their Rocks. In 1672 the king gave >ir Arthur lollies
£600 t.. be divided among them. William III issued an order. June 19, 1690, authorizing the payment of L\-^») t,, Patrick Adair and six other clergymen. In the following year this bounty was removed from the customs, ami made payable out of the Irish exchequer.
REGIUS
1019
REGIUS
Such was the origin of the Regium Donurn in its pres- ent permanent character. There was this important change made, however: the power of allocating the amount was taken from the trustees and transferred to the lord lieutenant. In 1831 the grant was placed on the Irish miscellaneous estimates, and in 1838 the clas- sification principle was abandoned, and £75 Irish cur- rency was promised to every minister connected with the Synod of Ulster and the Secession Synod, with the proviso (1840) that he was to receive at least £35 of yearly stipend. The amount required was increasing at the rate of £400 a year, to meet the demands of new congregations. The Kegium Donum was withdrawn by the act of 1809, which came into force Jan. 1, 1871, dis- endowing the Irish Episcopal Church. — Eadie, L'ccles. Cyclop, s. v.
Regius, the Latinized name of Urban Konig, a learned theologian, preacher, and writer, and also an in- fluential promoter of the Reformation. He was born in 1490 of parents in moderate circumstances, and resident at Langenargen, near Lake Constance. At the age of seventeen he was admitted to the University of Fri- bourg as a student of theology, and by his application and progress won the favor of his professors; but an injudicious defence of the disputations of John Eck, later the noted opponent of Luther, led to his suspension from the university ami to his subsequent removal to Basle. After a brief sojourn in Basle, he was called to the chair of poetry and oratory in the University of In- golstadt, where Eck was likewise employed as professor of theology, and where a circle of humanists were then striving to bring the classics into honor. Regius dis- tinguished himself to such a degree as to receive from the hands of the emperor Maximilian a laurel crown in recognition of his services, and saw his classes grow continually. But his success was interrupted by the neglect of patrons to settle bills which he had been compelled to assume for their sons who were his pupils. so that, in utter discouragement, he became a soldier in the imperial army — a situation from which he was fort- unately delivered by the interference of Eck, who se- cured his discharge from the army and also the pay- ment of his debts, as well as an increased salary for the future.
Regius, however, began to dislike the studies in which he was engaged, and to manifest a growing predilection for theology. He was especially impressed with the influence of the Wittenberg reformatory movements, and found greater pleasure in the evangelical doctrines taught by Luther and Melancthon than in scholasti- cism. The consequence was a growing coolness be- tween Eck and himself, which led him to seek a release from the university. The influence of John Faber, vicar-general of the see of Constance, and a book writ- ten by himself, entitled De Dignitate Sacerdotum, recom- mended him to bishop Hugo of Constance, and secured from that prelate the appointment of episcopal vicar in spiritualibus. A year later he was made doctor of the- ology (1520), and appointed preacher at the Augsburg cathedral. His evangelical attitude excited the oppo- sition of the papal party against him, and compelled his removal; but he soon returned, and labored with great energy for the extension of the evangelical doc- trines, from 1522 to 1530, by presenting them to the people in sermons from the pulpit of St. Ann's Church, and by disputations and controversial writings. Luther came to regard him as the principal supporter of evan- gelicalism in Suabia, while Eck charged him with black ingratitude, and persecuted him with passionate hatred and malicious cunning. It was perhaps owing to the bitterness of such experiences that he concluded to im- itate the example of other Reformers and establish fur himself the refuge of a home. He married Anna Weiss- briick, a native of Augsburg, who sustained him faith- fully while he lived, and by whom he became the father of thirteen children.
The fame of Regius had in the meantime become«o
extended that his counsel and aid were frequently sought even by distant cities and countries. Duke Ernest of Liineberg, sumamed the Confessor, urged him to assist in introducing the Reformation into that territory, and Regius pledged his services to that end, removing to Celle, and assuming the functions of court preacher. He was soon appointed general superintendent over the whole duchy, and in that position was enabled, by judi- cious counsels and restless activity, to rapidly advance the interests of the Reformation. Two years were spent in superseding the Romish clergy and their services with an evangelical ministry and worship, in improving the schools and gymnasia of the country, and also in es- tablishing the infant Church on a legal foundation, and in securing the transfer of the confiscated goods of mon- asteries to the use of the Church ami of schools. A call to return to Augsburg at this time (1532) was declined, ami his life was thenceforward spent in the service of the prince and people of the duchy of Liineberg, though he took an active part in the introduction and develop- ment of Protestantism in other places : e. g. the county of Hoya, the cities of Hildesheim, Hanover, Brunswick, Minden, and Hbrter, the territory of Schaumburg, etc. He also responded to the request of count Enno for evangelical preachers by sending Martin Ondermark and Matthias Gunderich to East Friesland. lie ranks, accordingly, as one of the leading Reformers in North Germany. In 1537 he accompanied duke Ernest to the convention at Smalcald, and signed the Smalcald Arti- cles; in 1538 he was present at the Convention of Bruns- wick, and in 1540 at Ilagenau, where an abortive at- tempt at reconciliation between the papal and the evan- gelical parties was made, and where the king, Ferdinand, issued a decree for a religious conference at Worms. Physical inability prevented Regius from participating in the proceedings of the latter diet. A severe cold in- curred on his return from Hagenau resulted in a dan- gerous sickness, and on May 23, 1541, he ended his use- ful life. The veneration of his contemporaries proved his worth.