became, under the titles so far described, limited private property. The
area of arable land available for the common use of the clansmen was
gradually diminished by these encroachments, but was still always
substantial. A share of this was the birthright of every law-abiding
member of the Feini who needed it. To satisfy this title and give a
start in life to some young men who would otherwise have got none, this
land was subject to _Gabhailcine_ (= clan-resumption), meaning that the
clan resumed the whole area at intervals of a few years for a fresh
distribution after some occupants had died, and young men by attaining
manhood had become entitled. Hence the Anglo-Irish word _gavelkind_.
Anciently this re-distribution extended throughout the clan at the same
time. Later it extended only to the land of a _fine_, each _fine_ making
its own distribution at its own time and in its own way as determined by
the seventeen men above specified. In this distribution men might or
might not receive again their former portions. In the latter case
compensation was made for unexhausted improvements. This land could not
be sold, nor even let except for a season in case of domestic necessity.
The Feini who used it had no landlord and no rent to pay for this land,
and could not be deprived of it except by the clan for a crime. They
were subject only to public tributes and the ordinary obligations of
free men. Presumably their homesteads were not on this land and were not
subject to _Gabhailcine_. Neither were the unfenced and unappropriated
common lands--waste, bog, forest and mountain--which all clansmen were
free to use promiscuously at will.
There was hardly any selling and little letting of land in ancient
times. Flaiths and other persons holding large areas let to clansmen,
who then became _Ceiles_, not land, but the privilege of feeding upon
land a number of cattle specified by agreement. Flaiths and Bo-aires
also let cattle to a _ceile_ who had none or not enough, and this was
the most prevalent practice. There were two distinct methods of letting
and hiring--_saer_ (= free) and _daer_ (= base), the conditions being
fundamentally different. The conditions of _saer_-tenure were largely
settled by the law, were comparatively easy, did not require any
security to be given, left the _ceile_ free within the limits of justice
to end the connexion, left him competent in case of dispute to give
evidence against that of the flaith, and did not impose any liability on
the _fine_ of the _ceile_. By continued user of the same land for some
years and discharge of the public obligations in respect of it in
addition to the _ciss_ or payment as tenant, a _ceile_ became a
sub-owner or permanent tenant and could not be evicted. There is no
provision in these laws for evicting any one. For the hire of cattle a
usual payment was one beast in seven per annum for seven years; after
which the cattle that remained became the property of the hirer. A
_saer-ceile_ on growing wealthy might become a _bo-aire_. _Daer-tenure_,
whether of cattle or of the right to graze cattle upon land, was subject
to a _ciss-ninsciss_ (= wearisome tribute), for the payment of which
security had to be given. A man not in the enjoyment of full civil
rights, if able to find security, could become a _daer-ceile_. A free
clansman by becoming a _daer-ceile_ lowered his own status and that of
his _fine_, became incompetent to give evidence against that of a
flaith, and could not end the connexion until the end of the term except
by a large payment. The members of his _fine_ were liable, in the degree
of their relationship, to make good out of their own property any
default in the payments. Hence this tenure could not be legally entered
into by a free clansman without the permission of his fine.
_Daer-ceiles_ were also exposed to casual burdens, like that of lodging
and feeding soldiers when in their district. All payments were made in
kind. When the particular kind was not specified by the law or by
agreement, the payments were made according to convenience in horses,
cattle, sheep, pigs, wool, butter, bacon, corn, vegetables, yarn,
dye-plants, leather, cloth, articles of use or ornament, &c. As the clan
system relaxed, and the fine lost its legal power of fixing the amounts
of public tributes, which were similarly payable to the _flaith_, and
neglected its duty of seeing that those tributes were duly applied, the
_flaith_ became able to increase these tributes with little check, to
confuse them with rent, to confuse jurisdiction with ownership, and to
exalt himself at the expense of his fellow-clansmen. A _flaith_ by
arranging that his tenants should make their payments at different
periods of the year, secured a constant and copious supply without an
inconvenient surplus.
People who did not belong to the clan and were not citizens were in a
base condition and incompetent to appear in court in suit or defence
except through a freeman. The _Bothach_ (= cottier) and the
_Sen-cleithe_ (= old dependent) were people who, though living for
successive generations attached to the families of flaiths, did not
belong to the clan and had no rights of citizenship. _Fuidhirs_, or
manual labourers without property, were the lowest section of the
population. Some were born in this condition, some clansmen were
depressed into it by crime, consequences of war or other misfortune; and
strangers of a low class coming into the territory found their level in
it. The _fuidhirs_ also were divided into _saer_ and _daer_; the former
being free by industry and thrift to acquire some property, after which
five of them could club together to acquire rights corresponding to
those of one freeman. The _daer-fuidhirs_ were tramps, fugitives,
captives, &c.
Fosterage, the custom of sending children to be reared and educated in
the families of fellow-clansmen, was so prevalent, especially among the
wealthy classes, and the laws governing it are so elaborate and occupied
such a large space, that some mention of it here is inevitable. Beyond
mention, there is little to be said, owing to the absence of general
principles in an infinity of specific details, mostly domestic and
apparently trivial. A child in fosterage was reared and educated
suitably for the position it was destined to fill in life. There was
fosterage for affection, for payment and for a literary education.
Fosterage began when the child was a year old and ended when the
marriageable age was reached, unless previously terminated by death or
crime. Every fostered person was under an obligation to provide, if
necessary, for the old age of foster-parents. The affection arising from
this relationship was usually greater, and was regarded as more sacred
than that of blood relationship.
The solidarity of clan and _fine_ in their respective spheres, the
provisions of the system, the simple rural life, and the prevalence of
barter and payments in kind, left comparatively little occasion for
contracts between individuals. Consequently the rules relating to
contract are not very numerous. They are, however, sufficiently solemn.
No contract affecting land was valid unless made with the consent of the
_fine_ and in the presence of the _Aire-Forgaill_. Contracts relating to
other kinds of property are more numerous. When important or involving a
considerable amount, they had to be made in the presence of a _flaith_
or magistrate. The _Aire-Coisring_ presided over most of the contracts
of the common people. The parties to a contract should be free citizens,
of full age, sound mind, free to contract or not, and under no legal
disability. "The world would be in a state of confusion if express
contracts were not binding." From the repeated correlative dicta that
"nothing is due without deserving," and that a thing done "for God's
sake," i.e. gratis, imposed little obligation, it is clear that the
importance of valuable consideration was fully recognized. So also was
the importance of time. "To be asleep avails no one"; "Sloth takes away
a man's welfare." Contracts made by the following persons were invalid:
(1) a servant without his master's authority; (2) a monk without
authority from his abbot or manager of temporalities; (3) a son subject
to his father without the father's authority; (4) an infant, lunatic, or
"one who had not the full vigilance of reason"; (5) a wife in relation
to her husband's property without his authority. She was free to hold
and deal with property of her own and bind it by contract. If a son
living with his father entered into a contract with his father's
knowledge, the father was held to have ratified the contract unless he
promptly repudiated it. "One is held to adopt what he does not repudiate
after knowledge, having the power." Contract of sale or barter with
warranty could be dissolved for fraud, provided action was taken within
a limited time after the fraud had become known. Treaties and occasional
very important contracts were made "blood-covenants" and inviolable by
drawing a drop of blood from the little finger of each of the
contracting parties, blending this with water, and both drinking the
mixture out of the same cup. The forms of legal evidence were pledges,
documents, witnesses and oaths. In cases of special importance the
pledges were human beings, "hostage sureties." These were treated as in
their own homes according to the rank to which they belonged, and were
discharged on the performance of the contract. If the contract was
broken, they became prisoners and might be fettered or made to work as
slaves until the obligation was satisfied. Authentic documents were
considered good evidence. A witness was in all cases important, and in
some essential to the validity of a contract. His status affected the
force of the contract as well as the value of his evidence; and the laws
appear to imply that by becoming a witness, a man incurred liabilities
as a surety. The pre-Christian oath might be by one or more of the
elements, powers or phenomena of nature, as the sun, moon, water, night,
day, sea, land. The Christian oath might be on a copy of the Gospels, a
saint's crozier, relic or other holy thing.
These laws recognized crime, but in the same calm and deliberate way in
which they recognized contract and other things seriously affecting the
people. Although we find in the poems of Dubhthach, written in the 5th
century and prefixed to the _Senchus Mor_, the sentences, "Let every one
die who kills a human being," and "Every living person that inflicts
death shall suffer death," capital punishment did not prevail in Ireland
before or after. The laws uniformly discountenanced revenge,
retaliation, the punishment of one crime by another, and permitted
capital punishment only in the last resort and in ultimate default of
every other form of redress. They contain elaborate provision for
dealing with crime, but the standpoint from which it is regarded and
treated is essentially different from ours. The state, for all its
elaborate structure, did not assume jurisdiction in relation to any
crimes except political ones, such as treason or the disturbance of a
large assembly. For these it inflicted the severest penalties known to
the law--banishment, confiscation of property, death or putting out of
eyes. A crime against the person, character or property of an individual
or family was regarded as a thing for which reparation should be made,
but the individual or family had to seek the reparation by a personal
action. This differed from a civil action only in the terms employed and
the elements used in calculating the amount of the reparation. The
function of a judge in a criminal as in a civil action was to see that
the facts, with modifying circumstances, were fully and truly submitted
to him, and then by applying the law to these facts to ascertain and
declare the amount of compensation that would make a legal adjustment.
For this amount the guilty person, and in his default his kindred,
became legally debtor, and the injured person or family became entitled
to recover the amount like a civil debt by distraint, if not paid
voluntarily. There were no police, sheriffs or public prisons. The
decisions of the law were executed by the persons concerned, supported
by a highly organized and disciplined public opinion springing from
honour and interest and inherent in the solidarity of the clan. There is
good reason to believe that the system was as effectual in the
prevention and punishment of crime and in the redress of wrongs as any
other human contrivance has ever been.
In calculating the amount of compensation the most characteristic and
important element was _Einechlan_ (= honour-price, honour-value), a
value attaching to every free person, varying in amount from one cow to
thirty cows according to rank. It was the assessed value of _status_ or
_caput_. It was frequently of consequence in relation to contracts and
other clan affairs; but it emerges most clearly in connexion with crime.
By the commission of crime, breach of contract, or other disgraceful or
injurious conduct, Einechlan was diminished or destroyed, a _capitis
diminutio_ occurred, apart from any other punishment. Though existing
apart from fine, Einechlan was the first element in almost every fine.
_Dire_ was the commonest word for fine, whether great or small. _Eric_
(= reparation, redemption) was the fine for "separating body from soul";
but the term was used in lighter cases also. In capital cases the word
sometimes meant Einechlan, sometimes _coirp-dire_ (= body-fine), but
most correctly the sum of these two. It may be taken that, subject to
modifying circumstances, a person guilty of homicide had to pay (i)
_coirp-dire_ for the destruction of life, irrespective of rank; (2) the
honour-value of the victim; (3) his own honour-value if the deed was
unintentional; and (4) double his own honour-value if committed with
malice aforethought. The sum of these was in all cases heavy; heaviest
when the parties were wealthy. The amount was recoverable as a debt from
the criminal to the extent of his property, and in his default from the
members of his _fine_ in sums determined by the degree of relationship;
and it was distributable among the members of the _fine_ of a murdered
person in the same proportions, like a distribution among the next of
kin. The _fine_ of a murderer could free themselves from liability by
giving up the murderer and his goods, or if he escaped, by giving up any
goods he had left, depriving him of clanship, and lodging a pledge
against his future misdeeds. In these circumstances the law held the
criminal's life forfeit, and he might be slain or taken as a prisoner or
slave. He could escape only by becoming a _daer-fuidhir_ in some distant
territory. When the effect of a crime did not go beyond an individual,
if that individual's _fine_ did not make good their claim while the
criminal lived, it lapsed on his death. "The crime dies with the
criminal." If an unknown stranger or person without property caught
red-handed in the commission of a crime refused to submit to arrest, it
was lawful to maim or slay him according to the magnitude of the
attempted crime. "A person who came to inflict a wound on the body may
be safely killed when unknown and without a name, and when there is no
power to arrest him at the time of committing the trespass." For crimes
against property the usual penalty, as in breach of contract, was
generic restitution, the quantity, subject to modifying circumstances,
being twice the amount taken or destroyed.
Distress of seizure of property being the universal mode of obtaining
satisfaction, whether for crime, breach of contract, non-payment of
debt, or any other cause, the law of distress came into operation as the
solvent of almost every dispute. Hence it is the most extensive and
important branch, if not more than a branch, of these ancient laws. Of
several words meaning distress, _athgabail_ was the most frequently
used. A person having a liquidated claim might either sue a debtor or
proceed at his peril to seize without this preliminary. In the latter
case the defendant could stop the progress of the seizure by paying the
debt, giving a pledge, or demanding a trial; and he then could choose a
Brehon. Distress was of two kinds--(1) _athgabal ar fut_ (= distress on
length, i.e. with time, with delays); and (2) _athgabail tulla_ (=
immediate distress). Which method was pursued depended partly upon the
facts of the case and partly upon the respective ranks of the parties. A
person entitled to seize property had to do it himself, accompanied, if
the amount was large, by a law agent and witnesses. No man was entitled
to seize unless he owned, or had a surety who owned, sufficient property
for indemnity or adjustment in case the seizure should be found to have
been wrongful. The formalities varied in different circumstances and
also at different times in the long ages in which these laws prevailed.
Some forms may, in the Irish as in other legal systems, have become
merely ceremonial and fictitious.
_Tellach_ (= seizure of immovable property) was made in three periods or
delays of ten days each (= 30 days). The first step was a notice that
unless the debt was paid immediately seizure would be made. Ten days
later, the plaintiff crossed the fence in upon the land, with a law
agent, a witness and a pair of horses yoked or harnessed, and in a loud
voice stated the amount of the debt and called upon the defendant to pay
it according to law. On receiving no answer, or an unsatisfactory one,
he withdrew. After an interval of ten days more, the creditor entered
with his law agent, two witnesses and four horses, went farther in upon
the land, repeated his demand, and if refused withdrew. Finally, after a
further interval of ten days, he entered once more with his law agent,
three witnesses and eight horses, drove up to the debtor's house,
repeated his demand, and if not satisfied drove a herd of cattle or a
flock of sheep in upon the farm and left men to care for them.
_Athgabail_ ordinarily meant the seizure of movable property. The
following technical terms will indicate the procedure in distress with
time:--_Aurfocre_ (= demand of payment, stating the amount in presence
of witnesses); _apad_ (= delay); _athgabail_ (= the actual seizure);
_anad_ (= delay after seizure, the thing remaining in the debtor's
possession); _toxal_ (= the taking away of the thing seized); _fasc_ (=
notice to the debtor of the amount due, the _mainder_ or pound in which
the thing seized is impounded, and the name of the law agent); _dithim_
(= delay during which the thing is in pound); _lobad_ (= destruction or
forfeiture of the debtor's ownership and substitution of the creditor's
ownership). There was no sale, because sale for money was little known.
The property in the thing seized, to the amount of the debt and
expenses, became legally transferred from the debtor to the creditor,
not all at once but in stages fixed by law. A creditor was not at
liberty to seize household goods, farming utensils, or any goods the
loss of which would prevent the debtor recovering from embarrassment, so
long as there was other property which could be seized. A seizure could
be made only between sunrise and sunset. "If a man who is sued evades
justice, knowing the debt to be due of him, double the debt is payable
by him and a fine of five seds." When a large debt was clearly due, and
there was no property to seize, the debtor himself could be seized and
compelled to work as a prisoner or slave until the debt was paid.
When a defendant was of rank superior to that of the plaintiff, distress
had to be preceded by _troscad_ (= fasting). This is a legal process
unknown elsewhere except in parts of India. The plaintiff having made
his demand and waited a certain time without result, went and sat
without food before the door of the defendant. To refuse to submit to
fasting was considered indelibly disgraceful, and was one of the things
which legally degraded a man by reducing or destroying his honour-value.
The law said "he who does not give a pledge to fasting is an evader of
all; he who disregards all things shall not be paid by God or man." If a
plaintiff having duly fasted did not receive within a certain time the
satisfaction of his claim, he was entitled to distrain as in the case of
an ordinary defendant, and to seize double the amount that would have
satisfied him in the first instance. If a person fasting in accordance
with law died during or in consequence of the fast, the person fasted
upon was held guilty of murder. Fasting could be stopped by paying the
debt, giving a pledge, or submitting to the decision of a Brehon. A
creditor fasting after a reasonable offer of settlement had been made to
him forfeited his claim. "He who fasts notwithstanding the offer of what
should be accorded to him, forfeits his legal right according to the
decision of the Feini."
AUTHORITIES.--Since Sir Samuel Ferguson wrote his article on "Brehon
Laws" in the 9th edition of this _Encyclopaedia_, much research has
been done on the subject, and Ferguson's account is no longer accepted
by scholars, either as regards the language or the substance of the
laws. Pending the work of a second Brehon Law Commission, the Laws are
best studied in the six imperfect volumes (_Ancient Laws of Ireland_,
1865-1901) produced by the first Commission (ignoring their long and
worthless introductions), together with, Dr. Whitley Stokes's
_Criticism_ (London, Nutt, 1903) of Atkinson's _Glossary_ (Dublin,
1901). The following are important references (kindly supplied by Dr
Whitley Stokes) for detailed research:--R. Dareste, _Etudes d'histoire
de droit_, pp. 356-381 (Paris, 1889); Arbois de Jubainville and Paul
Collinet, _Etudes sur le droit celtique_ (2 vols., Paris, 1895);
Joyce, _Social History of Ancient Ireland_, vol. i. pp. 168-214 (2
vols., London, 1903); _Zeitschrift fur celtische Philologie_, iv. 221,
the Copenhagen fragments of the Laws (Halle, 1903); important letters
in _The Academy_, Nos. 699, 700, 701, 702, 703, 704, 706, 707
(substantially covered by Stokes's _Criticism_); _Revue Celtique_,
xxv. 344; _Erin_, i. 209-315 (collation by Kuno Meyer of the Law-tract
Crith Gablach); Maine's _Early Hist, of Institutions_ (1875) and
_Early Law and Custom_, pp. 162, 180 (1883); Hearn's _Aryan Household_
(1879), and Maclennan's _Studies in Ancient History_, pp. 453-507
(1876), contain interesting general reference, but the writers were
not themselves original students of the laws. L. Ginnell's _Brehon
Laws_ (1894) may also be consulted. See further the article CELT,
sections _Language_ and _Literature_. (L. G.)
BREISACH, or ALTBREISACH, a town of Germany, in the grand duchy of
Baden, on the left bank of the Rhine, standing on a basalt rock 250 ft.
above the river, 10 m. W. of Freiburg-im-Breisgau, and on the railway
connecting that city with Colmar. Pop. (1900) 3537. It has a fine
minster, partly Romanesque, partly Gothic, dating from the 10th to the
15th centuries; of its two principal towers one is 13th century Gothic,
the other Romanesque. The interior is remarkable for its rich
decorations, especially the wood-carving of the high altar, and for many
interesting tombs and pictures. There is little industry, but a
considerable trade is done in wines and other agricultural produce. On
the opposite bank of the Rhine, here crossed by a railway bridge, lies
the little town of Neubreisach and the fort Mortier.
Breisach (_Brisiacum_), formerly an imperial city and until the middle
of the 18th century one of the chief fortresses of the Empire, is of
great antiquity. A stronghold of the _Sequani_ (a Gallic tribe, which
occupied the country of the Doubs and Burgundy), it was captured in the
time of Julius Caesar by Ariovistus and became known as the _Mons
Brisiacus_. Fortified by the emperor Valentian in 369 to defend the
Rhine against the Germans, it retained its position throughout the
middle ages as one of the chief bulwarks of Germany and was called the
"cushion and key (_Kissen und Schlussel_) of the German empire." Its
importance was such that it gave its name to the district Breisgau, in
which it is situated. In 939 it was taken by the emperor Otto I., and
after remaining in the exclusive possession of the emperors for two
centuries, was strengthened and shared for a while between them and the
bishops of Basel. In 1254 and 1262 the bishops obtained full control
over it; but in 1275 it was made an imperial city by King Rudolph I.,
and at the beginning of the 14th century his son brought it definitively
into the possession of the Habsburg monarchs, leaving the bishops but
few privileges. In the Thirty Years' War Breisach successfully resisted
the Swedes, but after a memorable siege and a defence by General von
Reisach, one of the most famous in military annals, it was forced to
capitulate to Duke Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar on the 18th of December 1638.
The endeavours of the emperor Ferdinand III. to retake it were
fruitless, and by the peace of Westphalia (1648) Breisach was annexed to
France. By the peace of Ryswick (1697) it was restored to Austria, when
Louis XIV. built the town and fortress of Neubreisach on the left bank
of the Rhine. Again in 1703 it fell into the hands of the French, owing
to treachery, but was ceded to Austria by the peace of Rastatt
(1714)--Yet again, in the War of the Austrian Succession, it was
captured (1744) by the French, who dismantled the fortifications. They
refortified it in 1796, and after passing, by the peace of Luneville
(1801), together with the Breisgau to the duke of Modena, Breisach was
by the peace of Pressburg (1805) finally incorporated with Baden, when
the fortifications were razed. During the Franco-German War (1870)
Breisach suffered severely from bombardment directed against it from
Neubreisach.
BREISGAU, a district of Germany, in the grand duchy of Baden. It extends
along the right bank of the Rhine from Basel to Kehl, and includes the
principal peaks of the southern Black Forest and the Freiburg valley.
The Breisgau, originally a _pagus_ or _gau_ of the Frankish empire, was
ruled during the middle ages by hereditary counts. Of these the earliest
recorded is Birtilo (962-995), ancestor of the counts and dukes of
Zahringen. On the death of Berchthold V. of Zahringen in 1218, his
coheiresses brought parts of the Breisgau to the counts of Urach and
Kyburg, while part went to the margraves of Baden. At the close of the
13th century the Kyburg part of the Breisgau passed to the Habsburgs,
who in 1368 acquired also the town and countship of Freiburg, which had
been sold by the counts of Urach to the Freiburgers and given in pledge
by them to the house of Austria in exchange for a loan of the purchase
price, which they were unable to repay. The male Urach line becoming
extinct in 1457, an heiress carried what remained of their possessions
in the Breisgau to the house of Baden. In the struggle between France
and Austria from the 17th century onwards the Breisgau frequently
changed masters. In 1801 Austria was forced to cede it to Ercole III.,
duke of Modena, in compensation for the duchy of which Napoleon had
deprived him. His successor Ferdinand took the title of duke of
Modena-Breisgau, but on his death in 1805 the Breisgau was divided
between Baden and Wurttemberg. The latter ceded its portion to Baden in
1810.
See Stokvis, _Manuel d'histoire, &c._ (Leiden, 1890-1893).
BREISLAK, SCIPIONE (1748-1826), Italian geologist of German parentage,
was born at Rome in 1748. He early distinguished himself as professor of
mathematical and mechanical philosophy in the college of Ragusa; but
after residing there for several years he returned to his native city,
where he became a professor in the Collegio Nazareno, and began to form
the fine mineralogical cabinet in that institution. His leisure was
dedicated to geological researches in the papal states. His account of
the aluminous district of Tolfa and adjacent hills, published in 1786,
gained for him the notice of the king of Naples, who invited him to
inspect the mines and similar works in that kingdom, and appointed him
professor of mineralogy to the royal artillery. The vast works for the
refining of sulphur in the volcanic district of Solfatara were erected
under his direction. He afterwards made many journeys through the
ancient Campania to illustrate its geology, and published in 1798 his
_Topografia fisica della Campania_, which contains the results of much
accurate observation. Breislak also published an essay on the physical
condition of the seven hills of Rome, which he regarded as the remains
of a local volcano,--an opinion shown to be erroneous by the later
researches of G.B. Brocchi. The political convulsions of Italy in 1799
brought Breislak to Paris, where he remained until 1802, when, being
appointed inspector of the saltpetre and powder manufactories near
Milan, he removed to that city. The mineral Breislakite was named after
him. He died on the 15th of February 1826. His other publications
include:--_Introduzione alla geologia_ (1811, French ed. 1819); _Traite
sur la structure exterieure du globe_, 3 vols. and atlas (Milan, 1818,
1822); _Descrizione geologica della provincia di Milano_ (1822).
BREITENFELD, a village of Germany in the kingdom of Saxony, 5-1/2 m.
N.N.W. of Leipzig, noted in military history. The first battle of
Breitenfeld was fought on the 17th of September 1631, between the allied
Swedish and Saxon armies under Gustavus Adolphus and the imperial forces
under Count Tilly. The battlefield is a low ridge running east and west
between the villages of Gobschelwitz and Breitenfeld, the position of
the Imperialists lying along the crest from Gobschelwitz on the right to
a point about 1 m. short of Breitenfeld on the left; opposite this
position, and behind a group of villages on the Loberbach stream, lay
the Swedish forces, flanked on their left by the Saxon contingent under
the elector, who was assisted by Arnim. The villages formed the only
obstacle on the gentle slope lying between the Loberbach and Tilly's
line; through these villages the Swedes defiled slowly, and formed up on
the open ground beyond them. Tilly's army was drawn up in a continuous
line, the infantry ranged in heavy battalions in the centre, the cavalry
on the wings, and the heavy artillery in a mass in front of the
infantry. Gustavus arrayed the Swedes in two lines and a reserve,
infantry in the centre, cavalry on the flanks, and the Saxons were drawn
up in a similar formation on the left of the Swedish left-wing cavalry.
So far as can be gauged the respective numbers were at least 32,000
Imperialists, 22,000 Swedes and 15,000 Saxons. The Swedish infantry was
drawn up on an entirely novel system; each brigade of infantry, composed
of several battalions, was formed in many small and handy corps of
pikemen and musketeers, and parties of musketeers were also detached to
support the cavalry. The guns were scattered along the front. The Saxons
were ranged, like Tilly's army, in heavy masses of foot and horse
preceded by a great battery of guns. At 2 P.M. Pappenheim, commanding
Tilly's left wing, led forward the whole of his cavalry in a furious
charge. Feeling the fire of the musketeers who were intercalated amongst
the Swedish horse, Pappenheim swung round to his left and charged the
Swedish right wing in flank. The Swedes of both lines promptly wheeled
up, and after a prolonged conflict the Imperial horse were driven
completely off the field. The attack of Tilly's right wing under
Furstenberg directed against the Saxons was more successful. The Saxons
were at once broken and routed, only a handful under Arnim maintaining
the ground. Furstenberg pursued the fugitives for many miles, and Tilly
with the centre of infantry (which, considering the depth of its
formations, must have possessed great manoeuvring power) rapidly
followed him and formed up opposite the now exposed left of the Swedes.
Thereupon the Swedes, in their light and handy formation, changed
position rapidly and easily to meet him. Tilly's attack was strenuously
opposed, and at this moment the decisive stroke of the battle was
delivered by the Swedish right wing, which, having disposed of
Pappenheim, swung round and occupied the ground originally held by the
Imperial infantry, seized Tilly's guns, and with them enfiladed the
enemy's new line. This put an end to the attack of the Imperial foot,
and before sunset Tilly was in full retreat, hotly pursued and losing
heavily in prisoners. His losses on the field have been estimated at
7000 killed and wounded and almost as many prisoners; the Swedes lost
about 2000 and the Saxons over 4000 men.
The village of Breitenfeld also gives its name to another great battle
in the Thirty Years' War (November 2, 1642), in which the Swedes under
Torstensson defeated the Imperialists under the archduke Leopold and
Prince Piccolomini, who were seeking to relieve Leipzig. The Swedish
cavalry decided the day on this occasion also.
BREMEN, a free state in the German empire, bearing the title _Freie
Hansestadt Bremen_. It falls into three distinct parts: (1) the largest
portion, with the city of Bremen, lying on both banks, but chiefly on
the right, of the lower course of the Weser, surrounded by the Prussian
province of Hanover and the grand-duchy of Oldenburg, and consisting in
the main of lowland country intersected by canals and dykes; (2) the
town and district of Vegesack, lying separate from, but immediately
north of the main portion, on the right bank of the river; (3) the port
of Bremerhaven, 46 m. down the Weser, at its mouth. Of the whole
territory, which has an area of 99 sq. m., about one-half is meadow and
grazing land, one-quarter under tillage, and the remainder occupied by a
little woodland, some unprofitable sandy wastes, the bed of the Weser
and the towns. Market gardening, the rearing of cattle, for which the
district is widely famed, and fishing, form the chief occupations of the
rural population. The climate is mild, but the rainfall (26.9 in.
annually on the average) is relatively considerable. The population is
shown as follows:--
+-----------------+-----------+----------+
| | 1900 | 1905 |
+-----------------+-----------+----------+
| Bremen, city | 186,822 | 214,953 |
| Vegesack | 3,943 | 4,130 |
| Bremerhaven | 20,315 | 24,159 |
| Rural districts | 37,327 | 20,431 |
+-----------------+-----------+----------+
| Total | 248,407 | 263,673 |
+-----------------+-----------+----------+
Of the inhabitants, who belong to the Lower Saxon (_Nieder-Sachsen_)
race and in daily intercourse mostly speak the Low German
(_Plattdeutsch_) dialect, about two-thirds are natives of the state and
one-third immigrants from other parts of Germany, chiefly from Hanover
and Oldenburg. About 93% are Protestants, 6% Roman Catholics, and only
1/2% Jews. The form of government is that of a republic, under a
constitution proclaimed on the 8th of March 1849, revised on the 21st of
February 1854, the 17th of November 1875, and the 1st of January 1894.
The sovereignty resides jointly in the senate and the Burgerschaft, or
Convent of Burgesses. The senate, which is the executive power, is
composed of sixteen life members, elected by the convent, on
presentation by the senate. Of these ten at least must be lawyers and
three merchants. Two of the number are nominated by their colleagues as
burgomasters, who preside in succession for a year at a time and hold
office four years, one retiring every two years. The Burgerschaft
consists of 150 (formerly 300) representatives, chosen by the citizens
for six years, and forms the legislative body. Fourteen members are
elected by such citizens of Bremen (city) as have enjoyed a university
education, forty by the merchants, twenty by the manufacturers and
artisans, and forty-eight by the other citizens. Of the remaining
representatives, twelve are furnished by Bremerhaven and Vegesack and
sixteen by the rural districts. As a member of the German empire, the
state of Bremen has one voice in the Bundesrat and returns one member to
the Imperial diet (Reichstag). Formerly Bremen was a free port, but from
the 1st of October 1888 the whole of the state, with the exception of
two small free districts in Bremen and Bremerhaven respectively, joined
the German customs union. The state has two Amtsgerichte (courts of
first instance) at Bremen and Bremerhaven respectively, and a superior
court, Landgericht, at Bremen, whence appeals lie to the
Oberlandesgericht for the Hanseatic towns in Hamburg. The judges of the
Bremen courts are appointed by a committee of members of the senate, the
Burgerschaft and the bench of judges. By the convention with Prussia of
the 27th of June 1867, the free state surrendered its right to furnish
its own contingent to the army, the recruits being after that time
drafted into the Hanseatic infantry regiment, forming a portion of the
Prussian IX. army corps.
BREMEN, a city of Germany, capital of the free state of Bremen, and one
of the Hanseatic towns. It lies on a sandy plain on both banks of the
Weser, 46 m. from the North Sea and 71 m. S.W. from Hamburg by rail, on
the mainline to Cologne. Pop. (1905) 214,953. It has also direct railway
communication with Berlin via Uelzen, Hanover and Bremerhaven. The city
consists of four quarters,--the old town (Altstadt) and its suburban
extensions (Vorstadt) being on the right bank of the river, and the new
town (Neustadt) with its southern suburb (Sudervorstadt) on the left
bank. The river is crossed by three bridges, the old, the new
(1872-1875) Kaiserbrucke, and the railway bridge, with a gangway for
foot passengers. The ramparts of the old town have long been converted
into beautiful promenades and gardens, the moats forming a chain of
lakes.
The romantic old town, with its winding streets and lanes, flanked by
massive gabled houses, dates from the medieval days of Hanseatic
prosperity. On the market square stands the fine town hall (Rathaus),
dating from the 15th century, with a handsome Renaissance _facade_ of a
somewhat later date, and before it a stone statue of Roland, the emblem
of civic power. Its celebrated underground wine cellar has been
immortalized by Wilhelm Hauff in his _Phantasien im Bremer Ratskeller_.
The town hall is internally richly embellished and has a gallery of
interesting paintings. In an upper hall a model of an old Hanseatic
frigate, with the device _Navigare necesse est, vivere non est necesse_,
hangs from the ceiling. Among other ancient buildings, situated chiefly
in the old town, are the following:--the cathedral of St Peter (formerly
the archiepiscopal and now the Lutheran parish church), erected in the
12th century on the site of Charlemagne's wooden church, and famous for
its Bleikeller, or lead vault, in which bodies can be preserved for a
long time without suffering decomposition; the church of St Ansgarius,
built about 1243, with a spire 400 ft. high; the church of Our Lady,
dating from the 12th and 13th centuries; the 12th century Romanesque
church of St Stephen; the Schutting, or merchants' hall, originally
built in 1619 for the cloth-traders' gild; the Stadthaus (town house),
formerly the archiepiscopal palace, and converted to its present uses
only in 1819. The most important and imposing among the more modern
architectural additions to the city are the handsome Gothic exchange,
completed in 1867, the municipal theatre, the municipal library, the
post office (1878), the law courts (1891-1895), the wool exchange, the
German bank, the municipal museum for natural science, ethnology and
commerce, and the fine railway station (1888). The principal memorials
embrace, besides the Roland, the Willehad fountain (1883), the monument
of the Franco-German War (erected 1875), the centaur fountain (1891), an
equestrian statue of the emperor William I. (1893), and a statue of the
poet Theodor Korner. A beautiful park, Burgerpark, has been laid out in
the Burgerweide, or meadows, lying beyond the railway station to the
north-east of the city. It is a peculiarity of the domestic
accommodation of Bremen that the majority of the houses, unlike the
custom in most other German towns, where flats prevail, are occupied by
a single family only.
The industries and manufactures of Bremen are of considerable variety
and extent, but are more particularly developed in such branches as are
closely allied to navigation, such as shipbuilding, founding,
engine-building and rope-making. Next in importance come those of
tobacco, snuff, cigars, the making of cigar boxes, jute-spinning,
distilling, sugar refining and the shelling of rice. Bremen owes its
fame almost exclusively to its transmaritime trade, mainly imports. By
the completion of the engineering works on the Weser in 1887-1899,
whereby, among other improvements, the river was straightened and
deepened, to 18 ft., large ocean-going vessels are able to steam right
up to the city itself. It has excellent railway connexions with the
chief industrial districts of Germany. Like Hamburg, it does
predominantly a transit trade; it is especially important as the
importer of raw products from America. In two articles, tobacco and
rice, Bremen is the greatest market in the world; in cotton and indigo
it takes the first place on the continent, and it is a serious rival of
Hamburg and Antwerp in the import of wool and petroleum. The value of
the total imports (both sea-borne and by river and rail) increased from
L22,721,700 in 1883 to about L60,000,000 in 1905; the imports from the
United States, from L9,755,000 in 1883 to about L25,000,000 in 1905. The
countries from which imports principally come are the United States,
England, Germany, Russia, the republics of South America, the Far East
and Australia. The exports rose from a total of L26,096,500 in 1883 to
L62,000,000 in 1905. The number of vessels which entered the ports of
the free state (i.e. Bremen city, Bremerhaven and Vegesack) increased
from 2869 of 1,258,529 aggregate tonnage in 1883, to 4024 of 2,716,633
tons in 1900. Bremen is the centre for some of the more important of the
German shipping companies, especially of the North German Lloyd (founded
in 1856), which, on the 1st of January 1905, possessed a fleet of 382
steamers of 693,892 tons, besides lighters and similar craft. Bremen
also shares with Hamburg the position of being one of the two chief
emigration ports of Germany. There are three docks, all to the
north-west of the city--namely, the free harbour (which was opened in
1888), the winter harbour, and the timber and industrial harbour.
Internal communication is served by an excellent system of electric
tramways, and there is also a local steamboat service with neighbouring
villages on the Weser.
_History._--According to Brandes, quoting Martin Luther in the _Lexicon
Philologicum_, the name is derived from _Bram, Bram, i.e. hem_ = the
river-bank, or confine of the land on which it was built. In 787 Bremen
was chosen by St Willehad, whom Charlemagne had established as bishop in
the _pagi_ of the lower Weser, as his see. In 848 the destruction of
Hamburg by the Normans led to the transference of the archiepiscopal see
of Hamburg to Bremen, which became the seat of the archbishops of
Hamburg-Bremen. In 965 the emperor Otto I. granted to Archbishop Adaldag
"in the place called Bremen" (_in loco Bremun nuncupato_) the right to
establish a market, and the full administrative, fiscal and judicial
powers of a count, no one but the bishop or his _advocatus_ being
allowed to exercise authority in the city. This privilege, by which the
archbishop was lord of the city and his _Vogt_ its judge, was frequently
confirmed by subsequent emperors, ending under Frederick I. in 1158.
Though, however, there is no direct evidence of the existence of any
communal organization during this period, it is clear from the vigorous
part taken by the burghers in the struggle of the emperor Frederick with
Henry the Lion of Saxony that some such organization very early existed.
Yet in the _privilegium_ granted to the townspeople by Frederick I. in
1186 the emperor had done no more than guarantee them their personal
liberties. The earliest recognition of any civic organization they may
have possessed they owed to Archbishop Hartwig II. (1184-1207), who had
succeeded in uniting against him his chapter, the nobles and the
citizens; and the first mention of the city council occurs in a charter
of Archbishop Gerhard II. in 1225, though the _consules_ here named
doubtless represented a considerably older institution. In the 13th
century, however, whatever the civic organization of the townsfolk may
have been, it was still strictly subordinate to the archbishop and his
_Vogt_; the council could issue regulations only with the consent of the
former, while in the judicial work of the latter, save in small
questions of commercial dishonesty, its sole function was advisory. By
the middle of the 14th century this situation was exactly reversed; the
elected town council was the supreme legislative power in all criminal
and civil causes, and in the court of the _advocatus_ two _Ratsmanner_
sat as assessors. The victory had been won over the archbishop; but a
fresh peril had developed in the course of the 13th century in the
growth of a patrician class, which, as in so many other cities,
threatened to absorb all power into the hands of a close oligarchy. In
1304 the commonalty rose against the patricians and drove them from the
city, and in the following year gained a victory over the exiles and
their allies, the knights, which was long celebrated by an annual
service of thanksgiving. This was the beginning of troubles that lasted
intermittently throughout the century. Bremen had been admitted to the
Hanseatic league in 1283, but was excluded in 1285, and not readmitted
until 1358. Owing to the continued civic unrest it was again excluded in
1427, and only readmitted in 1433 when the old aristocratic constitution
was definitively restored. But though in Bremen the efforts of the
craftsmen's "arts" to secure a share of power had been held in check and
the gilds never gained any importance, the city government did not, as
at Cologne and elsewhere, develop into a close patrician oligarchy.
Power was in the hands of the wealthy, but the avenues to power were
open to those who knew how to acquire the necessary qualification. There
was thus no artificial restraint put upon individual enterprise, and the
question of the government having been settled, Bremen rapidly developed
in wealth and influence.
The Reformation was introduced into Bremen in 1522 by Heinrich von
Zutphen. Archbishop Christopher of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel (1487-1558), a
brutal libertine, hated for his lusts and avarice, looked on the
reforming movement as a revolt against himself. He succeeded in getting
the reformer burned; but found himself involved in a life and death
struggle with the city. In 1532 Bremen joined the league of
Schmalkalden, and twice endured a siege by the imperial forces. In 1547
it was only saved by Mansfeld's victory at Drakenburg. Archbishop
Christopher was succeeded in 1558 by his brother Georg, bishop of Minden
(d. 1566), who, though he himself was instrumental in introducing the
reformed model into his other diocese of Verden, is reckoned as the last
Roman Catholic archbishop of Bremen. His successor, Henry III.
(1550-1585), a son of Duke Francis I. of Lauenburg, who had been bishop
of Osnabruck and Paderborn, was a Lutheran and married. Protestantism
was not, however, definitively proclaimed as the state religion in
Bremen until 1618. The last archbishop, Frederick II. (of Denmark), was
deposed by the Swedes in 1644. In 1646 Bremen received the privileges of
a free imperial city from the emperor Ferdinand III.; but Sweden, whose
possession of the archbishopric was recognized two years later, refused
to consent to this, and in 1666 attempted vainly to assert her claims
over the city by arms--in the so-called Bremen War. When, however, in
1720 the elector of Hanover (George I. of Great Britain) acquired the
archbishopric, he recognized Bremen as a free city. In 1803 this was
again recognized and the territory of the city was even extended. In
1806 it was taken by the French, was subsequently annexed by Napoleon to
his empire, and from 1810 to 1813 was the capital of the department of
the Mouths of the Weser. Restored to independence by the congress of
Vienna in 1815, it subsequently became a member of the German
Confederation, and in 1867 joined the new North German Confederation,
with which it was merged in the new German empire.
See Buchenau, _Die freie Hansestadt Bremen_ (3rd ed., Bremen, 1900, 5
vols.); _Bremisches Urkundenbuch_, edited by R. Ehmck and W. von
Bippen (1863, fol.); W. von Bippen, _Geschichte der Stadt Bremen_
(Bremen, 1892-1898); F. Donandt, _Versuch einer Geschichte des
bremischen Stadtrechts_ (Bremen, 1830, 2 vols.); _Bremisches Jahrbuch_
(historical, 19 vols., 1864-1900); and Karl Hegel, _Stadte und
Gilden_, vol. ii. p. 461 (Leipzig, 1891).
BREMER, FREDRIKA (1801-1865), Swedish novelist, was born near Abo, in
Finland, on the 17th of August 1801. Her father, a descendant of an old
German family, a wealthy iron master and merchant, left Finland when
Fredrika was three years old, and after a year's residence in Stockholm,
purchased an estate at Arsta, about 20 m. from the capital. There, with
occasional visits to Stockholm and to a neighbouring estate, which
belonged for a time to her father, Fredrika passed her time till 1820.
The education to which she and her sisters were subjected was unusually
strict; Fredrika's health began to give way; and in 1821 the family set
out for the south of France. They travelled slowly by way of Germany and
Switzerland, and returned by Paris and the Netherlands. It was shortly
after this time that Miss Bremer became acquainted with Schiller's
works, which made a very deep impression on her. She had begun to write
verses from the age of eight, and in 1828 she succeeded in finding a
publisher for the first volume of her _Teckningar ur hvardagslifvet_
(1828), which at once attracted attention. The second volume (1831),
containing one of her best tales, _Familjen H._, gave decisive evidence
that a real novelist had been found in Sweden. The Swedish Academy
awarded her their smaller gold medal, and she increased her reputation
by _Presidentens dottrar_ (1834), _Grannarne_ (1837) and others. Her
father had died in 1830, and her life was thereafter regulated in
accordance with her own wishes and tastes. She lived for some years in
Norway with a friend, after whose death she travelled in the autumn of
1849 to America, and after spending nearly two years there returned
through England. The admirable translations (1846, &c.) of her works by
Mary Howitt, which had been received with even greater eagerness in
America and England than in Sweden, secured for her a warm and kindly
reception. Her impressions of America, _Hemmen i nya verlden_, were
published in 1853-1854, and at once translated into English. After her
return Miss Bremer devoted herself to her scheme for the advancement and
emancipation of women. Her views on these questions were expounded in
her later novels--_Hertha_ (1856) and _Far och dotter_ (1858). Miss
Bremer organized a society of ladies in Stockholm for the purpose of
visiting the prisons, and during the cholera started a society, the
object of which was the care of children left orphans by the epidemic.
She devoted herself to other philanthropic and social schemes, and
gradually abandoned her earlier simple and charming type of story for
novels directed to the furtherance of her views. In these she was less
successful. In 1856 she again travelled, and spent five years on the
continent and in Palestine. Her reminiscences of these countries have
all been translated into English. On her return she settled at Arsta,
where, with the exception of a visit to Germany, she spent the remaining
years of her life. She died on the 31st of December 1865.
See _Life, Letters and Posthumous Works of F. Bremer_, by her sister,
Charlotte Bremer, translated by F. Milow, London, 1868. A selection of
her works in 6 vols. appeared at Orebro, 1868-1872.
BREMERHAVEN, a seaport town of Germany, in the free state of Bremen, on
the right bank and estuary of the Weser, at the confluence of the
Geeste, 38 m. N. of the city of Bremen by rail. Pop. (1895) 18,366;
(1905) 24,159. It is built on a tract of territory ceded to Bremen by
Hanover in 1826, and further increased by treaty with Prussia in 1869.
It forms practically a single town with Geestemunde (Prussia), which
lies across the Geeste and with which it is connected by a drawbridge.
The port was opened in 1830, and besides an excellent harbour, there are
three large wet docks, including the Kaiserhafen, enlarged in 1897-1899
at a cost of L900,000. This, together with the north portion of the
Neuerhafen, constitutes the free harbour. Here are the workshops and dry
docks of the North German Lloyd steamship company. The whole internal
harbour system is furnished with powerful hydraulic cranes and lines of
railway running alongside the quays. The entrance to the port is free
from ice nearly all the year round, is excellently buoyed, and lighted
by two lightships and eight lighthouses, among the latter the remarkable
Rothesand Leuchtturm, erected 1884-1885. The Hanoverian fort and
batteries, which formerly protected the town, have been removed, and
their place is supplied by four modern forts, with revolving turtleback
turrets, lower down. The town possesses two Protestant and a Roman
Catholic church, a technical institute, a natural history museum, a
library, a theatre, a monument to the emperor William I. and one to
Johann Smidt (1773-1859), the burgomaster of Bremen to whose enterprise
the harbour of Bremerhaven is due. Shipbuilding and kindred industries
are carried on.
BRENDAN, BRANDON, or BRANDAN (c. 484-578), Irish saint and hero of a
legendary voyage in the Atlantic, is said to have been born at Tralee
in Kerry in A.D. 484. The Irish form of his name is _Brennain_, the
Latin _Brendanus_. Medieval historians usually call him Brendan of
Clonfert, or Brendan son of Finnloga, to distinguish him from his
contemporary, St Brendan of Birr (573). Little is known of the
historical Brendan, who died in 578 as abbot of a Benedictine monastery
which he had founded twenty years previously at Clonfert in eastern
Galway. The story of his voyage across the Atlantic to the "Promised
Land of the Saints," afterwards designated "St Brendan's Island,"[1]
ranks among the most celebrated of the medieval sagas of western Europe.
Its traditional date is 565-573. The legend is found, in prose or verse
and with many variations, in Latin, French, English, Saxon, Flemish,
Irish, Welsh, Breton and Scottish Gaelic. Although it does not occur in
the writings of any Arabian geographer, several of its incidents--such
as the landing on a whale in mistake for an island--belong also to
Arabic folk-literature. Many of Brendan's fabulous adventures seem to be
borrowed from the half-pagan Irish saga of Maelduin or Maeldune, and
others belong also to Scandinavian mythology. The oldest extant version
of the legend is the 11th century _Navigatio Brendani_.
St Brendan's island was long accepted as a reality by geographers. In a
Venetian map dated 1367, in the anonymous Weimar map of 1424, and in B.
Beccario's map of 1435, it is identified with Madeira. Columbus, in his
journal for the 9th of August 1492, states that the inhabitants of
Hierro, Gomera and Madeira had seen the island in the west; and Martin
Behaim, in the globe he made at Nuremberg in the same year, places it
west of the Canaries and near the equator. During the 16th century the
progress of exploration in these latitudes compelled many cartographers
to locate the island elsewhere; and it was marked about 100 m. west of
Ireland, or afterwards among the West Indies. But in Spain and Portugal
the older belief as to its situation was maintained. In 1526 an
expedition under Fernando Alvarez left Grand Canary in search of St
Brendan's island, which had again been reported as seen by many
trustworthy witnesses. In 1570 an official inquiry was held, and a
second expedition undertaken, by Fernando de Villalobos, governor of
Palma. Similar voyages of discovery were made by the Canarians in 1604
and 1721; and only in 1759 was the apparition of St Brendan's island
explained as an effect of mirage.
Among the numerous books which deal with the legend, the following are
important: _Die altfranzosische Prosaubersetzung von Brendans
Meerfahrt_, by C. Wahlund (Upsala, 1900); _La "Navigatio Sancti
Brendani" in antico Veneziano_, by F. Novati (Bergamo, 1892); _Zur
Brendanus-Legende_, &c., by G. Schirmer (Leipzig, 1888); _Les Voyages
merveilleux de St. Brendan_, &c., by F. Michel (Paris, 1878); and
_Acta Sancti Brendani.... Original Latin Documents connected with the
Life of St Brendan_, by P.F. Moran (Dublin, 1872).
BRENHAM, a city and the county-seat of Washington county, Texas, U.S.A.,
situated in the S.E. part of the state, about 68 m. N.W. of Houston.
Pop. (1890) 5209; (1900) 5968, including 2701 negroes and 531
foreign-born; (1910) 4718. Brenham is served by the Gulf, Colorado &
Santa Fe (controlled by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe) and the Houston
& Texas Central railways. It is the seat of Blinn Memorial College
(German Methodist Episcopal), opened as "Mission Institute" in 1883, and
renamed in 1889 in honour of the Rev. Christian Blinn, of New York, a
liberal benefactor; of Brenham Evangelical Lutheran College, and of a
German-American institute (1898). The municipality owns and operates the
waterworks. The city is situated in an agricultural and cotton-raising
region, and has cotton compresses and gins, cotton mills, cotton-seed
oil refineries, foundries and machine shops, and furniture and wagon
factories. Brenham was settled about 1844, was incorporated in 1866, and
was chartered as a city in 1873.
BRENNER PASS, the lowest (4495 ft.) and one of the most frequented
passes across the Alps in all ages, though the name itself rarely occurs
in the middle ages, the route over it being said to lie through "the
valley of Trent." It may be described as the great gate of Italy, and by
it most of the Teutonic tribes made their way to Italy. One reason of
its importance is that many side passes in the end join this great
thoroughfare. It was crossed no fewer than 66 times by various emperors,
between 793 and 1402. A carriage road was constructed over it as far
back as 1772, while the railway over it was built in 1864-1867. From
Innsbruck to the summit of the pass is a distance by rail of 25 m. The
line then descends through the Eisack valley past Brixen (34 m.) to
Botzen (24 m.). Thence it follows the valley of the Adige to Trent (35
m.) and on to Verona (56-1/2 m.)--in all 174-1/2 m. by rail from
Innsbruck to Verona. (W. A. B. C.)
BRENNUS, the name, or perhaps the official title, of two chiefs of the
Celtic Gauls.
(1) The first Brennus crossed the Apennines in 391 B.C., ravaged
Etruria, and annihilated a Roman army of about 40,000 men on the Allia
some 12 m. from Clusium (July 16, 390). Rome thus lay at his mercy, but
he wasted time, and the Romans were able to occupy and provision the
Capitol (though they had not sufficient forces to defend their walls)
and to send their women and children to Veii. When on the third day the
Gauls took possession, they found the city occupied only by those aged
patricians who had held high office in the state. For a while the Gauls
withheld their hands out of awe and reverence, but the ruder passions
soon prevailed. The city was sacked and burnt; but the Capitol itself
withstood a siege of more than six months, saved from surprise on one
occasion only by the wakefulness of the sacred geese and the courage of
Marcus Manlius. At last the Gauls consented to accept a ransom of a
thousand pounds of gold. As it was being weighed out, the Roman tribune
complained of some unfairness. Brennus at once threw his heavy sword
into the scale; and when asked the meaning of the act, replied that it
meant _Vae victis_ ("woe to the conquered"). The Gauls returned home
with their plunder, leaving Rome in a condition from which she took long
to recover. A later legend, probably an invention, represents M. Furius
Camillus as suddenly appearing with an avenging army at the moment when
the gold was being weighed, and defeating Brennus and all his host.
See null v. 33-49; Plutarch, _Camillus_, 17, 22, 28; Polybius i. 6,
ii. 18; Dion. Halic. xiii. 7.
(2) The second Brennus is said to have been one of the leaders of an
inroad made by the Gauls from the east of the Adriatic into Thrace and
Macedonia (280), when they defeated and slew Ptolemy Ceraunus, then king
of Macedonia. Whether Brennus took part in this first invasion or not is
uncertain; but its success led him to urge his countrymen to a second
expedition, when he marched with a large army through Macedonia and
Thessaly until he reached Thermopylae. To this point the united forces
of the northern Greeks--Athenians, Phocians, Boeotians and
Aetolians--had fallen back; and here the Greeks a second time held their
foreign invaders in check for many days, and a second time had their
rear turned, owing to the treachery of some of the natives, by the same
path which had been discovered to the Persians two hundred years before.
Brennus and his Gauls marched on to Delphi, of whose sacred treasures
they had heard much. But the little force which the Delphians and their
neighbours had collected--about 4000 men--favoured by the strength of
their position, made a successful defence. They rolled down rocks upon
their enemies as they crowded into the defile, and showered missiles on
them from above. A thunderstorm, with hail and intense cold, increased
their confusion, and on Brennus himself being wounded they took to
flight, pursued by the Greeks all the way back to Thermopylae. Brennus
killed himself, "unable to endure the pain of his wounds," says Justin;
more probably determined not to return home defeated.
See Justin xxiv. 6; Diod. Sic. xxii. 11; Pausanias x. 19-23; L.
Contzen, _Die Wanderungen der Kelten_ (Leipzig, 1861).
BRENTANO, KLEMENS (1778-1842), German poet and novelist, was born at
Ehrenbreitstein on the 8th of September 1778. His sister was the
well-known Bettina von Arnim (q.v.), Goethe's correspondent. He studied
at Jena, and afterwards resided at Heidelberg, Vienna and Berlin. In
1818, weary of his somewhat restless and unsettled life, he joined the
Roman Catholic Church and withdrew to the monastery of Dulmen where he
lived for some years in strict seclusion. The latter part of his life he
spent in Regensburg, Frankfort and Munich, actively engaged in Catholic
propaganda. He died at Aschaffenburg on the 28th of July 1842. Brentano,
whose early writings were published under the pseudonym Maria, belonged
to the Heidelberg group of German romantic writers, and his works are
marked by excess of fantastic imagery and by abrupt, bizarre modes of
expression. His first published writings were _Satiren und poetische
Spiele_ (1800), and a romance _Godwi_ (1801-1802); of his dramas the
best are _Ponce de Leon_ (1804), _Victoria_ (1817) and _Die Grundung
Prags_ (1815). On the whole his finest work is the collection of
_Romanzen vom Rosenkranz_ (published posthumously in 1852); his short
stories, and more especially the charming _Geschichte vom braven Kasperl
und dem schonen Annerl_ (1838), which has been translated into English,
are still popular. Brentano also assisted Ludwig Achim von Arnim, his
brother-in-law, in the collection of folk-songs forming _Des Knaben
Wunderhorn_ (1806-1808).
Brentano's collected works, edited by his brother Christian, appeared
at Frankfort in 9 vols. (1851-1855). Selections have been edited by
J.B. Diel (1873), M. Koch (1892), and J. Dohmke (1893). See J.B. Diel
and W. Kreiten, _Klemens Brentano_ (2 vols., 1877-1878), the
introduction to Koch's edition, and R. Steig, _A. von Arnim und K.
Brentano_ (1894).
BRENTANO, LUDWIG JOSEPH [called LUJO] (1844- ), German economist, a
member of the same family as the preceding, was born at Aschaffenburg on
the 18th of December 1844. He received some of his academical education
in Dublin. In 1868 he made a thorough study of trade-unionism in
England, which resulted in his principal work, _Die Arbeitergilden der
Gegenwart_ (Leipzig, 1871-1872; Eng. trans, by L.T. Smith). The book was
assailed by Bamberger and other economists, but is important not only as
an authority on modern associations of workmen, but for having given an
impetus to the study of the gilds of the middle ages, and the
examination of the great stores of neglected information bearing upon
the condition of the people in olden days. Brentano's other works are of
a more theoretical character, and chiefly relate to political economy,
of which he was professor at Breslau from 1872 to 1882, at Strassburg
from 1882 to 1888, at Vienna 1888-1889, at Leipzig 1889-1891, and at
Munich since 1891. We may mention _Das Arbeitsverhaltnis gemass dem
heutigen Recht_ (1877); _Die christlich-soziale Bewegung in England_
(1883); _Uber das Verhaltnis von Arbeitslohn und Arbeitszeit zur
Arbeitsleistung_ (1893); _Agrarpolitik_ (1897).
BRENTFORD, a market town in the Brentford parliamentary division of
Middlesex, England, 10-1/2 m. W. of Waterloo terminus, London, by the
London & South-Western railway, at the junction of the river Brent with
the Thames. Pop. of urban district (1901) 15,171. The Grand Junction
Canal joins the Brent, affording ample water-communications to the town,
which has considerable industries in brewing, soap-making, saw-milling,
market-gardening, &c. The Grand Junction waterworks are situated here.
Brentford has been the county-town for elections since 1701.
In 1016 Brentford, or, as it was often called Braynford, was the scene
of a great defeat inflicted on the Danes by Edmund Ironside. In 1280 a
toll was granted by Edward I., who granted the town a market, for the
construction of a bridge across the river, and in the reign of Henry VI.
a hospital of the Nine Orders of Angels was founded near its western
side. In 1642 a battle was fought here in which the royalists defeated
the parliamentary forces. For his services on this occasion the Scotsman
Ruthven, earl of Forth, was made earl of Brentford, a title afterwards
conferred by William III. on Marshal Schomberg. Brentford was during the
16th and 17th centuries a favourite resort of London citizens; and its
inn of the Three Pigeons, which was kept for a time by John Lowin, one
of the first actors of Shakespeare's plays, is frequently alluded to by
the dramatists of the period. Falstaff is disguised as the "Fat Woman of
Brentford" in Shakespeare's _Merry Wives of Windsor_, and numerous other
references to the town in literature point, in most cases, to its
reputation for excessive dirt. The "two kings of Brentford" mentioned in
Cowper's _Task_, and elsewhere, seem to owe their mythical existence to
the play, _The Rehearsal_, by George Villiers, second duke of
Buckingham, produced in 1671.
South of Brentford, towards Isleworth, is Sion House, a mansion founded
by Lord Protector Somerset in 1547, and rebuilt and enlarged by the 10th
earl of Northumberland and Sir Hugh Smithson, afterwards duke of
Northumberland, the architects being Inigo Jones and Robert Adam. The
gardens are very beautiful. The site of Sion or Syon House was
previously occupied by a convent of Bridgetine nuns established at
Twickenham by Henry V. in 1415 and removed here in 1431.
BRENTON, SIR JAHLEEL (1770-1844), British admiral, was born in Rhode
Island, U.S.A., on the 22nd of August 1770. He was the son of
Rear-Admiral Jahleel Brenton (1729-1802), who belonged to a loyalist
family which suffered the loss of most of its property in the
insurrection of the American colonies. He was a lieutenant in the
British navy when the war began, and emigrated with his family to the
mother country. Three of the sons entered the navy--Jahleel (the
eldest), Captain Edward Pelham Brenton (1774-1839), and James Wallace
Brenton, who was killed young in 1799 when attacking a Spanish privateer
near Barcelona in the boats of the "Petrel," of which he was lieutenant.
Jahleel went to sea first with his father in 1781, and on the return of
peace was sent to the "maritime school" at Chelsea. He served in the
peace before the beginning of the war in 1793, and passed his
examination as lieutenant, but seeing no chance of employment went with
other English naval officers to serve in the Swedish navy against the
Russians. In 1790 he received his commission and returned home. Till
1799 he served as lieutenant, or acting commander, mostly under Earl St
Vincent, and was present in the battle from which the admiral received
his title. As commander of the "Speedy" brig he won much distinction in
actions with Spanish gunboats in the Straits of Gibraltar. In 1800 he
reached the rank of post-captain, and had the good fortune to serve as
flag-captain to Sir James (afterwards Lord) Saumarez in the action at
Algeciras, and in the Straits in 1801. During the peace of Amiens he
married Miss Stewart, a lady belonging to a loyalist family of Nova
Scotia. After the renewal of the war he commanded a succession of
frigates. In 1803 he had the misfortune to be wrecked on the coast of
France, and remained for a time in prison, where his wife joined him.
Having been exchanged he was named to another ship. His most brilliant
action was fought with a flotilla of Franco-Neapolitan vessels outside
of Naples in May 1801. He was severely wounded, and Murat, then king of
Naples, praised him effusively. He was made a baronet in 1812 and K.C.B.
in 1815. After his recovery from his wound he was unable to bear sea
service, but was made commissioner of the dockyard at Port Mahon, and
then at the Cape, and was afterwards lieutenant-governor of Greenwich
hospital till 1840. He reached flag rank in 1830. In his later years he
took an active part in philanthropic work, in association with his
brother, Captain E.P. Brenton, who had seen much service but is best
remembered by his writings on naval and military history,--_Naval
History of Great Britain from the Year 1783 to 1822_ (1823), and _The
Life and Correspondence of John, Earl of St Vincent_ (1838).
A _Memoir of the Life and Services of Vice-Admiral Sir Jahleel
Brenton_, based on his own papers, was published in 1846 by the Rev.
Henry Raikes, and reissued by the admiral's son, Sir L.C.L. Brenton,
in 1855. (D. H.)
BRENTWOOD, a market town in the mid or Chelmsford parliamentary division
of Essex, England; 18 m. E.N.E. of London by the Great Eastern railway
(Brentwood and Worley station). Pop. of urban district (1901) 4932. The
neighbouring country is pleasantly undulating and well wooded. The
church of St Thomas the Martyr, with several chapels, is modern. The old
assize house, an Elizabethan structure, remains. A free grammar school
was founded in 1557. The county asylum is in the vicinity. There are
breweries and brick works. To the south lies the fine upland of Worley
Common, with large barracks. Adjoining Brentwood to the north-east is
Shenfield, with the church of St Mary the Virgin, Early English and
later. Brentwood was formerly an important posting station on the main
road to the eastern counties, which follows the line of the railway to
Colchester. The name (_Burntwood_) is supposed to record an original
settlement made in a clearing of the forest. The district is largely
residential.
BRENZ, JOHANN (1499-1570), Lutheran divine, eldest son of Martin Brenz,
was born at Weil, Wurttemberg, on the 24th of June 1499. In 1514 he
entered the university of Heidelberg, where Oecolampadius was one of his
teachers, and where in 1518 he heard Luther discuss. Ordained priest in
1520, and appointed preacher (1522) at Hall in Swabia, he gave himself
to biblical exposition. He ceased to celebrate mass in 1523, and
reorganized his church in 1524. Successful in resisting the peasant
insurrection (1525), his fortunes were affected by the Schmalkaldic War.
From Hall, when taken by the imperial forces, he fled on his birthday in
1548. Protected by Duke Ulrich of Wurttemberg, he was appointed (January
1553) provost of the collegiate church of Stuttgart. As organizer of the
reformation in Wurttemberg he did much fruitful work. A strong advocate
of Lutheran doctrine, and author of the _Syngramma Suevicum_ (October
21, 1525), which set forth Luther's doctrine of the Eucharist, he was
free from the persecuting tendencies of the age. He is praised and
quoted (as Joannes Witlingius) for his judgment against applying the
death penalty to anabaptists or other heretics in the _De Haereticis, an
sint persequendi_ (1554), issued by Sebastian Castellio under the
pseudonym of Martinus Bellius. An incomplete edition of his works
(largely expository) appeared at Tubingen, 1576-1590. Several of his
sermons were reproduced in contemporary English versions. A volume of
_Anecdota Brentiana_ was edited by Pressel in 1868. He died on the 11th
of September 1570, and was buried in his church at Stuttgart; his grave
was subsequently violated. He was twice married, and his eldest son,
Johann Brenz, was appointed (1562) professor of theology in Tubingen at
the early age of twenty-two.
See Hartmann and Jager, _Johann Brenz_ (1840-1842); Bossert, in
Hauck's _Realencyklop_. (1897). (A. Go.*)
BREQUIGNY, LOUIS GEORGES OUDARD FEUDRIX DE (1714-1795), French scholar,
was born at Gainneville near Havre, on the 22nd of February 1714, and
died at Paris on the 3rd of July 1795. His first publications were
anonymous: an _Histoire des revolutions de Genes jusqu'a la paix de
1748_ (1750), and a series of _Vies des orateurs grecs_ (1752). Elected
a member of the Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres in 1759, he
contributed an _Histoire de Posthume empereur des Gaules_ (vol. xxx.,
1760) to the collected works of that illustrious society, and also a
_Memoire sur l'etablissement de la religion et de l'empire de Mahomet_
(vol. xxxii., 1761-1763). After the close of the Seven Years' War he was
sent to search in the archives of England for documents bearing upon the
history of France, more particularly upon that of the French provinces
which once belonged to England. This mission (1764-1766) was very
fruitful in results; Brequigny brought back from it copies of about 7000
documents, which are now in the Bibliotheque Nationale. A useful
selection of these documents was published (unfortunately without
adequate critical treatment) by Jean Jacques Champollion-Figeac, under
the title _Lettres de rois, reines et autres personnages des cours de
France et d'Angleterre, depuis Louis VII. jusqu'a Henri IV., tirees des
archives de Londres par Brequigny_ (collection of _Documents inedits
relatifs a l'histoire de France_, 2 vols., 1839, 1847). Brequigny
himself drew the material for many important studies from the rich mine
which he had thus exploited. These were included in the collection of
the Academie des Inscriptions: _Memoire sur les differends entre la
France et l'Angleterre sous le regne de Charles le Bel_ (vol. xli.);
_Memoire sur la vie de Marie, reine de France, soeur de Henri VIII., roi
d'Angleterre_ (vol. xlii.); four _Memoires pour senir a l'histoire de
Calais_ (vols. xliii. and l.); and _Memoire sur les negotiations
touchant les projets de mariage d'Elizabeth, reine d'Angleterre, d'abord
avec le duc d'Anjou, ensuite avec le due d'Alencon, tons deux freres de
Charles IX._ (vol. l.). This last was read to the Academy on the 22nd of
January 1793, the morrow of Louis XVI.'s execution. Meanwhile, Brequigny
had taken part in three great and erudite works. For the _Recueil des
ordonnances des rois de France_ he had prepared volumes x.-xiv., the
preface to vol. xi. containing important researches into the French
communes. To the _Table chronologique des diplomes, chartes, lettres, et
actes imprimes concernant l'histoire de France_ he contributed three
volumes in collaboration with Mouchet (1769-1783). Charged with the
supervision of a large collection of documents bearing on French
history, analogous to Rymer's _Foedera_, he published the first volume
(_Diplomatat. Chartae_, &c., 1791). The Revolution interrupted him in
his collection of _Memoires concernant l'histoire, les sciences, les
lettres, et les arts des Chinois_, begun in 1776 at the instance of the
minister Bertin, when fifteen volumes had appeared.
See the note on Brequigny at the end of vol. i. of the _Memoires de
l'Academie des Inscriptions_ (1808); the Introduction to vol. iv. of
the _Table chronologique des diplomes_ (1836); Champollion-Figeac's
preface to the _Lettres des rois et reines_; the _Comite des travaux
historiques_, by X. Charmes, vol. i. _passim_; N. Oursel, _Nouvelle
biographie normande_ (1886); and the _Catalogue des manuscrits des
collections Duchesne et Brequigny_ (in the Bibliotheque Nationale), by
Rene Poupardin (1905). (C. B.*)