DUPPEL  , a

village of Germany, in the Prussian province of Schleswig-Holstein, opposite the town of Sonderburg (on the island of Alsen) . (Pop . 600.) The position of Duppel, forming as it does a bridge-head for the defenders of the island of Alsen, played a conspicuous part in the wars between Denmark and the Germans . On the 28th of May 1848 the German federal troops were there defeated by the Danes under General Hedemann, and a second battle was fought on the 6th of June 1848 . On the r3th of April 1849 an indecisive battle was fought between the federal troops under von Prittwitz and the Danes under von Billow . The most important event in the military history of Duppel was, however, the siege by the Prussians of the Danish position in 1864 . The flanks of the defenders' line rested upon the Alsen Sund and the sea, and it was strengthened by ten redoubts . A second line of trenches with lunettes at intervals was constructed behind the front attacked, and a small reduit opposite Sonderburg to cover the bridges between Alsen and themainland . The Prussian siege corps was commanded by Prince Frederick Charles (headquarters, Duppel village), and after three weeks' skirmishing a regular siege was begun, the batteries being opened on the 15th of March . The first parallel was completed fifteen days later, the front of attack being redoubts II. to VI., forming the centre of the Danish entrenchments on the road Duppel-Sonderburg . The siege was pushed rapidly from the first parallel and the assault delivered on the 18th of April, against the redoubts I. to VI., each redoubt being attacked by a separate column . The whole line was carried after a brief but severe conflict, and the Prussians had penetrated to and captured the reduit opposite Sonderburg by 2 P.M .

The loss of the Danes,

half of whose forces were not engaged, included 1800 killed and wounded and 3400 prisoners . This operation was followed by the daring passage of the Alsen Sund, effected by the Prussians in boats almost under the guns of the Danish warships, and resulting in the capture of the whole island of Alsen (June 29th, 1864) . After being still further strengthened and linked with similar defences at Sonderburg, the Duppel entrenchments were abandoned in 1881 in favour of landward fortifications around Kiel . See R . Neumann, Uber den Angriff der Diippeler Schanzen in der Zeit vom 15 . Marz bis 18 . April 1864 (Berlin, 1865) ; and Der deutschdanische Krieg 1864, published by the Prussian General Staff (Berlin, 1887) . DU PRAT, ANTOINE (1463-1535), chancellor of France and cardinal, was born at Issoire on the 17th of January 1463 . He began life as a lawyer, and rose rapidly in the legal hierarchy owing to the influence of his cousin Antoine Bohier, cardinal archbishop of Bourges . The first office which he held was that of lieutenant-general in the bailliage of Montferrand; in 1507 he became first president of the parlement of Paris . Louise of Savoy had employed him as her adviser in her affairs, and had made him tutor to her son . When Francis I. ascended the throne he made Du Prat chancellor of France, in which capacity he played an important part in the government .

It was he who negotiated with

Leo X. concerning the abolition of the Pragmatic Sanction and the establishment of a concordat . After the meeting of the Field of the Cloth of Gold (1520) he was engaged in unsuccessful negotiations with Wolsey . During the regency of Louise of Savoy he, together with Florimond Robertet, was at the head of affairs . He took an active part in the suit brought by Louise of Savoy against the Constable de Bourbon, and in 1532 completed the work of uniting Brittany to France . After the death of his wife in 1507 Du Prat had taken orders; he received the bishoprics of Valence, Die, Meaux and Albi, and the archbishopric of Sens (1525); in 1527 he became cardinal, and in 1530 papal legate . He was a determined adversary of the Reformation . He died on the 9th of July 1535 . See the marquis Du Prat, Vie d'Antoine Du Prat (Paris, 1857) .