be ruled by viceroys nominated by the kings of Denmark. In 1773, by a family compact, Christian VH made over his Oldenburg territories to the grand-duke Paul of Kussia, who re])- resented the IIolstein-Gottorp branch of the Oldenburg- family. Paul having renounced the joint countships of Delmenhorst and Oldenburg in favor of his cousin, Frederick Augustus, of the younger or Keil line of the house of Oldenburg, who was prince-bishop of Lubeck, the emperor raised the united Oldenburg territories to the rank of a duchy. The present reigning family is descended from duke Peter Friedrich Ludwig, cousin to tlie prince-bishop, Friedrich Augustus. For a time the duke was a member of Napoleon's Khenish Confedera- tion; but French troops having, in spite of this bond of alliance, taken forcible possession of the duchy in 1811, and incorporated it with the French empire, the ejected prince joined the ranks of the allies. In recognition of this ailhesion, the Congress of Vienna transferred cer- tain portions of territory, with 5000 Hanoverians and 20,000 inhabitants of the quondam French district of the Saar, to the Oldenburg allegiance, and it was raised to the dignity of a grand-duchj-. The revolutionary movement of 1848 was quite as productive of violent and compulsory political changes in this as in other (ierman states; and in 1849, after having existed for centuries without even a show of constitutional or legis- lative freedom, it entered suddenh' into possession of the most extreme of liberal constitutions. The reaction in favor of absolutism, which the license and want of pur- pose of the popular party naturally induced all over Ciermany. led in 1852 to a revision and modification of the constitution, giving it the essential jirinciples of pop- ular liberty and security. — Chambers, Cyclopcedia, s. v. ; llalem, Ge.icJnchte des Grnssherzof/t/iinns Oldenhiirp (Ol- denburg, 1794, 3 vols.) ; Kunde, Oldeiiburyische Chronik (ibid. 18G3).
VII.— Y
Oldendorp, Chkistian George Andreas, a Ger- man Moravian missionary, was born March 8, 1721, at Hildesheim, in Hanover, and was a graduate of the Uni- versity of Jena. In 1743 he entered the service of the Moravian Church as a teacher, and was subsequent- ly ordained to the ministry, having charge of various parishes both in Germany and Holland. In 1767 he visited the islands of Santa Cruz, St. Thomas, and St. John. In 1768 he went through several cities of North America where the Moravians had settlements. Re- turning to Europe in 1769, he became successivelv min- ister at Marienborn, Neuwied, and Ebersdorf, where he died March 9, 1787. He is distinguished as the author of a voluminous and important work on the INIoraviau Mission in the Danish West Indies, including a com- plete account of the geography and of the natural and political history of those islands as they were known about the middle of the last century. It bears the fol- lowing title : C. G. A . Okkndoj-p's Geschichte der Mission der Evangelischcn Briider avf den Caraibischen Inseln, S. Thomas, S. Croix, u. S.Juan (Barby, 1777, 2 vols. 8vo). It was so highlv esteemed that it was translated into the Swedish "( 1 786-88, 8 vo). (E. de S.)
Oldermann, Joiiann, a noted German student of philosophy and tlie natural sciences, was born in Sax- ony in 168(). After laying the foundation of his studies in the school of Osnaburg, he went to Helmstiidt, where Mr. A^an der Hardt, his maternal uncle, instructed him in the Oriental languages and the Jewish antiquities, so that he took the degree of M.A. in 1707, became Greek professor in 1717, and was appointed assistant library-keeper to his uncle. He was aided in his studies by other learned men; and, by genius and industry, made an extraordinary progress in everything he ap- plied himself to. Astronomy was his favorite study; he passed whole nights in viewing and contemplating the stars. He was hindered by a weak constitution, which, through a sedentary life, sank into a dropsy that carried him off in 1723. The titles of several of his dissertations are, De imperjedione sermonis humani: — De Phi-uate fluvio : — De marl A Igoro : — De OjMi-: — De festivitate Encaniorum : — De specularibiis Veterum : — De origins natalitiorum Jesu Christi. — General Biog. Diet. s. v. ; Moreri, Diet. Historique, s. v.
Oldfield, Joshua, D.D., a noted English Presby- terian divine, flourished near the opening of the last century. He was probably born in 1656. He took a prominent part in the disputes which arose in his day regarding the Trinitarian question, and was present at the Salter's Hall Convocation, which had been called February, 1718 or 1719, to bring about, if possible, a har- monious orthodox profession on the basis of the first ar- ticle of the Church of England, and the answers to the fifth and sixth questions in the Westminster Catechism. Among those who refused to subscribe. Dr. Oldfield was most prominent. He was at that time minister of the Presbyterian Church in Maiden Lane, Globe Alley, close to the spot where the Globe Theatre formerly stood. He was universallj' conceded to be " a man of great learn- ing and sound judgment, and one of the most eminent of the tutors coimected with the Presbyterian body." He died in 1729. He published several of his Sermons (1699-1721), and an essay on the Improvement of Reason (1707, 8vo), from which Paine is believed to have bor- rowed some ideas for his Age of Benson. See Skeats, Hist, of the Free Churches of England, p. 306-7. (J. H.W.)