Honorius
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Honorius. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
FLAVIUS (hon-ōr'ē-us), a Roman emperor; son of Theodosius the Great; born in A. D. 384. The chief events of his reign are the adoption of rigorous measures against paganism in 399; the invasion by Alaric in 400-403; another irruption of barbarians under Rhadagaisus, 405-406. Alaric marched on Rome and plundered it in 409, while Honorius shut himself up in Ravenna. Some of the finest provinces provinces of the empire, Spain, Gaul, and Pannonia, were lost in this reign. He died in A. D. 423. HONORIUS I., Pope; succeeded Boniface V. as Bishop of Rome in 625. His name is connected with the history of the paschal controversy in Ireland and with that of the early Anglo-Saxon Church. At the height of the Monothelite controversy Honorius, at the suggestion of Sergius, patriarch of Constantinople, abstained from condemning the new doctrines, and for his luke-warmness in so doing was stigmatized as a heretic at the Council of Constantinople (680). He died in 638. HONORIUS II., Pope; succeeded Calixtus II. in 1124, and at the same time, Thibauld was chosen by another party, under the name of Celestin; but he resigned the chair to his rival. He died in 1130. HONORIUS III., was made Pope after Innocent III., in 1216. He died in 1227. HONORIUS IV., a Roman; ascended the papal chair in 1285. He displayed great zeal for the Church, and promoted the crusades. He died in 1288.
1000 Classical Characters (1900)
An emperor of the Western Empire of Rome, who succeeded his father, Theodosius the Great. He conquered his enemies by the ability of his generals, and suffered his people to be governed by ministers who took advantage of his indolence and indifference. He died A. D. 423.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The outline still holds, but Collier's (1921) misdates the great event: Alaric's Goths sacked Rome on 24 August 410, not 409, and the plunder followed two earlier sieges while Honorius sat safe behind the marshes at Ravenna. The 1900 sketch of an indolent emperor governed by his ministers is close to the modern view, though historians now give more weight to his execution of the general Stilicho in 408, which stripped the West of its ablest soldier and helped open the road to Rome. The other major loss of the reign was Britain, effectively abandoned by the imperial government around 410. The awkward case of Honorius I, condemned as a heretic by the Council of Constantinople in 680, remains exactly as the entry describes it, and it was the chief historical objection raised against the doctrine of papal infallibility defined in 1870.
Written for this edition, 2026.