When Frederick William, the "Great Elector," became ruler of Brandenburg
in 1640 he found the country in a very deplorable condition. Trade and
agriculture were almost destroyed, and the inhabitants, compelled to
support the Swedish army of occupation, suffered also from the
disorderly conduct of the native soldiers. Although the young elector
spent the two first years of his reign mainly in Prussia, he was by no
means forgetful of Brandenburg, and began resolutely to root out the
many evils which had sprung up during the feeble rule of his father. The
powers of Schwarzenberg were curtailed; the state council was restored;
and the licence of the soldiers was restrained, while their numbers were
reduced. Then turning his attention to the Swedes a truce was arranged,
and soon afterwards, in return for an indemnity, they agreed to evacuate
the electorate. Having returned to Brandenburg in 1643, Frederick
William remained neutral during the concluding years of the Thirty
Years' War, and set to work to organize an army and to effect financial
reforms. About the same time diplomatic methods freed Cleves, Mark and
Ravensberg from foreign troops, but the estates of these lands gained a
temporary victory when the elector attacked their privileges. However,
in 1647 his title was formally admitted by Wolfgang, count palatine of
Neuburg.
The terms of the treaty of Westphalia in 1648 are the best commentary on
the general success of the elector's policy. Although he was obliged to
give up his claim to the western part of Pomerania in favour of Sweden,
he secured the eastern part of that duchy, together with the secularized
bishoprics of Halberstadt, Minden and Kammin, and other lands, the whole
forming a welcome addition to the area of Brandenburg. He was also
promised the archbishopric of Magdeburg when its administrator,
Augustus, duke of Saxe-Weissenfels, should die. This event happened in
1680 when he secured the lands of the archbishopric. The elector did
not, however, take possession of the newly-acquired territories at once.
Fresh difficulties arose with Sweden, and it was not until 1653 that
eastern Pomerania was freed from her soldiers. Meanwhile a new quarrel
had broken out with Wolfgang of Neuburg. In 1650 Frederick William
attacked his rival, but a variety of circumstances, among others a
change of government in the Netherlands, and the resistance of the
estates of Cleves, thwarted his plans, and he was compelled to listen to
the mediating powers, and to acquiesce in the _status quo_.
Profiting by these reverses the elector then undertook a series of
internal reforms, tending to strengthen the central authority, and to
mitigate the constant lack of money, which was perhaps his chief
obstacle to success; a work in which he was aided by George, count of
Waldeck (1620-1692), who became his chief adviser about this time. In
1651 the powers of the state council were extended to include all the
lands under the elector's rule; and a special committee was appointed to
effect financial economies, and so to augment the electoral resources.
In imperial politics Frederick William supported the election of
Ferdinand, son of the emperor Ferdinand III., as king of the Romans in
1653; but when the emperor failed to fulfil his promises, influenced by
Waldeck, he acted in opposition to the imperial interests, and even
formed a plan for a great alliance against the Habsburgs. These projects
were disturbed by the war which broke out in 1655 between Sweden and
Poland. In this struggle the elector fought first on one side and then
on the other; but the important consequences of his conduct belong
rather to the history of the duchy of Prussia (q.v.). The transfer of
the elector's support from Sweden to Poland in 1656 was followed by the
fall from power of Waldeck, who was succeeded by Otto von Schwerin
(1616-1679), under whose influence the elector's relations with the
emperor became more cordial.
The increase in the prestige of Brandenburg was due chiefly to his army,
which was gradually brought to a high state of efficiency. A proper
organization was established to superintend the pay and maintenance of
the soldiers, and they were commanded by experienced officers, among
others by Georg Derfflingen (1606-1695), and Otto von Sparr (1605-1668).
The general poverty, however, made the estates reluctant to support a
standing army, and after the peace of Oliva in 1660, it was reduced to
about 3500 men. The continual difficulties with the estates of his
different dominions had harassed and hampered the elector, and the
general peace which followed the treaty of Oliva offered a favourable
opportunity to curtail their powers. Undaunted by two previous rebuffs
he attacked the estates of Cleves, and by a display of force gained a
substantial victory. Some important privileges were annulled, and he
obtained a considerable sum of money. The _Landtag_ of Brandenburg was
not cowed so easily into submission, but an increase of revenue was
obtained, and the stubborn struggle which ensued in Prussia ended in a
victory for the ruler. This increased income enabled the elector to take
a more considerable part in European politics. In 1663 he assisted the
imperialists in their struggle with the Turks; in 1666 the dispute over
Cleves, Mark and Ravensberg was finally settled, and Brandenburg were
confirmed in the possession of these lands; and in the same year a
reconciliation was effected with Sweden. Several disputes which
threatened to disturb the peace of the Empire were settled through his
mediation, and he compelled the citizens of Magdeburg to do homage to
him. In religious matters he interceded with the emperor and the diet
for the Protestants, and sought, but without success, to bring about a
reconciliation between Lutherans and Calvinists in Brandenburg.
The elector's relations with Louis XIV. of France are full of interest.
After the conclusion of the war of devolution in 1667, he allied himself
with Louis, and together they agreed to support the candidature of
Wolfgang of Neuburg for the vacant Polish throne. In 1668, moreover, he
refused to join the triple alliance against France, but soon afterwards
became aware of the danger to his country from the aggressive policy of
Louis. The United Provinces were bound to him by religious interests,
political considerations, and family ties alike, and he could not be
indifferent when their position was threatened by France. In spite of
tempting offers from Louis, he was the first to join the Dutch when they
were attacked by Louis in 1672, and conducted an ineffectual campaign on
the Rhine until June 1673, when he was forced to make peace. In July
1674, however, he joined the Empire, the United Provinces and Spain, and
in return for a subsidy, fought against France in Alsace. Meanwhile
Louis had instigated the Swedes to invade Brandenburg, which had been
left to the care of John George II., prince of Anhalt-Dessau. Hastening
from Franconia to defend the electorate, Frederick William gained a
complete victory over a superior number of the enemy at Fehrbellin on
the 28th of June 1675, a great and glorious day for the arms of
Brandenburg. Aided by the imperialists and the Danes, he followed up
this success, and cleared Brandenburg and Pomerania of the Swedes,
capturing Stettin in 1677 and Stralsund in 1678, while an attack made by
Sweden on Prussia was successfully repelled. The general peace of
Nijmwegen was followed by the treaty of St Germain-en-Laye in June 1679
between Sweden and Brandenburg. Owing, however, to the insistence of
Louis XIV. and the indifference, or weakness, of the emperor Leopold I.,
the elector was forced to restore western Pomerania to Sweden, in return
for the payment of 300,000 crowns by France. This feebleness on the part
of his ally induced Frederick William to listen more readily to the
overtures of Louis, and in 1679, and again in 1681, he bound himself to
support the interests of France. He had, moreover, a further grievance
against the emperor as Leopold refused to recognize his right to the
Silesian duchies of Liegnitz, Brieg and Wohlau, which had been left
without a ruler in 1675. About 1684, however, the foreign policy of
Brandenburg underwent another change. Disliking the harshness shown by
Louis to the Protestants, the elector concluded an alliance with
William, prince of Orange, in August 1685; and entered into more
friendly relations with the emperor. Further incensed against France by
the revocation of the edict of Nantes in 1685, he made an alliance with
Leopold in January 1686, agreeing in return for a subsidy to send troops
against the Turks. Soon afterwards he received Schwiebus to compensate
him for abandoning his claim on the Silesian duchies, and in a secret
treaty made promises of support to Leopold. The great elector died in
May 1688, leaving his territories to his eldest son, Frederick.
The remarkable services of Frederick William to his country can best be
judged by comparing its condition in 1640 with that in 1688. At his
accession the greater part of his territory was occupied by strangers
and devastated by war, and in European politics Brandenburg was merely
an appendage of the empire. Its army was useless; its soil was poor; its
revenue was insignificant. At his death the state of Brandenburg-Prussia
was a power to be reckoned with in all European combinations. Inferior
to Austria alone among the states of the Empire, it was regarded as the
head of the German Protestantism; while the fact that one-third of its
territory lay outside the Empire added to its importance. Its area had
been increased to over 40,000 sq. m.; its revenue had multiplied
sevenfold; and its small army was unsurpassed for efficiency. The
elector had overthrown Sweden and inherited her position on the Baltic,
and had offered a steady and not ineffectual resistance to the ambition
of France.
While thus winning for himself a position in the councils of Europe,
Frederick William was not less active in strengthening the central
authority within his own dominions. He found Brandenburg a
constitutional state, in which the legislative power was shared between
the elector and the diet; he left it to his successor substantially an
absolute monarchy. Many circumstances assisted to bring about this
change, among the chief of which were the want of harmonious action on
the part of the estates, and the decline in the political power of the
towns. The substitution of a permanent excise for the subsidies granted
from time to time by the estates also tended to increase his
independence, and the officials or _Steuerrathe_, appointed by him to
collect this tax in the towns, gradually absorbed many of the
administrative functions of the local authorities. The nobles and
prelates generally preferred to raise their share of the revenue by the
old method of a _bede_, or contribution, thus weakening the remaining
bond between them and the burghers.
In matters of general administration Frederick William showed himself a
prudent and careful ruler, and laid the foundation of the future
greatness of Prussia in almost every department. The wounds inflicted by
the Thirty Years' War were in a great measure healed, and the finances
and credit of the state were established on a firm basis. Agriculture
and commerce were improved and encouraged by a variety of useful
measures, and in this connexion the settlement of a large number of
Flemings, and the welcome extended to French Protestants, both before
and after the revocation of the edict of Nantes, were of incalculable
service. A small but efficient navy was founded, and strict economy,
together with increasing resources, enabled a disciplined army to be
maintained. Education was not neglected, a trading company was
established, and colonies were founded on the west coast of Africa. In
religious matters Calvinists and Lutherans were placed upon an equality,
but the elector was unable to impress his own spirit of tolerance upon
the clergy, who were occupied with ecclesiastical squabbles while the
state of education and of public morals left much to be desired. The
condition of the peasantry, however, during this reign reached its
lowest point, and the "recess," or charter, of 1653 practically
recognizes the existence of villenage. While the nobles had been losing
power with regard to the ruler they had been increasing it at the
expense of the peasants. The Thirty Years' War afforded them frequent
opportunities of replacing the village _Schulzen_, or magistrates, with
officials of their own; and the fact that their share of taxation was
wholly wrung from the peasants made the burden of the latter much
heavier than that of the townsmen.
Frederick III.
The new elector, Frederick III., followed in general the policy of his
father. Having persuaded his step-brothers to surrender the
principalities bequeathed to them by the great elector, he assisted
William of Orange to make his descent on England; then in 1688 allied
himself with other German princes against Louis XIV., and afterwards
fought for the Empire against both France and Turkey. Before he became
elector Frederick had promised the emperor that he would restore
Schwiebus, and he was now called upon to fulfil this engagement, which
after some murmuring he did in 1695. This fact, however, together with
some slights put upon him at the peace of 1697, led him to look with
less favour upon imperial interests. Frederick's chief adviser about
this time was Eberhard Danckelmann (1643-1722), whose services in
continuing the reforming work of the great elector were very valuable;
but having made many enemies, the electress Sophia among them, he fell
from power in 1697, and was imprisoned for several years. The most
important work of the elector was to crown the labours of his father by
securing the kingly title for himself and his descendants. Broached in
1692 this matter was brought up again in 1698 when the emperor and his
ministers, faced with the prospect of a fight over the Spanish
succession, were anxious to conciliate Brandenburg. It was at length
decided that the title should be taken from Prussia rather than from
Brandenburg as the former country lay outside the Empire, and in return
Frederick promised to assist Leopold with 8000 men. The coronation
ceremony took place at Konigsberg on the 18th of January 1701. The
territorial additions to Brandenburg during this reign were few and
unimportant, but the comparative wealth and prosperity enabled the
elector to do a good deal for education, and to spend some money on
buildings. In 1694 the university of Halle was founded; academies for
arts and sciences were established, and Berlin was greatly improved. The
subsequent history of Brandenburg is merged in that of Prussia (q.v.).
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--H. Brosien, _Geschichte der Mark Brandenburg in
Mittelalter_ (Leipzig, 1887); G.G. Kuster, _Bibliotheca historica
Brandenburgensis_ (Breslau, 1743); and _Accessiones_ (Breslau, 1768),
and _Collectio opusculorum historiam marchicam illustrantium_
(Breslau, 1731-1733); A. Voss and G. Stimming, _Vorgeschichtliche
Alterthumer aus der Mark Brandenburg_ (Berlin, 1886-1890); F. Voigt,
_Geschichte des brandenburgisch-preussischen Staats_ (Berlin, 1878);
E. Berner, _Geschichte des preussischen Staats_ (Berlin, 1890-1891);
A.F. Riedel, _Codex diplomaticus Brandenburgensis_ (Berlin,
1838-1865); J. Heidemann, _Die Reformation in der Mark Brandenburg_
(Berlin, 1889); _Forschungen zur brandenburgischen und preussischen
Geschichte_, edited by R. Koser (Leipzig, 1888 fol.); T. Carlyle,
_History of Frederick the Great_, vol. i. (London, 1858); J.G.
Droysen, _Geschichte der preussischen Politik_ (Berlin, 1855-1886); E.
Lavisse, _Etude sur une des origines de la monarchie prussienne_
(Paris, 1875); B. Gebhardt, _Handbuch der deutschen Geschichte_, Band
ii. (Leipzig, 1901). (A. W. H.*)
BRANDENBURG, the central and one of the largest provinces of Prussia,
consisting of a part of the former electorate of Brandenburg from which
it derives its name. With the other territories of the elector of
Brandenburg, it was merged in 1701 in the kingdom of Prussia, and when
the administration of Prussia was reformed in 1815, Brandenburg became
one of the provinces of Prussia. The boundaries of the new province,
however, differed considerably from those of the old district. The old
mark, the district on the left bank of the Elbe, was added to the
province of Saxony, and in return a district to the south, taken from
the kingdom of Saxony, was added to the province of Brandenburg. It has
an area of 15,382 sq. m., and is divided into the two governments of
Potsdam and Frankfort-on-Oder; the capital, Berlin, forming a separate
jurisdiction. The province is a sandy plain interspersed with numerous
fertile districts and considerable stretches of woodland, mostly pine
and fir. Its barrenness was formerly much exaggerated, when it was
popularly described as the "sandbox of the Holy Roman Empire." It is
generally well watered by tributaries of its two principal rivers, the
Elbe and the Oder, and is besides remarkable for the number of its
lakes, of which it contains between 600 and 700. The mineral products
comprise lignite, limestone, gypsum, alum and potter's earth; barley and
rye are the usual cereals; fruits and vegetables are abundant; and
considerable quantities of hemp, flax, hops and tobacco are raised. The
breeding of sheep receives much attention, and the province exports wool
in considerable quantity. Bees are largely kept, and there is an
abundance of game. The rivers and lakes also furnish fish, particularly
carp, of excellent quality. The climate is cold and raw in winter,
excessively hot in summer, and there are frequently violent storms of
wind. The manufacturing industry of the province is both varied and
extensive, but is for the most part concentrated in the principal towns.
The most important branches are the spinning and weaving of wool and
cotton, the manufacturing of paper, and the distillation of brandy. Pop.
(1895) 2,821,695; (1905) 3,529,839.
BRANDENBURG, a town of Germany, capital of the district and province of
same name, on the river Havel, 36 m. S.W. from Berlin, on the main line
to Magdeburg and the west. Pop. (1905) 51,251, including 3643 military.
The town is enclosed by walls, and is divided into three parts by the
river--the old town on the right and the new town on the left bank,
while on an island between them is the "cathedral town,"--and is also
called, from its position, "Venice." Many of the houses are built on
piles in the river. There are five old churches (Protestant), all more
or less noteworthy. These are the Katharinenkirche (nave 1381-1401,
choir c. 1410, western tower 1583-1585), a Gothic brick church with a
fine carved wooden altar and several interesting medieval tombs; the
Petrikirche (14th century Gothic); the cathedral (Domkirche), originally
a Romanesque basilica (1170), but rebuilt in the Gothic style in the
14th century, with a good altar-piece (1465), &c., and noted for its
remarkable collection of medieval vestments; the Gothardskirche, partly
Romanesque (1160), partly Gothic (1348); the Nikolaikirche (12th and
13th centuries), now no longer used. There is also a Roman Catholic
church. Of other buildings may be mentioned the former town hall of the
"old town" (Altstadt Rathaus), built in the 13th and 14th centuries, now
used as government offices; the new Real-gymnasium; and the town hall in
the Neustadt, before which, in the market-place, stands a Rolandssaule,
a colossal figure 18 ft. in height, hewn out of a single block of stone.
A little north of the town is the Marienberg, or Harlungerberg, on which
the heathen temple of Triglaff and afterwards the church and convent of
St Mary were built. On the top stands a lofty monument to the soldiers
from the Mark who fell in the wars of 1864, 1866 and 1870-71. The town
has a considerable trade, with manufactures of woollens, silks, linens,
hosiery and paper, as well as breweries, tanneries, boat-building and
bicycle factories.
Brandenburg, originally _Brennaburg_ (_Brennabor_) or _Brendanburg_, was
originally a town of the Slavic tribe of the Hevelli, from whom it was
captured (927-928) by the German king Henry I. In 948 Otto I. founded a
bishopric here, which was subordinated first to the archdiocese of
Mainz, but from 968 onwards to the newly created archbishopric of
Magdeburg. It was, however, destroyed by the heathen Wends in 983, and
was only restored when Albert the Bear recaptured the town from them in
1153. In 1539 the bishop of Brandenburg, Matthias von Jagow, embraced
the Lutheran faith, and five years later the Protestant worship was
established in the cathedral. The see was administered by the elector of
Brandenburg until 1598 and then abolished, its territories being for the
most part incorporated in the electoral domains. The cathedral chapter,
however, survived, and though suppressed in 1810, it was restored in
1824. It consists of twelve canons, of whom three only are spiritual,
the other nine prebends being held by noblemen; all are in the gift of
the king of Prussia.
The "old" and "new" towns of Brandenburg were for centuries separate
towns, having been united under a single municipality so late as 1717.
See Schillmann, _Geschichte der Stadt Brandenburg_ (Brandenburg,
1874-1882).
BRANDER, GUSTAVUS (1720-1787), English naturalist, who came of a Swedish
family, was born in London in 1720, and was brought up as a merchant, in
which capacity he achieved success and became a director of the Bank of
England. His leisure time was occupied in scientific pursuits, and at
his country residence at Christchurch in Hampshire he became interested
in the fossils so abundant in the clays of Hordwell and Barton. A set of
these was presented by him to the British Museum, and they were
described by D.C. Solander in the beautifully illustrated work entitled
_Fossilia Hantoniensia collecta, et in Musaeo Britannico deposita a
Gustavo Brander_ (London, 1766). Brander was elected F.R.S. in 1754, and
he was also a trustee of the British Museum. He died on the 21st of
January 1787.
BRANDES, GEORG MORRIS COHEN (1842- ), Danish critic and literary
historian, was born in Copenhagen on the 4th of February 1842. He became
a student in the university in 1859, and first studied jurisprudence.
From this, however, his maturer taste soon turned to philosophy and
aesthetics. In 1862 he won the gold medal of the university for an essay
on _The Nemesis Idea among the Ancients_. Before this, indeed since
1858, he had shown a remarkable gift for verse-writing, the results of
which, however, were not abundant enough to justify separate
publication. Brandes, indeed, did not collect his poems till so late as
1898. At the university, which he left in 1864, Brandes was much under
the influence of the writings of Heiberg in criticism and Soren
Kierkegaard in philosophy, influences which have continued to leave
traces on his work. In 1866 he took part in the controversy raised by
the works of Rasmus Nielsen in a treatise on "Dualism in our Recent
Philosophy." From 1865 to 1871 he travelled much in Europe, acquainting
himself with the condition of literature in the principal centres of
learning. His first important contribution to letters was his _Aesthetic
Studies_ (1868), in which, in several brief monographs on Danish poets,
his maturer method is already foreshadowed. In 1870 he published several
important volumes, _The French Aesthetics of Our Days_, dealing chiefly
with Taine, _Criticisms and Portraits_, and a translation of _The
Subjection of Women_ of John Stuart Mill, whom he had met that year
during a visit to England. Brandes now took his place as the leading
critic of the north of Europe, applying to local conditions and habits
of thought the methods of Taine. He became _docent_ or reader in _Belles
Lettres_ at the university of Copenhagen, where his lectures were the
sensation of the hour. On the professorship of Aesthetics becoming
vacant in 1872, it was taken as a matter of course that Brandes would be
appointed. But the young critic had offended many susceptibilities by
his ardent advocacy of modern ideas; he was known to be a Jew, he was
convicted of being a Radical, he was suspected of being an atheist. The
authorities refused to elect him, but his fitness for the post was so
obvious that the chair of Aesthetics in the university of Copenhagen
remained vacant, no one else daring to place himself in comparison with
Brandes. In the midst of these polemics the critic began to issue the
most ambitious of his works, _Main Streams in the Literature of the
Nineteenth Century_, of which four volumes appeared between 1872 and
1875 (English translation, 1901-1905). The brilliant novelty of this
criticism of the literature of the chief countries of Europe at the
beginning of the 19th century, and his description of the general revolt
against the pseudo-classicism of the 18th century, at once attracted
attention outside Denmark. The tumult which gathered round the person of
the critic increased the success of the work, and the reputation of
Brandes grew apace, especially in Germany and Russia. Among his later
writings must be mentioned the monographs on _Soren Kierkegaard_ (1877),
on _Esaias Tegner_ (1878), on _Benjamin Disraeli_ (1878), _Ferdinand
Lassalle_ (in German, 1877), _Ludvig Holberg_ (1884), on _Henrik Ibsen_
(1899) and on _Anatole France_ (1905). Brandes has written with great
fulness on the main contemporary poets and novelists of his own country
and of Norway, and he and his disciples have long been the arbiters of
literary fame in the north. His _Danish Poets_ (1877), containing
studies of Carsten Hauch, Ludwig Bodtcher, Christian Winther, and
Paludan-Muller, his _Men of the Modern Transition_ (1883), and his
_Essays_ (1889), are volumes essential to the proper study of modern
Scandinavian literature. He wrote an excellent book on _Poland_ (1888;
English translation, 1903), and was one of the editors of the German
version of _Ibsen_. In 1877 Brandes left Copenhagen and settled in
Berlin, taking a considerable part in the aesthetic life of that city.
His political views, however, made Prussia uncomfortable for him, and he
returned in 1883 to Copenhagen, where he found a whole new school of
writers and thinkers eager to receive him as their leader. The most
important of his recent works has been his study of Shakespeare
(1897-1898), which was translated into English by William Archer, and at
once took a high position. It was, perhaps, the most authoritative work
on Shakespeare, not principally intended for an English-speaking
audience, which had been published in any country. He was afterwards
engaged on a history of modern Scandinavian literature. In his critical
work, which extends over a wider field than that of any other living
writer, Brandes has been aided by a singularly charming style, lucid and
reasonable, enthusiastic without extravagance, brilliant and coloured
without affectation. His influence on the Scandinavian writers of the
'eighties was very great, but a reaction, headed by Holger Drachmann,
against his "realistic" doctrines, began in 1885 (see DENMARK:
_Literature_). In 1900 he collected his works for the first time in a
complete and popular edition, and began to superintend a German complete
edition in 1902.
His brother Edvard Brandes (b. 1847), also a well-known critic, was the
author of a number of plays, and of two psychological novels: _A
Politician_ (1889), and _Young Blood_ (1899).
BRANDING (from Teutonic _brinnan_, to burn), in criminal law a mode of
punishment; also a method of marking goods or animals; in either case by
stamping with a hot iron. The Greeks branded their slaves with a Delta,
[Delta], for [Greek: doulos]. Robbers and runaway slaves were marked by
the Romans with the letter F (_fur_, _fugitivus_); and the toilers in
the mines, and convicts condemned to figure in gladiatorial shows, were
branded on the forehead for identification. Under Constantine the face
was not permitted to be so disfigured, the branding being on the hand,
arm or calf. The canon law sanctioned the punishment, and in France
galley-slaves could be branded "TF" (_travaux forces_) until 1832. In
Germany, however, branding was illegal. The punishment was adopted by
the Anglo-Saxons, and the ancient law of England authorized the penalty.
By the Statute of Vagabonds (1547) under Edward VI. vagabonds, gipsies
and brawlers were ordered to be branded, the first two with a large V on
the breast, the last with F for "fraymaker." Slaves, too, who ran away
were branded with S on cheek or forehead. This law was repealed in 1636.
From the time of Henry VII. branding was inflicted for all offences
which received benefit of clergy (q.v.), but it was abolished for such
in 1822. In 1698 it was enacted that those convicted of petty theft or
larceny, who were entitled to benefit of clergy, should be "burnt in the
most visible part of the left cheek, nearest the nose." This special
ordinance was repealed in 1707. James Nayler, the mad Quaker, who in the
year 1655 claimed to be the Messiah, had his tongue bored through and
his forehead branded B for blasphemer.
In the Lancaster criminal court a branding-iron is still preserved in
the dock. It is a long bolt with a wooden handle at one end and an M
(malefactor) at the other. Close by are two iron loops for firmly
securing the hands during the operation. The brander, after examination,
would turn to the judge and exclaim, "A fair mark, my lord." Criminals
were formerly ordered to hold up their hands before sentence to show if
they had been previously convicted.
Cold branding or branding with cold irons became in the 18th century the
mode of nominally inflicting the punishment on prisoners of higher rank.
"When Charles Moritz, a young German, visited England in 1782 he was
much surprised at this custom, and in his diary mentioned the case of a
clergyman who had fought a duel and killed his man in Hyde Park. Found
guilty of manslaughter he was _burnt_ in the hand, if that could be
called burning which was done with a cold iron" (Markham's _Ancient
Punishments of Northants_, 1886). Such cases led to branding becoming
obsolete, and it was abolished in 1829 except in the case of deserters
from the army. These were marked with the letter D, not with hot irons
but by tattooing with ink or gunpowder. Notoriously bad soldiers were
also branded with BC (bad character). By the British Mutiny Act of 1858
it was enacted that the court-martial, in addition to any other penalty,
may order deserters to be marked on the left side, 2 in. below the
armpit, with the letter D, such letter to be not less than 1 in. long.
In 1879 this was abolished.
See W. Andrews, _Old Time Punishments_ (Hull, 1890); A.M. Earle,
_Curious Punishments of Bygone Days_ (London, 1896).
BRANDIS, CHRISTIAN AUGUST (1790-1867), German philologist and historian
of philosophy, was born at Hildesheim and educated at Kiel University.
In 1812 he graduated at Copenhagen, with a thesis _Commentationes
Eleaticae_ (a collection of fragments from Xenophanes, Parmenides and
Melissus). For a time he studied at Gottingen, and in 1815 presented as
his inaugural dissertation at Berlin his essay _Von dem Begriff der
Geschichte der Philosophie_. In 1816 he refused an extraordinary
professorship at Heidelberg in order to accompany B.G. Niebuhr to Italy
as secretary to the Prussian embassy. Subsequently he assisted I. Bekker
in the preparation of his edition of Aristotle. In 1821 he became
professor of philosophy in the newly founded university of Bonn, and in
1823 published his _Aristotelius et Theophrasti Metaphysica_. With
Boeckh and Niebuhr he edited the _Rheinisches Museum_, to which he
contributed important articles on Socrates (1827, 1829). In 1836-1839 he
was tutor to the young king Otho of Greece. His great work, the
_Handbuch der Geschichte der griechisch-rom. Philos_. (1835-1866;
republished in a smaller and more systematic form, _Gesch. d.
Entwickelungen d. griech. Philos_., 1862-1866), is characterized by
sound criticism. Brandis died on the 21st of July 1867.
See Trendelenburg, _Zur Erinnerung an C. A. B_. (Berlin, 1868).
BRANDON, a city and port of entry of Manitoba, Canada, on the
Assiniboine river, and the Canadian Pacific and Canadian Northern
railways, situated 132 m. W. of Winnipeg, 1184 ft. above the sea. Pop.
(1891) 3778; (1907) 12,519. It is in one of the finest agricultural
sections and contains a government experimental farm, grain elevators,
saw and grist mills. It was first settled in 1881, and incorporated as a
city in 1882.
BRANDON, a market town in the Stowmarket parliamentary division of
Suffolk, England, on the Little Ouse or Brandon river, 86-1/2 m. N.N.E.
from London by the Ely-Norwich line of the Great Eastern railway. Pop.
(1901) 2327. The church of St Peter is Early English with earlier
portions; there is a free grammar school founded in 1646; and the town
has some carrying trade by the Little Ouse in corn, coal and timber.
Rabbit skins of fine texture are dressed and exported. Extensive
deposits of flint are worked in the neighbourhood, and the work of the
"flint-knappers" has had its counterpart here from the earliest eras of
man. Close to Brandon, but in Norfolk across the river, at the village
of Weeting, are the so-called Grimes' Graves, which, long supposed to
show the foundations of a British village, and probably so occupied,
were proved by excavation to have been actually neolithic flint
workings. The pits, though almost completely filled up (probably as they
became exhausted), were sunk through the overlying chalk to the depth of
20 to 60 ft., and numbered 254 in all. Passages branched out from them,
and among other remains picks of deer-horn were discovered, one actually
bearing in the chalk which coated it the print of the workman's hand.
BRANDY, an alcoholic, potable spirit, obtained by the distillation of
grape wine. The frequently occurring statement that the word "brandy" is
derived from the High German _Branntwein_ is incorrect, inasmuch as the
English word (as Fairley has pointed out) is quite as old as any of its
continental equivalents. It is simply an abbreviation of the Old English
_brandewine_, _brand-wine_ or _brandy wine_, the word "brand" being
common to all the Teutonic languages of northern Europe, meaning a thing
burning or that has been burnt. John Fletcher's _Beggar's Bush_ (1622)
contains the passage, "Buy brand wine"; and from the Roxburgh _Ballads_
(1650) we have "It is more fine than brandewine." The word "brandy" came
into familiar use about the middle of the 17th century, but the
expression "brandywine" was retained in legal documents until 1702
(Fairley). Thus in 1697 (_View Penal Laws_, 173) there occurs the
sentence, "No aqua vitae or brandywine shall be imported into England."
The _British Pharmacopoeia_ formerly defined French brandy, which was
the only variety mentioned (officially _spiritus vini gallici_), as
"Spirit distilled from French wine; it has a characteristic flavour, and
a light sherry colour derived from the cask in which it has been kept."
In the latest edition the Latin title _spiritus vini gallici_ is
retained, but the word _French_ is dropped from the text, which now
reads as follows: "A spirituous liquid distilled from wine and matured
by age, and containing not less than 36-1/2% by weight or 43-1/2% by
volume of ethyl hydroxide." The _United States Pharmacopoeia_ (1905),
retains the Latin expression _spiritus vini gallici_ (English title
_Brandy_), defined as "an alcoholic liquid obtained by the distillation
of the fermented, unmodified juice of fresh grapes."
Very little of the brandy of commerce corresponds exactly to the former
definition of the _British Pharmacopoeia_ as regards colouring matter,
inasmuch as trade requirements necessitate the addition of a small
quantity of caramel (burnt sugar) colouring to the spirit in the
majority of cases. The object of this is, as a rule, not that of
deceiving the consumer as to the apparent age of the brandy, but that of
keeping a standard article of commerce at a standard level of colour. It
is practically impossible to do this without having recourse to caramel
colouring, as, practically speaking, the contents of any cask will
always differ slightly, and often very appreciably, in colour intensity
from the contents of another cask, even though the age and quality of
the spirits are identical.
The finest brandies are produced in a district covering an area of
rather less than three million acres, situated in the departments of
Charente and Charente Inferieure, of which the centre is the town of
Cognac. It is generally held that only brandies produced within this
district have a right to the name "cognac." The Cognac district is
separated into district zones of production, according to the quality of
the spirit which each yields. In the centre of the district, on the left
bank of the Charente, is the _Grande Champagne_, and radiating beyond it
are (in order of merit of the spirit produced) the _Petite Champagne_,
the _Borderies_ (or _Premiers Bois_), the _Fins Bois_, the _Bons Bois_,
the _Bois Ordinaires_, and finally the _Bois communs dits a terroir_.
Many hold that the brandy produced in the two latter districts is not
entitled to the name of "cognac," but this is a matter of controversy,
as is also the question as to whether another district called the
_Grande Fine Champagne_, namely, that in the immediate neighbourhood of
the little village of Juillac-le-Coq, should be added to the list. The
pre-eminent quality of the Cognac brandies is largely due to the
character of the soil, the climate, and the scientific and systematic
cultivation of the vines. For a period--from the middle 'seventies to
the 'nineties of the 19th century--the cognac industry was, owing to the
inroads of the phylloxera, threatened with almost total extinction, but
after a lengthy series of experiments, a system of replanting and
hybridizing, based on the characteristics of the soils of the various
districts, was evolved, which effectually put a stop to the further
progress of the disease. In 1907 the area actually planted with the vine
in the Cognac district proper was about 200,000 acres, and the
production of cognac brandy, which, however, varies widely in different
years, may be put down at about five million gallons per annum. The
latter figure is based on the amount of wine produced in the two
Charentes (about forty-five million gallons in 1905).