Concrete bag foundations.
The levelling of the foundations for laying the courses of an
upright-wall breakwater is costly and tedious, even in chalk; and the
expense and delay are considerably enhanced where the bottom is hard
rock. Accordingly, in constructing two breakwaters at the entrance to
Aberdeen harbour on a bottom of granite in 1870-1877, concrete bags
were laid on the sea-bed; and these bags, by adapting themselves to
the rocky irregularities, obviated levelling the bottom. They formed
the foundation for the concrete blocks in the south breakwater; and by
the deposit of successive layers of 50-ton concrete bags till they
rose above low water, they constituted the whole of the submerged
portion of the north breakwater. The 50-ton bags were deposited from
hopper barges towed out to the site; and the portions of both
breakwaters above low water were carried up with mass concrete.
Subsequently, the breakwater at Newhaven was constructed on a
foundation of chalk, with lop-ton concrete bags up to low water, and
mass concrete above. Still later, the two breakwaters sheltering the
approach to the river Wear (see HARBOUR) and the Sunderland docks were
built with a foundation mound of concrete in bags, 56 to 116 tons in
weight, on the uneven sea-bottom, raised slightly above low water of
spring tides, on which a solid upright wall was erected, formed of
concrete blocks on each side faced with granite, filled in the centre
and capped on the top with mass concrete. The most exposed northern
Roker breakwater, raised about 11 ft. above high water of springs
where the rise is 14 ft. 5 in., is devoid of a parapet; but a subway
formed near the top in each breakwater gives access to the light on
the pierhead in stormy weather (fig. 15). These concrete bags are made
by lining the hopper of the barge with jute canvas, which receives the
concrete and is sewn up to form a bag whilst the barge is being towed
to the site. The concrete is thus deposited unset, and readily
accommodates itself to the irregularities of the bottom or of the
mound of bags; and sufficient liquid grout oozes out of the canvas
when the bag is compressed, to unite the bags into a solid mass, so
that with the mass concrete on the top, the breakwater forms a
monolith. This system has been extended to the portion of the
superstructure of the eastern, little-exposed breakwater of Bilbao
harbour below low water, where the rubble mound is of moderate height;
but this application of the system appears less satisfactory, as
settlement of the superstructure on the mound would produce cracks in
the set concrete in the bags.
[Illustration: FIG. 15.--Sunderland Southern Breakwater.]
Foundations with large blocks.
Foundation blocks of 2500 to 3000 tons have been deposited for raising
the walls on each side of the wide portion of the Zeebrugge breakwater
(fig. 16) from the sea-bottom to above low water, and also 4400-ton
blocks along the narrow outer portion (see HARBOUR), by building iron
caissons, open at the top, in the dry bed of the Bruges ship-canal,
lining them with concrete, and after the canal was filled with water,
floating them out one by one in calm weather, sinking them in position
by admitting water, and then filling them with concrete under water
from closed skips which open at the bottom directly they begin to be
raised. The firm sea-bed is levelled by small rubble for receiving the
large blocks, whose outer toe is protected from undermining by a layer
of big blocks of stone extending out for a width of 50 ft.; and then
the breakwater walls are raised above high water by 55-ton concrete
blocks, set in cement at low tide; and the upper portions are
completed by concrete-in-mass within framing.
Concrete monoliths.
Sometimes funds are not available for a large plant; and in such cases
small upright-wall breakwaters may be constructed in a moderate depth
of water on a hard bottom of rock, chalk or boulders, by erecting
timber framing in suitable lengths, lining it inside with jute cloth,
and then depositing concrete below low water in closed hopper skips
lowered to the bottom before releasing the concrete, which must be
effected with great care to avoid allowing the concrete to fall
through the water. The portion of the breakwater above low water is
then raised by tide-work with mass concrete within frames, in which
large blocks of stone may be bedded, provided they do not touch one
another and are kept away from the face, which should be formed with
concrete containing a larger proportion of cement. As long continuous
lengths of concrete crack across under variations in temperature, it
is advisable to form fine straight divisions across the upper part of
a concrete breakwater in construction, as substitutes for irregular
cracks.
[Illustration: FIG. 16.--Zeebrugge Harbour Breakwater with Quay.]
Upright-wall breakwaters should not be formed with two narrow walls
and intermediate filling, as the safety of such a breakwater depends
entirely on the sea-wall being maintained intact. A warning of the
danger of this system of construction, combined with a high parapet,
was furnished by the south breakwater of Newcastle harbour in Dundrum
Bay, Ireland, which was breached by a storm in 1868, and eventually
almost wholly destroyed; whilst its ruins for many years filled up the
harbour which it had been erected to protect. In designing its
reconstruction in 1897, it was found possible to provide a solid
upright wall of suitable strength with the materials scattered over
the harbour, together with an extension needed for providing proper
protection at the entrance. This work was completed in 1906.
Upright-wall breakwaters and superstructures are generally made of the
same thickness throughout, irrespective of the differences in depth
and exposure which are often met with in different parts of the same
breakwater. This may be accounted for by the general custom of
regarding the top of an upright wall or superstructure as a quay,
which should naturally be given a uniform width; and this view has
also led to the very general practice of sheltering the top of these
structures with a parapet. Generally the width is proportioned to the
most exposed part, so that the only result is an excess of
expenditure in the inner portion to secure uniformity. When, however,
as at Madras, the width of the structure is reduced to a minimum, the
action of the sea demonstrates that the strength of the structure must
be proportioned to the depth and exposure. In small fishery piers,
where great economy is essential to obtain the maximum shelter at
limited expense, it appears expedient to make the width of the
breakwater proportionate to the depth. This was done in Babbacombe
Bay; and in reconstructing the southern breakwater at Newcastle,
Ireland, advantage was taken of a change in direction of the outer
half to introduce an addition to the width, so as to make the strength
of the breakwater proportionate to the increase in depth and exposure.
In large structures, however, uniformity of design may be desirable
for each straight length of breakwater; though where two or more
breakwaters or outer arms enclose a harbour, the design should
obviously be modified to suit the depth and exposure. At Colombo
harbour, the superstructure of the less exposed north-west breakwater
has been made slightly narrower than that of the south-west
breakwater; and a simple rubble mound shelters the harbour from the
moderate north-east monsoon. In special cases, where a breakwater has
to serve as a quay, like the Admiralty pier at Dover, a high parapet
wall is essential; but in most cases, where a parapet merely enables
the breakwater to be more readily accessible in moderate weather, it
would be advisable to keep it very low, or to dispense with it
altogether, as at the southern Dover breakwater, the northern
breakwater at Sunderland, and the Colombo western breakwaters. This
course is particularly expedient in very exposed sites, as a high
parapet intensifies the shock of the waves against a breakwater and
their erosive recoil. Moreover, when a light has to be attended to at
the end of a breakwater, sheltered access can be provided by a subway,
as at Sunderland.
Structures in the sea almost always require works of maintenance; and
when a severe storm has caused any injury, it is most important to
carry out the repairs at the earliest available moment, as the waves
rapidly enlarge any holes that they may have formed in weak places.
(L. F. V.-H.)
BREAL, MICHEL JULES ALFRED (1832- ), French philologist, was born on
the 26th of March 1832, at Landau in Rhenish Bavaria, of French parents.
After studying at Weissenburg, Metz and Paris, he entered the Ecole
Normale in 1852. In 1857 he went to Berlin, where he studied Sanskrit
under Bopp and Weber. On his return to France he obtained an appointment
in the department of oriental MSS. at the Bibliotheque Imperiale. In
1864 he became professor of comparative grammar at the College de
France, in 1875 member of the Academie des Inscriptions et
Belles-lettres, in 1879 _inspecteur-general_ of public instruction for
higher schools until the abolition of the office in 1888. In 1890 he was
made commander of the Legion of Honour. Among his works, which deal
mainly with mythological and philological subjects, may be mentioned:
_L'Etude des origines de la religion Zoroastrienne_ (1862), for which a
prize was awarded him by the Academie des Inscriptions; _Hercule et
Cacus_ (1863), in which he disputes the principles of the symbolic
school in the interpretation of myths; _Le Mythe d'Oedipe_ (1864); _Les
Tables Eugubines_ (1875); _Melanges de mythologie et de linguistique_
(2nd. ed., 1882); _Lecons de mots_ (1882,1886), _Dictionnaire
etymologique latin_ (1885) and _Grammaire latine_ (1890). His _Essai de
Semantique_ (1897), on the signification of words, has been translated
into English by Mrs H. Cust with preface by J.P. Postgate. His
translation of Bopp's _Comparative Grammar_ (1866-1874), with
introductions, is highly valued. He has also written pamphlets on
education in France, the teaching of ancient languages, and the reform
of French orthography. In 1906 he published _Pour mieux connaitre
Homere_.
BREAM (_Abramis_), a fish of the Cyprinid family, characterized by a
deep, strongly compressed body, with short dorsal and long anal fins,
the latter with more than sixteen branched rays, and the small inferior
mouth. There are two species in the British Isles, the common bream, _A.
brama_, reaching a length of 2 ft. and a weight of 12 lb., and the white
bream or bream flat, _A. blicca_, a smaller and, in most places, rarer
species. Both occur in slow-running rivers, canals, ponds and
reservoirs. Bream are usually despised for the table in England, but
fish from large lakes, if well prepared, are by no means deserving of
ostracism. In the days of medieval abbeys, when the provident Cistercian
monks attached great importance to pond culture, they gave the first
place to the tench and bream, the carp still being unknown in the
greater part of Europe. At the present day, the poorer Jews in large
English cities make a great consumption of bream--and other Cyprinids,
most of them being imported alive from Holland and sold in the Jewish
fish markets. In America the name bream is commonly given to the golden
shiner minnow (_Abramis chrysoleucus_), to the pumpkin-seed sunfish
(_Eupomotis gibbosus_), and to some kinds of porgy (_Sparidae_).
BREAST (a word common to Teutonic languages, of the Ger. _Brust_,
possibly connected with an O. Sax. _brustian_, to bud), the term
properly confined to the external projecting parts of the thorax in
females, which contain the mammary glands (for anatomy, and diseases,
see MAMMARY GLAND); more generally it is used of the external part of
the thorax in animals, including man, lying between the neck and the
abdomen.
BREAUTE, FALKES DE (d. 1226), one of the foreign mercenaries of King
John of England, from whom he received in marriage the heiress of the
earldom of Devon. On the outbreak of the Barons' War (1215) the king
gave him the sheriffdoms of six midland shires and the custody of many
castles. He fulfilled his military duties with as much skill as cruelty.
The royalists owed to his daring the decisive victory of Lincoln (1217).
But after the death of William Marshal, earl of Pembroke, Falkes joined
the feudal opposition in conspiring against Hubert de Burgh. Deprived in
1223 of most of his honours, he was drawn into a rebellion by the
imprudence of his brother, who captured a royal justice and threw him
into prison (1224). Falkes was allowed to go into exile after his
submission, and endeavoured to obtain a pardon through the mediation of
Pope Honorius III. But this was refused, and Falkes died at St Cyriac in
1226.
See Shirley, _Royal Letters_, vol. i.; the _Patent_ and _Close Rolls_;
Pauli, _Geschichte von England_, vol. i. pp. 540-545. (H. W. C. D.)
BRECCIA, in petrology, the name given to rocks consisting of angular
fragments embedded in a matrix. They may be composed of volcanic rocks,
limestones, siliceous charts, sandstones, in fact of any kind of
material, and the matrix, which usually corresponds to some extent to
the fragments it encloses, may be siliceous, calcareous, argillaceous,
&c. The distinctive character of the group is the sharp-edged and unworn
shapes of the fragments; in conglomerates the pebbles are rounded and
water-worn, having been transported by waves and currents from some
distance. There are many ways in which breccias may originate. Some are
formed by ordinary processes of atmospheric erosion; frost, rain and
gravity break up exposed surfaces of rock and detach pieces of all
sizes; in this way screes are formed at the bases of cliffs, and barren
mountain-tops are covered with broken debris. If such accumulations
gather and are changed into hard rock by pressure and other indurating
agencies they make typical breccias. Conglomerates often pass into rocks
of this type, the difference being merely that the fragments are of
purely local origin, and are unworn because they have not been
transported. In caves breccias of limestone are produced by the collapse
of part of the roof, covering the floor with broken masses. Coral reefs
often contain extensive areas of limestone breccia, formed of detached
pieces of rock which have been dislodged from the surface and have been
carried down the steep external slopes of the reef. Volcanic breccias
are very common near active or extinct craters, as sudden outbursts of
steam bear fragments from the older rocks and scatter them over the
ground.
Another group of breccias is due to crushing; these are produced in
fissures, faults and veins, below the surface, and maybe described as
"crush-breccias" and "friction-breccias." Very important and well-known
examples of this class occur as veinstones, which may be metalliferous
or not. A fissure is formed, probably by slight crustal movements, and
is subsequently filled with material deposited from solution (quartz,
calcite, barytes, &c.). Very often displacement of the walls again takes
place, and the infilling or "veinstone" is torn apart and brecciated. It
may then be cemented together by a further introduction of mineral
matter, which may be the same as that first deposited or quite
different. In important veins this process is often repeated several
times: detached pieces of the country rock are mingled with the
shattered veinstone, and generally experience alteration by the
percolating mineral solutions. Other crush-breccias occurring on a much
larger scale are due to the folding of strata which have unequal
plasticities. If, for example, shales and sandstones are bent into a
series of arches, the sandstones being harder and more resistant will
tend to crack, while the shales, which are soft and flow under great
pressures, are injected into the crevices and separate the broken pieces
from one another. Continued movement will give the brecciated fragments
of sandstone a rounded form by rubbing them against one another, and, in
this way, a crush-conglomerate is produced. Great masses of limestone in
the Alps, Scottish Highlands, and all regions of intense folding are
thus converted into breccias. Cherts frequently also show this
structure; igneous rocks less commonly do so; but it is perhaps most
common where there have been thin bedded alternations of rocks of
different character, such as limestone and dolerite, limestone and
quartzite, shale or phyllite and sandstone. Fault-breccias closely
resemble vein-breccias, except that usually their fragments consist
principally of the rocks which adjoin the fault and not of mineral
deposits introduced in solution; but many veins occupy faults, and hence
no hard and fast line can be drawn between these types of breccia.
A third group of breccias is due to movement in a partly consolidated
igneous rock, and may be called "fluxion-breccias." Lava streams,
especially when they consist of rhyolite, dacite and some kinds of
andesite, may rapidly solidify, and then become exceedingly brittle. If
any part of the mass is still liquid, it may break up the solid crust by
pressure from within and the angular fragments are enveloped by the
fluid lava. When the whole comes to rest and cools, it forms a typical
"volcanic-fluxion-breccia." The same phenomena are sometimes exemplified
in intrusive sills and sheets. The fissures which are occupied by
igneous dikes may be the seat of repeated injections following one
another at longer or shorter intervals; and the latter may shatter the
earlier dike rocks, catching up the fragments. Among the older
formations, especially when decomposition has gone on extensively, these
fluxion and injection-breccias are often very hard to distinguish from
the commoner volcanic-breccias and ash-beds, which have been produced by
weathering, or by the explosive power of superheated steam.
(J. S. F.)
BRECHIN, a royal, municipal and police burgh of Forfarshire, Scotland.
Pop. (1901) 8941. It lies on the left bank of the South Esk, 7-3/4 m.
west of Montrose, and has a station on the loop line of the Caledonian
railway from Forfar to Bridge of Dun. Brechin is a prosperous town, of
great antiquity, having been the site of a Culdee abbey. The Danes are
said to have burned the town in 1012. David I. erected it into a
bishopric in 1150, and it is still a see of the Episcopal Church of
Scotland. In 1452 the earl of Huntly crushed the insurrection led by the
earl of Crawford at the battle of Brechin Muir, and in 1645 the town and
castle were harried by the marquis of Montrose. James VI. gave a grant
for founding a hospital in the burgh, which yet supplies the council
with funds for charity. No trace remains of the old walls and gates of
the town, but the river is crossed by a two-arched stone bridge of very
early date. The cathedral church of the Holy Trinity belongs to the 13th
century. It is in the Pointed style, but suffered maltreatment in 1806
at the hands of restorers, whose work, however, disappeared during the
restoration completed in 1902. The western gable with its flamboyant
window and Gothic door and the massive square tower are all that is left
of the original edifice. The modern stained glass in the chancel is
reckoned amongst the finest in Scotland. Immediately adjoining the
cathedral to the south-west stands the Round Tower, built about 1000. It
is 86-3/4 ft. high, has at the base a circumference of 50 ft. and a
diameter of 16 ft., and is capped with a hexagonal spire of 18 ft.,
which was added in the 15th century. This type of structure is somewhat
common in Ireland, but the only Scottish examples are those at Brechin,
Abernethy in Perthshire, and Egilshay in the Orkneys. Brechin Castle
played a prominent part in the Scottish War of Independence. In 1303 it
withstood for twenty days a siege in force by the English under Edward
I., surrendering only when its governor, Sir Thomas Maule, had been
slain. From the Maule family it descended to the Dalhousies. Its library
contains many important MSS., among them Burns's correspondence with
George Thomson, and several cartularies including those of St Andrews
and Brechin. In the Vennel (alley or small street) some ruins remain of
the _maison dieu_, or _hospitium_, founded in 1256 by William of
Brechin. Besides these historical buildings the principal public
structures include Smith's school, the municipal buildings, the free
library, the episcopal library (founded by Bishop Forbes, who, as well
as Bishop Abernethy-Drummond, presented a large number of volumes). The
principal industries include manufactures of linen and sailcloth,
bleaching, rope-making, brewing, distilling, paper-making, in addition
to nurseries and freestone quarries. Brechin--which is controlled by a
provost, bailies and council--unites with Arbroath, Forfar, Inverbervie
and Montrose to return one member to parliament.
Edzell (pronounced Edyell, and, locally, Aigle) lies about 6 m. north of
Brechin, with which it is connected by rail. It is situated on the North
Esk and near the West Water, which falls into the Esk 2 m. south-west.
Edzell is on the threshold of romantic Highland scenery. The picturesque
ruins of Edzell Castle lie a mile to the west of the town. Once the seat
of the Lindsays the estate now belongs to the earl of Dalhousie. The
church of the parish of Farnell, 3-1/2 m. south-east of Brechin, was
erected in 1806 after the model, so it is stated, of the famous Holy
House (Casa Santa) of Loreto in Italy. It was here that the old
sculptured stone giving a version of the Fall was found. Between Farnell
and Brechin lies Kinnaird Castle, the seat of the earl of Southesk.
BRECKINRIDGE, JOHN CABELL (1821-1875), American soldier and political
leader, was born near Lexington, Kentucky, on the 21st of January 1821.
He was a member of a family prominent in the public life of Kentucky and
the nation. His grandfather, John Breckinridge (1760-1806), who revised
Jefferson's draft of the "Kentucky Resolutions" of 1798, was a United
States senator from Kentucky in 1801-1805 and attorney-general in
President Jefferson's cabinet in 1805-1806. His uncles, John
Breckinridge (1797-1841), professor of pastoral theology in the
Princeton Theological Seminary in 1836-1838 and for many years after
secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, and Robert
Jefferson Breckinridge (1800-1871), for several years superintendent of
public instruction in Kentucky, an important factor in the organization
of the public school system of the state, a professor from 1853 to 1871
in the Danville Presbyterian Theological Seminary at Danville, Kentucky,
and the temporary chairman of the national Republican convention of
1864, were both prominent clergymen of the Presbyterian Church. His
cousin, William Campbell Preston Breckinridge (1837-1904), was a
Democratic representative in Congress from 1885 to 1893. Another cousin,
Joseph Cabell Breckinridge (1842- ), served on the Union side in the
Civil War, was a major-general of volunteers during the Spanish-American
War (1898), became a major-general in the regular United States army in
1903, and was inspector-general of the United States army from 1899
until his retirement from active service in 1904.
John Cabell Breckinridge graduated in 1838 at Centre College, Danville,
Kentucky, continued his studies at Princeton, and then studied law at
Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky. He practised law in
Frankfort, Kentucky, in 1840-1841 and in Burlington, Iowa, from 1841 to
1843, and then returned to Kentucky and followed his profession at
Lexington. In 1847 he went to Mexico as major in a volunteer regiment,
but arrived too late for service in the field. In 1849 he was elected a
Democratic member of the Kentucky legislature, and in 1851-1855 he
served in the national House of Representatives. President Pierce
offered him the position of minister to Spain, but he declined it. In
1856 he was chosen vice-president of the United States on the Buchanan
ticket, and although a strong pro-slavery and states rights man, he
presided over the Senate with conspicuous fairness and impartiality
during the trying years before the Civil War. In 1860 he was nominated
for the presidency by the pro-slavery seceders from the Democratic
national convention, and received a total of 72 electoral votes,
including those of every Southern state except Virginia, Kentucky,
Tennessee and Missouri. As vice-president and presiding officer of the
Senate, it was his duty to make the official announcement of the
election of his opponent, Lincoln. He succeeded John J. Crittenden as
United States senator from Kentucky in March 1861, but having
subsequently entered the Confederate service he was expelled from the
Senate in December 1861. As brigadier-general he commanded the
Confederate reserve at Shiloh, and in August 1862 he became
major-general. On the 5th of this month he was repulsed in his attack on
Baton Rouge, but he won distinction at Stone River (December 31,
1862-January 2, 1863), where his division lost nearly a third of its
number. He took part in the battle of Chickamauga, defeated General
Franz Sigel at Newmarket, Virginia, on the 15th of May 1864, and then,
joined Lee and took part in the battles of Cold Harbor on the 1st and on
the 3rd of June. In the autumn he operated in the Shenandoah Valley, and
with Early was defeated by Sheridan at Winchester on the 19th of
September. Being transferred to the department of South-west Virginia,
he fought a number of minor engagements in eastern Tennessee, and in
January 1865 became secretary of war for the Confederate States. At the
close of the war he escaped to Cuba, and from there went to Europe. In
1868 he returned to the United States and resumed the practice of law at
Lexington, Kentucky, where he died on the 17th of May 1875.
BRECON, or BRECKNOCK, a market town and municipal borough, the capital
of Breconshire, Wales, 183 m. from London by rail, picturesquely
situated nearly in the centre of the county, at the confluence of the
Honddu with the Usk. Half a mile higher up the Tarell also falls into
the Usk from the south. The ecclesiastical parish of Brecon consists of
the two civil parishes of St John the Evangelist and St Mary, both on
the left bank of the Usk, while St David's in Llanfaes is on the other
side of the river, and was wholly outside the town walls. Pop. (1901)
5875. There is only one line of railway, over which several companies,
however, have running powers, so that the town may be reached by the
Brecon & Merthyr railway from Merthyr, Cardiff and Newport, by the
Cambrian from Builth Wells, or by the Midland from Hereford and Swansea
respectively. The Great Western railway has also a service of road
motors between Abergavenny and Brecon. A canal running past Abergavenny
connects Brecon with Merthyr.
The Priory church of St John, a massive cruciform building, originally
Norman with Early English and Decorated additions, is the finest parish
church in Wales, and even taking into account the cathedrals it is
according to E.A. Freeman "indisputably the third church not in a state
of ruin in the principality," its choir furnishing "one of the choicest
examples of the Early English style." Previous to the dissolution, a
rood-screen bearing a gigantic rood, the object of many pilgrimages,
stood to the west of the tower. The church was restored under Sir
Gilbert Scott between 1861 and 1875. St Mary's, in the centre of the
town, and St David's, beyond the Usk, are now mainly modern, though the
former has some of the Norman arches of the original church. There is
also a Roman Catholic church (St Michael's) opened in 1851, and chapels
belonging to the Baptists, Calvinistic and Wesleyan Methodists, and to
the Congregationalists. In Llanfaes there was formerly a Dominican
priory, but in 1542 Henry VIII. granted it with all its possessions to a
collegiate church, which was transferred thither from Abergwili, and was
given the name of Christ College. Many of the bishops of St David's
during the 17th century occasionally resided here, and several are also
buried here. A small part of the revenues went to the maintenance of a
grammar-school, but in 1841 the collegiate body was dissolved, and its
revenues, then amounting to about L8000 a year, were transferred to the
ecclesiastical commissioners. In 1853 Henry VIII.'s charter was
repealed, and under a chancery scheme adopted two years later, L1200 a
year was appropriated for the school. New school buildings were erected
at a cost of about L10,000 in 1862, and these were enlarged at a cost of
about L5000 in 1880. The chancel of the old Dominican chapel, dating
from the 13th century, was restored in 1864, and is now the school
chapel. There is also a Congregationalist theological college, built in
1869 at a cost of L12,000, and now affiliated with the university of
Wales. The other chief buildings of the town are the shire hall built in
1842 in the Doric style from designs by T.H. Wyatt; the Guildhall; the
barracks, which are the headquarters of two battalions of the South
Wales Borderers; the county infirmary founded in 1832; and the prison
(in Llanfaes) for the counties of Brecon and Radnor. There is a bronze
statue of the duke of Wellington (erected in 1854) by John Evan Thomas,
a native of the town. The town commands a magnificent view of the
Brecknock Beacons, and is noted for its promenades on the banks of the
Usk, and in the priory groves. Brecon is favourably known as a fishing
centre, and there is also boating on the Usk and the canal. There are
several houses of interest, notably the Priory and Dr Awbrey's residence
(now called Buckingham House), both built about the middle of the 16th
century, but the finest specimen is Newton (about a mile out, near
Llanfaes) built in 1582 by Sir John Games (a descendant of Sir David
Gam), but now a farmhouse. The "Shoulder of Mutton" Inn, now known as
the "Siddons Wine Vaults," was the birthplace in 1755 of Mrs Siddons.
The name Brecknock is an anglicized form of Brycheiniog, the Welsh name
of the territory of Brychan (whence the alternative form of Brecon), a
Goidelic chieftain, who gained possession of the Usk valley in the 5th
century. The Welsh name of the town, on the other hand, has always been
Aber-Honddu (the estuary of the Honddu). There is no evidence of any
settlement on the site of the present town prior to about 1092, when
Bernard Newmarch, after defeating Bleddin ab Maenarch, built here a
castle which he made his residence and the chief stronghold of his new
lordship. For this purpose he utilized what remained of the materials of
the Roman fort, 3 m. to the west, at Y Gaer, which some identify as
Bannium. He subsequently founded, near the castle, the Benedictine
priory of St John, which he endowed and constituted a cell of Battle
Abbey. In time a town grew up outside the castle, and its inhabitants
received a series of charters from the de Bohuns, into which family the
castle and lordship passed, the earliest recorded charter being granted
by Humphrey, 3rd earl of Hereford. Under the patronage of his
great-grandson, the last earl of Hereford (who lived in great splendour
at the castle), the town became one of the chief centres of trade in
South Wales, and a sixteen days' fair, which he granted, still survives
as a hiring fair held in November. Further charters were granted by
Henry IV. (who married Hereford's co-heiress), by Henry V., who gave the
town two more fairs, and by the Stafford family, to which the castle and
lordship were allotted on the partition of the Bohun estates in 1421.
Henry Stafford, 2nd duke of Buckingham, resided a good deal at the
castle, and Morton, bishop of Ely, whose custody as a prisoner was
entrusted to him, plotted with him there for the dethronement of Richard
III., for which Stafford was executed in 1483. His son, Edward, the 3rd
duke, who was born in the castle in 1478, had the estates restored to
him, but, in 1521, suffered a like fate with his father, and the
lordship and castle then vested in the crown. Both were acquired in the
next century by the ancestors of Viscount Tredegar, to whom they now
belong. By a statute of 1535 Brecon was made the county town of the new
shire of Brecknock, and was granted the right of electing one burgess to
represent it in parliament, a right which it retained till it was merged
in the county representation in 1885. A chancery and exchequer for the
counties of Brecknock and Radnor were also established at Brecon Castle,
and from 1542 till 1830 the great sessions, and since then the assizes,
and at all times the quarter sessions for the county, have been held at
Brecon. The borough had also a separate court of quarter sessions till
1835. The town was incorporated by a charter granted by Philip and Mary
in 1556 and confirmed by Elizabeth in the nineteenth year of her reign.
A charter granted by James II. was never acted upon. The borough was
placed under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, and until then the
town of Llywel, which is 10 m. off, formed a ward of the borough. There
were formerly five trade gilds in the town, the chief industries being
cloth and leather manufactures. There are five ancient fairs for stock,
and formerly each of them was preceded by a leather fair. The fairs held
in May and November were also for hiring, much of the hiring being now
done at the Guildhall, and not in the streets as used to be the case.
During the Civil War the greater part of the castle and of the town
walls (which with their four gates were until then well preserved) were
demolished by the inhabitants in order to prevent the town being either
garrisoned or besieged. Charles I., however, stayed a night at the
priory house shortly after the battle of Naseby. The chief ruins of the
castle are now enclosed in the grounds of the Castle Hotel, the
principal object being Ely tower, where Bishop Morton was imprisoned.
Besides those already mentioned the persons of note born in the town
include Henry Stafford, duke of Buckingham; Dr Hugh Price, founder of
Jesus College, Oxford; Dr Thomas Coke, the first Wesleyan missionary
bishop in America; and Theophilus Jones, the historian of the county.
Henry Vaughan, the Silurist, at one time practised here as a doctor of
medicine. (D. Ll. T.)
BRECONSHIRE, or BRECKNOCKSHIRE, an inland county in South Wales, and the
fourth largest in all Wales, bounded N.W. by Cardigan, N. and N.E. by
Radnor, E. and S.E. by Monmouth, S. by Glamorgan and W. by Carmarthen.
The general aspect of the county is mountainous, and the scenery is
marked by beauty and grandeur. The climate is moist but temperate and
healthy, and the soil of the valleys, often consisting of rich alluvial
deposits, is very fertile. The loftiest mountains in South Wales,
extending from Herefordshire and Monmouthshire (where their eastern
spurs form the Hatteral Hills) in a south-easterly direction into
Carmarthenshire, completely encircle the county on the east and south
except for the break formed by the Vale of Usk at Crickhowell. Their
highest summit north of the Usk, on the eastern side, where they are
known as the Black Mountains, or sometimes the Black Forest Mountains,
is Pen y Gader (2624 ft.) between Talgarth and Llanthony, and on the
south-west the twin peaks of the Mynydd Du ("Black Mountain") or the
so-called Carmarthenshire Vans or Beacons, only the higher of which, Fan
Brycheiniog (2632 ft.), is, however, in Breconshire; while the centre of
the crescent is occupied by the masses of the Brecknockshire Beacons or
Vans (often called the Beacons simply), the highest point of which, Pen
y Fan, formerly also known as Cadair Arthur, or Arthur's Chair, attains
an altitude of 2910 ft. In the north, a range of barren hills, which
goes by the general designation of Mynydd Eppynt (a name more properly
limited to its central portion), stretches right across the county in a
north-easterly direction, beginning with Mynydd Bwlch-y-Groes on the
boundary to the east of Llandovery, and terminating near Builth. In the
dreary country still farther north there is a series of rounded hills
covered with peat and mosses, the chief feature being Drygarn Fawr (2115
ft.) on the confines of Cardiganshire.
Of the valleys, the most distinguished for beauty is that of the Usk,
stretching from east to west and dividing the county into two nearly
equal portions. The Wye is the chief river, and forms the boundary
between the county and Radnorshire on the north and north-east, from
Rhayader to Hay, a distance of upwards of 20 m.; its tributary, the
Elan, till it receives the Claerwen, and then the latter river, continue
the boundary between the two counties on the north, while the Towy
separates the county from Cardigan on the north-west. The hilly country
to the north of the Eppynt is mainly drained by the Irfon, which falls
into the Wye near Builth. The Usk rises in the Carmarthenshire Van on
the west, and flowing in a direction nearly due east through the centre
of the county, collects the water from the range of the Beacons in the
south, and from the Eppynt range in the north by means of numerous
smaller streams, of which the Tarell and the Honddu (which join it at
Brecon) are the most important, and it enters Monmouthshire near
Abergavenny. The Taff, the Nedd (with its tributaries the Hepste and
the Mellte) and the Tawe, all rise on the south of the Beacon range and
passing through Glamorganshire, flow into the Bristol Channel, the upper
reaches of the Nedd and its tributaries in the Vale of Neath being
deservedly famous for its scenery. The mountains of the county
constitute one of the best water-producing areas in Wales. Recognizing
this, the corporation of Birmingham, under an act of 1892, acquired the
watershed of the Elan and Claerwen, and constructed on the Elan three
impounding reservoirs whence the water is conducted through an aqueduct
to Birmingham (q.v.). Swansea obtains its chief supply from a reservoir
of one thousand million gallons constructed in 1898-1906 on the Cray, a
tributary of the Usk. A large industrial area around Neath is supplied
from Ystradfellte. Merthyr Tydfil draws its supply from the lesser Taff,
while Cardiff's main supply comes from the Great Taff valley, where,
under acts of 1884 and 1894, two reservoirs with a capacity of 668
million gallons have been constructed and a third authorized.
In the east of the county, at the foot of the Black Forest Mountains, is
Llyn Safaddan, or Brecknock Mere, now more generally known as Llangorse
Lake (from being partly situated in the parish of that name). It is
about 3 m. long by 1 m. broad, being the largest lake in South Wales.
Upon an artificial island in the lake traces of lake-dwellings were
discovered in 1869, together with the bones of red deer, wild boar and
_Bos longifrons_.
_Geology._--The oldest rocks in Brecknockshire are the Llandeilo
shales and intrusive diabases of pre-Llandovery age which near Builth
extend across the Wye from Radnorshire; another patch with volcanic
outflows comes up at Llanwrtyd, and at both places they give rise to
mineral springs. Next follow the Bala Beds, which, with the succeeding
Lower and Upper Llandovery shales, sandstones and conglomerates, form
the sparsely populated sheepwalks and valleys which occupy most of the
north-western part of the county. These rocks are much folded and the
shales are locally cleaved into slates, while the sandstones and
conglomerates form scarps and ridges. To the south-east of this region
a narrow outcrop of Upper Llandovery, Wenlock and Ludlow sandstones
and mudstones follows, uncomformably overlying the Llandeilo and Bala
rocks, and dipping conformably under the Old Red Sandstone; they
extend from Newbridge-on-Wye and Builth through Llangammarch (where
there are mineral springs) towards Llandovery, while a tongue of
Ludlow rocks brought up by faulting extends from Erwood on the Wye for
8 m. south-westwards into the Old Red Sandstone. The remainder and
greater part of the county is occupied chiefly by the gently inclined
Old Red Sandstone; in the dissected plateau of the Black Mountains
north of Crickhowell the lower marls and cornstones are laid open,
while south of Brecon the conglomeratic upper beds form the escarpment
and plateaus of the Beacons. The southern edge of the county is formed
by the scarps and moorlands of the Carboniferous Limestone and
Millstone Grit (both of which form also the outlier of Pen-ceryg-calch
north of Crickhowell), while the lowest beds of the Coal Measures of
the South Wales coalfield are reached in the Tawe and Neath valleys
(where the beds are much folded) and near Tredegar and Brynmawr.
Glacial deposits spread over the lower grounds and striae occur at
great heights on the Black Mountains.
_Industries._--Agriculture is the chief industry, and the Agricultural
Society of the county, dating from 1755, is the oldest in Wales. About
one-fourth only of the area of the county is under cultivation, and the
chief crops grown are wheat and barley, but above all, turnips and oats.
The acreage devoted to any other crop is practically infinitesimal,
though in the eastern part more attention is paid to fruit-growing than
perhaps in any other part of South Wales. The farming is, however,
chiefly pastoral, nearly one-third of the county is common or waste
land, and its number of sheep (mainly of the Radnor Forest breed) far
exceeds that of any other county in Wales. The breeding of cobs and
ponies comes next in importance, and thirdly that of cattle, now mostly
Herefords, though Speed mentions a native breed, long since extinct, all
white with red ears. These, together with pigs, wool, butter, and (in
small quantities) cheese, form the staple of a considerable trade with
the Midlands and the industrial districts to the south and southwest.
The farms are of comparatively small size, the average cultivated area
of the holdings in 1894 being 63 acres, and the hired labour averages
about two men for each farm. A large share of the work, especially on
the highland farms, is done by the occupiers and members of their own
families, with the aid, where required, of an indoor servant or two.
Few hands are employed in manufactures, but the mining industry is more
important, coal being extensively worked--chiefly anthracite in the
upper reaches of the Swansea and Neath valleys, and bituminous in the
south-eastern corner of the county. There are also limestone and
fireclay, firebrick and cement works, chiefly on the northern outcrop of
the carboniferous limestone, as at Abernant in the Vale of Neath and at
Penwyllt.
The Central Wales section of the London & North-Western railway from
Craven Arms to Swansea crosses the north-west corner of the county, and
is intersected at Builth Road by a branch of the Cambrian, which,
running for the most part on the Radnorshire side of the Wye, follows
that river from Rhayader to Three Cocks; the Midland railway from
Hereford to Swansea runs through the centre of the county, effecting
junctions at Three Cocks with the Cambrian, at Talyllyn with the Brecon
& Merthyr railway (which connects the county with the industrial areas
of East Glamorgan and West Monmouthshire), and at Capel Colbren with the
Neath and Brecon line. The North-Western and Rhymney joint line skirts
the south-eastern boundary of the county. Brecon is also connected with
Newport by means of the Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal, which was
completed in 1801 and is 35 m. in length. The Swansea Canal and that of
the Vale of Neath have also their northern terminal within the county,
at Ystradgynlais and Abernant respectively. The main roads of the county
are probably the best in South Wales.
_Population and Administration._--The area of the ancient county is
475,224 acres, with a population in 1891 of 57,031 and in 1901 of
59,907. The area of the administrative county is 469,301 acres. The only
municipal borough is Brecon, which is the county town, and had in 1901 a
population of 5741. The other urban districts are Brynmawr, Builth Wells
and Hay, with populations of 6833, of 1805 and of 1680 respectively in
1901. Crickhowell and Talgarth are market towns, while Llanwrtyd Wells
is a rapidly developing health resort. The county forms part of the
South Wales circuit, and the assizes are held at Brecon. It had one
court of quarter sessions, and is divided into ten petty sessional
divisions. The borough of Brecon has a separate commission of the peace,
but no separate court of quarter sessions. There are 94 civil parishes,
while the ecclesiastical parishes or districts wholly or in part within
the county number 70, of which 67 are in the diocese of St David's and
the archdeaconry of Brecon, the remaining 3 being in the diocese of
Llandaff. The county is not divided for parliamentary purposes, and
returns one member to parliament. It contains a small part of the
parliamentary borough of Merthyr Tydfil.
In the eastern parts and along the Wye valley, English has become the
predominant language, but in the rest of the county, especially north of
the Eppynt range, Welsh occupies that position. In 1901 about 51% of the
population above three years could speak both English and Welsh, 38%
could speak English only and 11% Welsh only. The majority of the
population is Nonconformist in religion, the chief denominations being
the Baptists, Calvinistic Methodists and Congregationalists. Besides an
endowed grammar-school (Christ College) at Brecon, there are in the
county four secondary schools, established under the Welsh Intermediate
Education Act 1899, viz. separate schools for boys and girls at Brecon,
and dual schools at Builth and Brynmawr. Most of the county institutions
are in the town of Brecon, but the joint asylum for the counties of
Brecon and Radnor is at Talgarth. It was opened in February 1903. At
Trevecca, near the same town, was a theological college for ministerial
students attached to the Calvinistic Methodist body, but in October 1906
the institution was removed to Aberystwyth, and the buildings have since
been utilized for a preparatory school belonging to the same body.
_History._--There are no traces or record of Breconshire being inhabited
before the Neolithic period, but to that period may be ascribed a number
of cairns, menhirs and one cromlech (near Glanusk). In Roman times the
eastern half of the county formed part of the territory of the Silures,
a pre-Celtic race, whose governing class at that time probably consisted
of Brythonic Celts. But an earlier wave of Celtic invasion represented
by the Goidels had passed westwards along the valleys of the Usk and
Wye, leaving traces in place-names (_e.g. llwch_, lake), and in the
Ogham inscribed stones found at Glanusk, Trallwng and Trecastle, and
probably surviving into historic times around the Beacon range and
farther south even to Gower and Kidwelly. The conquest of the district
by the Romans was effected between about A.D. 75 and 80, and they
established a frontier fort (which some have called Caer Bannau,
identifying it as Bannium) some 3 m. out of the present town of Brecon,
with smaller stations on roads leading thereto at Y Gaer near
Crickhowell, and at Capel Colbren in the direction of Neath. On the
departure of the Romans, the Goidelic hill-tribes, probably with help
from Gower and Ireland, seem to have regained possession of the Usk
valley under the leadership of a chieftain of their own race, Brychan,
who became the ancestor of one of the three chief tribes of hereditary
Welsh saints. His territory (named after him Brycheiniog, whence
Brecknock) lay wholly east of the Eppynt range, for the lordship of
Buallt, corresponding to the modern hundred of Builth, to the west,
remained independent, probably till the Norman invasion. Most of the
older churches of central Brecknockshire and east Carmarthenshire were
founded by or dedicated to members of Brychan's family.
From the middle of the 8th century to the 10th, Brycheiniog proper often
bore the brunt of Mercian attacks, and many of the castles on its
eastern border had their origin in that period. Subsequently, when
Bernard de Newmarch and his Norman followers obtained possession of the
country in the last quarter of the 11th century, these were converted
into regular fortresses. Bernard himself initiated this policy by
building a castle at Talgarth on the Upper Wye, but in 1091 he moved
southwards, defeated the regulus of Brycheiniog, Bleddyn ab Maenarch,
and his brother-in-law Rhys ap Tewdwr, the prince of south-west Wales,
and with materials obtained from the Roman fort of Caer Bannau, built a
castle at Brecon, which he made his _caput baroniae_. Brycheiniog was
then converted into a lordship marcher and passed to the Fitzwalter, de
Breos, the Bohun and the Stafford families in succession, remaining
unaffected by the Statute of Rhuddlan (1282), as it formed part of the
marches, and not of the principality of Wales.
The Irfon valley, near Builth, was, however, the scene of the last
struggle between the English and Llewelyn, who in 1282 fell in a petty
skirmish in that district. The old spirit of independence flickered once
again when Owen Glendower marched to Brecon in 1403. Upon the attainder
of Edward, duke of Buckingham, in 1521, the lordship of Brecon with its
dependencies became vested in the crown. In 1536 it was grouped with a
whole series of petty lordships marcher and the lordship of Builth to
form the county of Brecknock with Brecon as the county town, and the
place for holding the county court. The county returns one member to
parliament, and has done so since 1536; the borough of Brecon, with the
town of Llywel, had also a separate representative from the same date
till 1885, when it became merged in the county.
BREDA, a fortified town in the province of North Brabant, Holland, at
the confluence of the canalized rivers Merk and Aa, 15 m. by rail E.N.E.
of Roozendaal. Pop. (1900) 26,296. It is connected by steam tramway with
Antwerp (30 m. S.S.W.), and with Geertruidenberg in the north, and the
island of Duiveland on the west. The fortress of Breda, which was once
considered impregnable, has been dismantled, but the town is still
protected by extensive lines of fortification and lies in the midst of a
district which can be readily laid under water. It has a fine quay,
town-hall and park. There are several Roman Catholic and Protestant
churches. The principal Protestant church is a Gothic building dating
from the end of the 13th century, with a fine tower, and a choir of
later date (1410). Among the many interesting monuments is the imposing
tomb of the stadtholder Count Engelbert II. of Nassau and his wife. This
is the work of Tomasino Vincenz of Bologna, who, though a pupil of
Raphael in painting, in sculpture followed Michelangelo, to whom the
work is sometimes ascribed. Since 1828 Breda has been the seat of a
royal military academy for all arms of the service. It also possesses a
Latin school, an arsenal, and a modern prison built on the isolated-cell
principle. The prison is in the form of a rotunda, 58 yds. in diameter,
and covered by a high dome. In the middle is the office of the
administration, and on the top of this a small watch-tower. Round the
walls of the rotunda are the cells, 208 in number, and arranged in four
tiers with balconies reached by iron staircases. Each cell measures 35
cub. yds., is provided with an electric bell communicating with the
warder in the tower, heated by hot-air pipes, and lighted by day through
a window on the outer wall of the rotunda, and from sunset till ten
o'clock by electric light. The industries of Breda comprise the
manufacture of linen and woollen goods, carpets, hats, beer and musical
instruments. In the neighbourhood of the town are the villages of
Ginneken and Prinsenhage, situated in the midst of pretty pine woods.
They form favourite places of excursion, and in the woods at Ginneken is
a Kneipp sanatorium.
_History._--Breda was in the 11th century a direct fief of the Holy
Roman Empire, its earliest known lord being Henry I. (1098-1125), in
whose family it continued, though, from the latter part of the 13th
century, in the female line, until Alix, heiress of Philip (d. 1323),
sold it to Brabant. In 1350 the fief was resold to John (Jan) of Polanen
(d. 1377), the heiress of whose line, Joanna (d. 1445), married
Engelbert of Nassau-Dillenburg (d. 1442). Henceforth it remained in the
house of Nassau, passing ultimately to William I. (1533-1584), the first
stadtholder of the Netherlands. Breda obtained municipal rights in 1252,
but was first surrounded with walls in 1534 by Count Henry of Nassau,
who also restored the old castle, originally built by John of Polanen in
1350. From this period until late in the 19th century it remained the
most important of the line of fortresses along the Meuse. Breda was
captured by surprise by the Spaniards in 1581; but in 1590 it fell again
into the hands of Maurice of Nassau, 68 picked men contriving to get
into the town concealed under the turf in a peat-boat. The so-called
"Spaniard's Hole" still marks the spot where the peat-boat lay. Its
surrender in 1625, after a ten months' siege, to the Spaniards under
Spinola is the subject of the famous picture by Velasquez in the Museo
del Prado in Madrid. In 1637 Breda was recaptured by Frederick Henry of
Orange after a four months' siege, and in 1648 it was finally ceded to
Holland by the treaty of Westphalia. During the wars of the French
Revolution, it was taken by Dumouriez in 1793, evacuated soon after and
retaken by Pichegru in 1795, after the whole of Holland had already
succumbed to the French. In 1813, a sally being made by the French
garrison on an advance-guard of the Russians under Benckendorff, the
citizens of Breda again made themselves masters of the town.
Breda was the residence, during his exile, of Charles II., who, by the
declaration of Breda (1660), made known the conditions of his acceptance
of the crown of England. In 1696 William, prince of Orange and king of
England, built the new castle, one of the finest buildings of the
period, which now serves as the military academy. Breda also derives
some celebrity from the various political congresses of which it has
been the scene. In 1575 a conference was held here between the
ambassadors of Spain and those of the United Provinces; in 1667 a peace
was signed between England, Holland, France and Denmark; and in
1746-1747 the representatives of the same powers met in the town to
discuss the terms of another treaty.
BREDAEL, JAN FRANS VAN (1683-1750), Flemish painter, son of Alexander
van Bredael (d. 1720), who was also an artist, was born in Antwerp. He
imitated the style of Wouverman and Breughel with such dexterity that
even connoisseurs are often unable to distinguish his copies of their
pictures from the originals. He visited England, where he was so well
employed that in a few years he was able to retire to his native country
with a competency. The earl of Derwentwater was one of his chief
patrons. There were several other van Bredaels, who won honour as
artists--notably PIETER (1622-1719), Alexander's father, and JOZEF
(1688-1739). They were formerly known as "Breda," but this apparently is
incorrect, though it occurs as a signature on a picture by Jan Frans in
the Amsterdam gallery.
BREDERODE, HENRY, COUNT OF (1531-1568), was born at Brussels in 1531. He
was the descendant of an ancient race, which had for some centuries been
settled in Holland, and had taken an active part in the affairs of war
and peace. Count Henry became a convert to the Reformed faith and placed
himself at the side of the prince of Orange and Count Egmont in
resisting the introduction of the Spanish Inquisition and Spanish
despotism into the Netherlands. In 1566 he was one of the founders of
the confederacy of nobles who bound themselves to maintain the rights
and liberties of the country by signing a document known as "the
Compromise." On the 5th of April of that year Brederode accompanied to
the palace a body of 250 confederates, of whom he acted as the
spokesman, to present to the regent, Margaret of Parma, a petition
setting forth their grievances, called "the Request." It was at a
banquet at the Hotel Culemburg on the 8th of April, presided over by
Brederode, that the sobriquet of _les Gueux_, or "the Beggars," was
first given to the opponents of Spanish rule. Brederode was banished
from the Netherlands by Alva, and died in exile shortly afterwards at
the early age of thirty-six.
BREDOW, GOTTFRIED GABRIEL (1773-1814), German historian, was born at
Berlin on the 14th of December 1773, and became successively professor
at the universities of Helmstadt, Frankfort-on-Oder and Breslau. He died
at Breslau on the 5th of September 1814. Bredow's principal works are
_Handbuch der alien Geschichte, Geographic und Chronologie_ (Eutin,
1799; English trans., London, 1827); _Chronik des 19. Jahrhunderts_
(Altona, 1801); _Entwurf der Weltkunde der Alten_ (Altona, 1816);
_Weltgeschichte in Tabellen_ (Altona, 1801; English trans, by J. Bell,
London, 1820); _Grundriss einer Geschichte der merkwurdigsten Welthandel
von 1796-1810_ (Hamburg, 1810).
Bredow's posthumous writings were edited by J.G. Kunisch (Breslau,
1823), who added a biography of the author.
BREDOW, a village of Germany, in the kingdom of Prussia, immediately
north of Stettin, of which it forms a suburb. Here are the Vulcan
iron-works and shipbuilding yards, where the liners "Deutschland"
(1900), the "Kaiserin Augusta Victoria" (1906), and the "George
Washington" (1908), the largest vessel (722 ft. long, 27,000 tons) in
the German mercantile marine, were built; and also sugar, cement and
other factories.
BREECH (common in early forms to Teutonic languages), a covering for the
lower part of the body and legs. The Latin _braca_ or _bracca_ is a
Celtic word, probably cognate with the Teutonic. The word in its proper
meaning is used in the plural, and, strictly, is confined to a garment
reaching to the knees only. The meaning of "the hinder part of the body"
is later than, and derived from, its first meaning; this sense appears
in the "breech" or hinder part of a gun. The word is also found in
"breeches buoy," a sling life-saving apparatus, consisting of a support
of canvas breeches. The "Breeches Bible," a name for the Geneva Bible of
1560, is so called because "breeches" is used for the aprons of
fig-leaves made by Adam and Eve. On the stage the phrase a "breeches"
part is used when a woman plays in male costume. "Breeching" is a strap
passed round the breech of a harnessed horse and joined to the shafts to
allow a vehicle to be backed.
BREEDS AND BREEDING. Breeds may be defined as domestic varieties of
animals or plants which man has been able to bring into existence and to
maintain in existence. The process of breeding includes all the
modifying influences which man may bring to bear on a wild stock for the
purpose, conscious or unconscious, of establishing and maintaining
breeds. Charles Darwin's _Variation of Animals and Plants under
Domestication_ (1868) was the starting-point of exact knowledge on this
subject; when it appeared, it contained not only the best collection of
empirical facts, but the only rational theory of the facts. The first
relations between man and domesticated animals and plants were due to
unconscious or accidental selection of wild stocks that tolerated the
vicinity of man and that were useful or attractive to him. The new
conditions must have produced modifications in these stocks, whether
these were caused by a survival in each generation of individuals with
the power of response to the new environment, or were due to a
conscious selection of individuals capable of such favourable response.
The essence of the process, however, came to be a conscious selection in
each generation of the best individuals, that is to say, of those
individuals that seemed to man to be most adapted to his wants. The
possibility of establishing a breed depended, therefore, in the first
place on the natural variability of wild animals and plants, then on the
variations induced in animals and plants under subjection to the new
conditions brought about by man's interference, next on the extent to
which these variations, natural or artificial, persisted through the
series of generations, and finally on man's intelligence in altering or
maintaining the conditions of the environment, and in selective mating.
The theory of breeds and breeding depends, in fact, on knowledge of
variation, of modification by the environment, and of heredity. Any
attempt to give an account of what actually has been done by man in
establishing breeds would be little more than an imperfect summary of
Darwin's work. The articles HEREDITY, MENDELISM and VARIATION AND
SELECTION show that what may be called the theoretical and experimental
knowledge of variation and heredity is far in advance of the practical
art of breeding. Even horticulturists, who have been much more
successful than those who deal with animals, are still far from being
able to predict the result of their selections and crossings. None the
less it may be stated definitely that such prediction is already so
nearly within the power of the practical breeder that it would be a
waste of time to give a summary of the existing rule-of-thumb methods.
The art of breeding is so immediately destined to become a science of
breeding that existing knowledge and conceptions must be dismissed as of
no more than historical interest. (P. C. M.)
BREEZE, (1) A current of air generally taken as somewhat less than a
"wind," which in turn is less than a "gale." The term is particularly
applied to the light wind blowing landwards by day, "sea-breeze," and
the counter wind, blowing off the land at night, "land-breeze." The word
appears in Fr. _brise_ (admitted by the Academy in 1762). The Span,
_brisa_, Port. _briza_, and Ital. _brezza_ are used for a wind blowing
from the north or north-east. According to Cotgrave, Rabelais uses
_brize_ in the sense of _bise_, the name of a dry north or north-east
wind prevalent in Switzerland and the bordering parts of France, Italy
and Germany. The word is first used in English as applied to the cool
sea-breeze blowing usually from the east or north-east in the West
Indies and Atlantic sea-coast of Central America. It was then applied to
sea-breezes from any quarter, and also to the land-breeze, and so to any
light wind or current of air. (2) Fine ashes or cinders, the refuse of
coal, coke and charcoal burning. This is probably from the O. Fr.
_brese_, modern _braise_, a word connected with _braser_, whence Eng.
_brazier_, a pan for burning coals, charcoal, &c.
BREGENZ (anc. _Brigantium_), the capital of the Austrian, province of
Vorarlberg, as well as of the administrative district of Bregenz. In
1900 its population was 7595, German-speaking and Roman Catholic. It is
situated at the south-east angle of the Lake of Constance, and, besides
communications by water with the other towns on the shores of that lake,
is connected by: rail with Feldkirch on the Arlberg line (24 m.) and
with Munich. The old town is on a hillock, crowned by the ancient
castle, while the new town is built on the level ground at the foot of
the hill. The fine parish church (dedicated to St Gall) stands on
another mound more to the south. In the local museum are collections of
various kinds, especially of the Roman antiquities which have been dug
up on the site of the old town. The position of the town on the lake has
always made it an important port and commercial centre. Nowadays the
main trade is in grain, but much is done also in cattle and in the
products of the cotton-spinning factories of Vorarlberg.
We hear of counts of Bregenz as early as the 10th century, their heirs
in the early 13th century being the counts of Montfort (a castle north
of Feldkirch), who gradually acquired most of the surrounding country
(including Feldkirch and Bludenz). But little by little the Habsburgers,
counts of Tirol since 1363 bought from them most of their
domains--first Feldkirch in 1375, next Bludenz and the Montafon valley
in 1394, finally the county of Bregenz in two parts, acquired in 1451
and 1523. In 1408 the Appenzellers were defeated before Bregenz, while
in 1647, during the Thirty Years' War, the town was sacked by the Swedes
under Wrangel. (W. A. B. C.)
BREHON LAWS, the English but incorrect appellation of the ancient laws
of Ireland, the proper name for which is _Feineachas_, meaning the laws
of the Feine or Feini (fainyeh), who were the free Gaelic farmers.
_Dlighthe Feine_ is another name for the laws, with the same meaning.
Laws of universal application which could be administered only by duly
qualified judges were called _Cain_ law, while minor laws administered
by nobles and magistrates were called _Urradhus_ law. Regular courts and
judges existed in Ireland from prehistoric times. The Anglo-Irish word
"Brehon" is derived from the Gaelic word _Brethem_ (= judge).
The extant remains of these laws are manuscript transcripts from earlier
copies made on vellum from the 8th to the 13th century, now preserved
with other Gaelic manuscripts in Trinity College and the Royal Irish
Academy, Dublin, the British Museum, Oxford University, some private
collections and several libraries on the continent of Europe. The
largest and most important of these documents is the _Senchus Mor_ or
"Great Old Law Book." No copy of it now existing is complete, and some
portions are missing from all. What remains of it occupies the first,
second, and a portion of the third of the volumes produced by the Brehon
Law Commission, which was appointed in 1852.
In the _Annals of the Four Masters_ it is said: "The age of Christ 438,
the tenth year of King Laeghaire (Lairy), the _Senchus Mor_ and
_Feineachas_ of Ireland were purified and written." This entry has ample
historical corroboration. Of many separate treatises dealing with
special branches of the law, the _Book of Aicill_, composed of opinions
or placita of King Cormac Mac Art, otherwise Cormac ua Quim, Ard-Rig of
Erinn from A.D. 227 until 266, and Cennfaeladh the Learned, who lived in
the first part of the 7th century, is the most important.
The text and earlier commentaries are in the _Bearla Feini_--the most
archaic form of the Celtic or Gaelic language. From gradual changes in
the living tongue through a long expanse of time many words, phrases and
idioms in the _Bearla Feini_ became obsolete, and are so difficult to
translate that the official translations are to some extent confessedly
conjectural. In many cases only opening words of the original text
remain. Wherever the text is whole, it is curt, elliptical, and yet
rhythmical to a degree attainable only through long use. The rigorously
authentic character of these laws, relating to, and dealing with, the
actual realities of life, and with institutions and a state of society
nowhere else revealed to the same extent, the extreme antiquity both of
the provisions and of the language, and the meagreness of continental
material illustrative of the same things, endow them with exceptional
archaic, archaeological and philological interest.
In the earliest times all learned men, whether specially learned in law
or not, appear to have acted as judges. Gradually as literature and
learning increased, judgments delivered by men without special legal
training fell into disfavour. In the 1st century of the Christian era,
when Conchobhar or Conor Mac Nessa was king of Ulster, a crisis was
reached, the result of which was that no man was allowed to act as
Brehon until he had studied the full law course, which occupied twenty
years, and had passed a rigorous public examination. The course of study
for Brehon and Ollamh, advocate and law-agent respectively, is carefully
laid down in the law itself. The Brehonship was not an office of state
like that of the modern judge, but a profession in which success
depended upon ability and judgment. The Brehon was an arbitrator,
umpire, and expounder of the law, rather than a judge in the modern
acceptation. It appears, without being expressly stated, that the facts
of a case were investigated and ascertained by laymen, probably by the
_Aireachtas_--a local assembly or jury--before submission to a Breton
for legal decision. A Brehon whose decision was reversed upon appeal
was liable to damages, loss of position and of free lands, if any,
disgrace, and a consequent loss of his profession. No Brehon had any
fixed territorial jurisdiction. A party initiating proceedings could
select any Brehon he pleased, if there were more than one in his
district. Every king or chief of sufficient territory retained an
official Brehon, who was provided with free land for his maintenance. In
ordinary cases the Brehon's fee was said to have been one-twelfth of the
amount at stake.
Assemblies, national, provincial and local, were a marked characteristic
of ancient Irish life. They all, without exception, discharged some
legal functions, legislative or administrative, and even in those in
which amusement predominated, the _Cain_ law was publicly rehearsed.
Most of the assemblies were annual, some triennial, some lasted only a
day or two, others a week and occasionally longer. All originated in
pagan funeral or commemorative rites, and continued to be held, even in
Christian times, in very ancient cemeteries. They were called by
different names--_Feis, Aenach, Aireachtas, Dal, &c._
The Feis of Tara, in Meath, was from its origin seven centuries before
Christ down to A.D. 560, mainly national and political, being convened
by the Ard-Rig, held at his residence, presided over by him, and
consisting of the provincial kings, tanists, flaiths, Brehons, warriors,
historians, poets and other distinguished men from the whole of Ireland.
It was due to be held every third year for the purpose of "preserving
the laws and rules," and it might be called specially on any urgent
occasion. After the statesmen had consulted, the laws were proclaimed,
with any modifications agreed upon. Then the proceedings became festive,
queens and great ladies taking part. The Feis of A.D. 560 was the last
regular one held at Tara because the monarch ceased to reside there. One
national assembly of an exceptional character was held at Tara in A.D.
697, by a decree of which women were emancipated from liability to
military service.
The Aenach held annually at Tailltenn, also in Meath, was a general
assembly of the people without restriction of rank, clan or country, and
became the most celebrated for athletic sports, games and contests. Yet
even here the laws were read aloud, and it is not without significance
that the last national assembly held at Tailltenn under King Rhoderic
O'Connor in 1168 was a political one.
The _Dal-Criche_ (= territorial assembly), held at Uisneach in
Westmeath, was a gathering for political and quasi-legislative purposes.
At one assembly there about a century before Christ, a uniform law of
distraint for the whole of Ireland was adopted on the motion of Sen, son
of Aige. This did not prevent the gatherings at Uisneach from being for
ages celebrated for gaiety and amusement.
Each provincial kingdom and each tuath had assemblies of its own. Every
_flaith_ and _flaith-fine_ was a member of a local assembly, the clan
system conferring the qualification, and there being no other election.
An assembly when convened by the _Bruigh-fer_ for the special purpose of
electing a tanist or successor to the king was called a _Tocomra_.
Very careful provision is made for the preparation of the sites of great
assemblies, and the preservation of peace and order at them is
sanctioned by the severest penalties of the law. The operation of every
legal process calculated to occasion friction, such as seizure of
property, was suspended during the time the assemblies lasted.
The term _Rig_ (reeh = _rex_, king) was applied to four classes or
grades of rulers, the lower grades being grouped, each group being
subject to one of their number, and all being subject to, and owing
tribute and allegiance to the Ard-Rig (= supreme king of Erinn). The
Ard-Rig had an official residence at Tara and the kingdom of Meath for
his special use. The provincial king, Rig Cuicidh, also had an official
residence and kingdom of his own, together with allegiance and tribute
from each Rig-mor-Tuatha in his province, who in his turn received
tribute and allegiance from each Rig-Tuatha under subjection to him. The
Rig-Tuatha received tribute and allegiance from the flaiths or nobles
in his tuath. The tuath was the political unit, and the ruler of it was
the lowest to whom the term "king" was applied. For each payment of
tribute a king always made some return. Every king was obliged, on his
inauguration, to swear that he would govern justly and according to law,
to which he remained always subject. The Ard-Rig was selected by the
sub-kings and other leading men who legally constituted the Feis of
Tara, the sub-kings by those under them in their respective spheres. No
person not of full age, imperfectly educated, stupid, blind, deaf,
deformed or otherwise defective in mind or body, or for any reason
whatsoever unfit to discharge the duties or unworthy to represent the
manhood of the nation, could be king, even though he were the eldest son
of the preceding king. "It is a forbidden thing for one with a blemish
to be king at Tara."
_Tuath, Cinel_ and _Clann_ were synonyms meaning a small tribe or nation
descended from a common ancestor. A king and clan being able, subject to
certain limitations, to adopt new members or families, or amalgamate
with another clan, the theory of common origin was not rigidly adhered
to. Kinship with the clan was an essential qualification for holding any
office or property. The rules of kinship largely determined status with
its correlative rights and obligations, supplied the place of contract
and of laws affecting the ownership, disposition and devolution of
property, constituting the clan an organic, self-contained entity, a
political, social and mutual insurance co-partnership. The solidarity of
the clan was its most important and all-pervading characteristic. The
entire territory occupied by a clan was the common and absolute property
of that clan. Subject to this permanent and fundamental ownership, part
of the land was set apart for the maintenance of the king as such.
Warriors, statesmen, Brehons, Ollamhs, physicians, poets, and even
eminent workers in the more important arts, were, in different degrees,
rewarded with free lands for their respective public services. On the
death of any person so rewarded, the land in theory reverted to the
clan; but if like services continued to be rendered by the son or other
successor, and accepted by the clan, the land was not withdrawn. The
successors of statesmen, for whom the largest provision was made, became
a permanent nobility. Flaith (flah = noble chief) was a term applied to
a man of this rank. Rank, with the accompanying privileges, jurisdiction
and responsibility, was based upon a qualification of kinship and of
property, held by a family for a specified number of generations,
together with certain concurrent conditions; and it could be lost by
loss of property, crime, cowardice or other disgraceful conduct. The
flaiths in every tuath and all ranks of society were organized on the
same hierarchical pattern as royalty. A portion of land called the
_Cumhal Senorba_ was devoted to the support of widows, orphans and old
childless people.
_Fine_ (finna), originally meaning family, came in course of time to be
applied to a group of kindred families or to a whole clan. From
differences between incidental accounts written in different ages, it
appears that the social system underwent some change. For the purpose of
conveying some idea, one theory may be taken, according to which the
_fine_ was made up of seventeen clansmen, with their families, viz. the
_Geilfine_ consisting of the flaith-fine and four others in the same or
nearest degree of kinship to the centre, and the _Deirbhfine, Tarfine_
and _Innfine_, each consisting of four heads of families, forming
widening concentric circles of kinship to which the rights and
liabilities of the _fine_ extended with certainty, but in diminishing
degrees.