[1] The Cistercians of this branch of the order were commonly known
as Bernardines.
BERNARD OF CHARTRES (1080?-1167), surnamed SYLVESTRIS, scholastic
philosopher, described by John of Salisbury as _perfectissimus inter
Platonicos nostri saeculi_. He and his brother Theodore were among the
chief members of the school of Chartres (France), founded in the early
part of the 11th century by Fulbert, the great disciple of Gerbert. This
school flourished at a time when medieval thought was directed to the
ancient philosophy of Plato and Aristotle, and had perversely come to
regard Aristotle as merely the founder of abstract logic and formal
intellectualism, as opposed to Plato whose doctrine of Ideas seemed to
tend in a naturalistic direction. Thus Bernard is a Platonist and yet
the representative of a "return to Nature" which curiously anticipates
the humanism of the early Renaissance. John of Salisbury (_Metalogicus_,
iv. 35) attributes to him two treatises, of which one contrasts the
eternity of ideas with the finite nature of things, and the other is an
attempt to reconcile Plato and Aristotle. The only extant fragments of
Bernard's writings are from a treatise _Megacosmus and Microcosmus_
(edited by C.S. Barach at Innsbruck, 1876). The source of Bernard's
inspiration was Plato's _Timaeus_. He maintained that ideas are really
existent and are laid up for ever in the mind of God. He further
attempted to build up a symbolism of numbers with the view of
elaborating the doctrine of the Trinity, and explaining the meaning of
unity, plurality and likeness.
See SCHOLASTICISM; also V. Cousin, _Oeuvres inedites_ of Abelard
(Paris, 1836); Haureau, _Philosophie scolastique_, i. 396 foll.
BERNARD, CHARLES DE, whose full name was PIERRE MARIE CHARLES DE BERNARD
DU GRAIL DE LA VILLETTE (1804-1850), French writer, was born at Besancon
on the 25th of February 1804. After studying for the law, and then
taking to journalism, he was encouraged by Balzac (whose _Peau de
chagrin_ he had reviewed) to settle in Paris and devote himself to
authorship; and the result was a series of volumes of fiction,
remarkable for their picture of provincial society and the Parisian
_bourgeoisie_. The best of these are _Le Noeud gordien_ (1838),
containing among other short stories _Une Aventure de magistrat_, from
which Sardou drew his comedy of the _Pommes du voisin; Gerfaut_ (1838),
considered his masterpiece; _Les Ailes d'Icare_ (1840), _La Peau du
lion_ (1841) and _Le Gentilhomme campagnard_ (1847).
His _Oeuvres completes_ (12 vols.), which appeared after his death on
the 6th of March 1850, include also his poetry and two comedies
written in collaboration with "Leonce" (C.H.L. Laurencot, 1805-1862).
A flattering appreciation by Armand de Pontmartin is prefixed to _Un
Beau-pere_ in this collection. In W.M. Thackeray's _Paris Sketch-book_
("On some fashionable French novels") there is an admirable criticism
of Bernard. See also an essay by Henry James in _French Poets and
Novelists_ (1884).
BERNARD, CLAUDE (1813-1878), French physiologist, was born on the 12th
of July 1813 in the village of Saint-Julien near Villefranche. He
received his early education in the Jesuit school of that town, and then
proceeded to the college at Lyons, which, however, he soon left to
become assistant in a druggist's shop. His leisure hours were devoted to
the composition of a vaudeville comedy, _La Rose du Rhone_, and the
success it achieved moved him to attempt a prose drama in five acts,
_Arthur de Bretagne_. At the age of twenty-one he went to Paris, armed
with this play and an introduction to Saint-Marc Girardin, but the
critic dissuaded him from adopting literature as a profession, and urged
him rather to take up the study of medicine. This advice he followed,
and in due course became interne at the Hotel Dieu. In this way he was
brought into contact with the great physiologist, F. Magendie, who was
physician to the hospital, and whose official _preparateur_ at the
College de France he became in 1841. Six years afterwards he was
appointed his deputy-professor at the college, and in 1855 he succeeded
him as full professor. Some time previously he had been chosen the first
occupant of the newly-instituted chair of physiology at the Sorbonne.
There no laboratory was provided for his use, but Louis Napoleon, after
an interview with him in 1864, supplied the deficiency, at the same time
building a laboratory at the natural history museum in the Jardin des
Plantes, and establishing a professorship, which Bernard left the
Sorbonne to accept in 1868--the year in which he was admitted a member
of the Institute. He died in Paris on the 10th of February 1878 and was
accorded a public funeral--an honour which had never before been
bestowed by France on a man of science.
Claude Bernard's first important work was on the functions of the
pancreas gland, the juice of which he proved to be of great significance
in the process of digestion; this achievement won him the prize for
experimental physiology from the Academy of Sciences. A second
investigation--perhaps his most famous--was on the glycogenic function
of the liver; in the course of this he was led to the conclusion, which
throws light on the causation of diabetes, that the liver, in addition
to secreting bile, is the seat of an "internal secretion," by which it
prepares sugar at the expense of the elements of the blood passing
through it. A third research resulted in the discovery of the vaso-motor
system. While engaged, about 1851, in examining the effects produced in
the temperature of various parts of the body by section of the nerve or
nerves belonging to them, he noticed that division of the cervical
sympathetic gave rise to more active circulation and more forcible
pulsation of the arteries in certain parts of the head, and a few months
afterwards he observed that electrical excitation of the upper portion
of the divided nerve had the contrary effect. In this way he established
the existence of vaso-motor nerves--both vaso-dilatator and
vaso-constrictor. The study of the physiological action of poisons was
also a favourite one with him, his attention being devoted in particular
to curare and carbon monoxide gas. The earliest announcements of his
results, the most striking of which were obtained in the ten years from
about 1850 to 1860, were generally made in the recognized scientific
publications; but the full exposition of his views, and even the
statement of some of the original facts, can only be found in his
published lectures. The various series of these _Lecons_ fill seventeen
octavo volumes. He also published _Introduction a la medecine
experimentale_ (1865), and _Physiologie generale_ (1872).
An English _Life of Bernard_, by Sir Michael Foster, was published in
London in 1899.
BERNARD, JACQUES (1658-1718), French theologian and publicist, was born
at Nions in Dauphine on the 1st of September 1658. Having studied at
Geneva, he returned to France in 1679, and was chosen minister of
Venterol in Dauphine, whence he afterwards removed to the church of
Vinsobres. As he continued to preach the reformed doctrines in
opposition to the royal ordinance, he was obliged to leave the country
and retired to Holland, where he was well received and appointed one of
the pensionary ministers of Gouda. In July 1686 he commenced his
_Histoire abregee de l'Europe_, which he continued monthly till
December 1688. In 1692 he began his _Lettres historiques_, containing
an account of the most important transactions in Europe; he carried on
this work till the end of 1698, after which it was continued by others.
When Le Clerc discontinued his _Bibliotheque universelle_ in 1691.
Bernard wrote the greater part of the twentieth volume and the five
following volumes. In 1698 he collected and published _Actes et
negotiations de la paix de Ryswic_, in four volumes 12mo. In 1699 he
began a continuation of Bayle's _Nouvelles de la republique des
lettres_, which continued till December 1710. In 1705 he was unanimously
elected one of the ministers of the Walloon church at Leiden; and about
the same time he succeeded M. de Valder in the chair of philosophy and
mathematics at Leiden. In 1716 he published a supplement to Moreri's
dictionary, in two volumes folio. The same year he resumed his
_Nouvelles de la republique des lettres_, and continued it till his
death, on the 27th of April 1718. Besides the works above mentioned, he
was the author of two practical treatises, one on late repentance
(1712), the other on the excellence of religion (1714).
BERNARD, MOUNTAGUE (1820-1882), English international lawyer, the third
son of Charles Bernard of Jamaica, the descendant of a Huguenot family,
was born at Tibberton Court, Gloucestershire, on the 28th of January
1820. He was educated at Sherborne school, and Trinity College, Oxford.
Graduating B.A. in 1842, he took his B.C.L., was elected Vinerian
scholar and fellow, and having read in chambers with Roundell Palmer
(afterwards Lord Selborne), was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in
1846. He was specially interested in legal history and in church
questions, and was one of the founders of the _Guardian_. In 1852 he was
elected to the new professorship of international law and diplomacy at
Oxford, attached to All Souls' College, of which he afterwards was made
a fellow. But besides his duties at Oxford he undertook a good deal of
non-collegiate work; he was a member of several royal commissions; in
1871 he went as one of the high commissioners to the United States, and
signed the treaty of Washington, and in 1872 he assisted Sir Roundell
Palmer before the tribunal of arbitration at Geneva. In 1874 he resigned
his professorship at Oxford, but as member of the university of Oxford
commission of 1876 he was mainly responsible for bringing about the
compromise ultimately adopted between the university and the colleges.
Bernard's reputation as an international lawyer was widespread, and he
was an original member of the Institut de Droit International (1873).
His published works include _An Historical Account of the Neutrality of
Great Britain during the American Civil War_ (London, 1870), and many
lectures on international law and diplomacy.
BERNARD, SIMON (1779-1839), French general of engineers, was born at
Dole, educated at the Ecole Polytechnique, and entered the army in the
corps of engineers. He rose rapidly, and served (1805-1812) as
aide-de-camp to Napoleon. He was wounded in the retreat after Leipzig,
and distinguished himself the same year (1813) in the gallant defence of
Torgau against the allies. After the emperor's fall he emigrated to the
United States, where, being made a brigadier-general of engineers, he
executed a number of extensive military works for the government,
notably at Fortress Monroe, Va., and around New York, and did a large
amount of the civil engineering connected with the Chesapeake and Ohio
Canal and the Delaware Breakwater. He returned to France after the
revolution of 1830, was made a lieu tenant-general by Louis Philippe,
and in 1836 served as minister of war.
BERNARD, SIR THOMAS, BART. (1750-1818), English social reformer, was
born at Lincoln on the 27th of April 1750, the younger son of Sir
Francis Bernard, 1st bart. (1711-1779), who as governor of Massachusetts
Bay (1760-1770) played a responsible part in directing the British
policy which led to the revolt of the American colonies. On the death of
his elder brother in 1810, Bernard succeeded to the baronetcy conferred
on his father in 1769. His early education was obtained in America,
partly at Harvard, in which college his father took a great interest. He
then acted as confidential secretary to his father during the troubles
which led (1769) to the governor's recall, and accompanied Sir Francis
to England, where he was called to the bar, and practised as a
conveyancer. He married a rich wife, and acquired a considerable
fortune, and then devoted most of his time to social work for the
benefit of the poor. He was treasurer of the Foundling Hospital, in the
concerns of which he took an important part. He helped to establish in
1796 the "Society for Bettering the Condition and Increasing the
Comforts of the Poor," in 1800 a school for indigent blind, and in 1801
a fever institution. He was active in promoting vaccination, improving
the conditions of child labour, advocating rural allotments, and
agitating against the salt duties. He took great interest in education,
and with Count Rumford he was an originator of the Royal Institution in
London. He died without issue on the 1st of July 1818.
BERNARDIN OF SIENA, ST (1380-1444), Franciscan friar and preacher, was
born of a noble family in 1380. His parents died in his childhood, and
on the completion of his education he spent some years in the service of
the sick in the hospitals, and thus caught the plague, of which he
nearly died. In 1402 he entered the Franciscan order in the strict
branch called Observant, of which he became one of the chief promoters
(see FRANCISCANS). Shortly after his profession the work of preaching
was laid upon him, and for more than thirty years he preached with
wonderful effect all over Italy, and played a great part in the
religious revival of the beginning of the 15th century. In 1437 he
became vicar-general of the Observant branch of the Franciscans. He
refused three bishoprics. He died in 1444 at Aquila in the Abruzzi, and
was canonized in 1450.
The first edition of his works, for the most part elaborate sermons,
was printed at Lyons in 1501; later ones in 1636, 1650 and 1745. His
Life will be found in the Bollandists and in _Lives of the Saints_ on
the 20th of May: a good modern biography has been written by Paul
Thureau-Dangin (1896), and translated into English by Gertrude von
Hugel (1906). (E. C. B.)
BERNAUER, AGNES (d. 1435), daughter of an Augsburg baker, was secretly
married about 1432 to Albert (1401-1460), son of Ernest, duke of
Bavaria-Munich. Ignorant of the fact that this union was a lawful one,
Ernest urged his son to marry, and reproached him with his connexion
with Agnes. Albert then declared she was his lawful wife; and
subsequently, during his absence, she was seized by order of Duke Ernest
and condemned to death for witchcraft. On the 12th of October 1435 she
was drowned in the Danube near Straubing, in which town her remains were
afterwards buried by Albert. This story lived long in the memory of the
people, and its chief interest lies in its literary associations. It has
afforded material for several dramas, and Adolf Bottger, Friedrich
Hebbel and Otto Ludwig have each written one entitled _Agnes Bernauer_.
BERNAY, a town of north-western France, capital of an arrondissement in
the department of Eure, on the left bank of the Charentonne, 31 m.
W.N.W. of Evreux, on the Western railway between that town and Lisieux.
Pop. (1906) 5973. It is beautifully situated in the midst of green
wooded hills, and still justifies Madame de Stael's description of it as
"a basket of flowers." Of great antiquity, it possesses numerous quaint
wooden houses and ancient ecclesiastical buildings of considerable
interest. The abbey church is now used as a market, and the abbey, which
was founded by Judith of Brittany early in the 11th century, and
underwent a restoration in the 17th century, serves for municipal and
legal purposes. The church of Ste Croix, which has a remarkable marble
figure of the infant Jesus, dates from the 14th and 15th centuries, that
of Notre-Dame de la Couture, which preserves some good stained glass,
from the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, Bernay has a sub-prefecture, a
communal college, tribunals of commerce and of first instance, and a
board of trade-arbitrators. Among the industrial establishments of the
place are manufactories of cotton and woollen goods, bleacheries and
dye-works. Large numbers of Norman horses are sold in Lent, at the fair
known as the _Foire fleurie_, and there is also a trade in grain. Bernay
grew up round the Benedictine abbey mentioned above, and early in the
13th century was the seat of a viscount. The town, formerly fortified
was besieged by Bertrand du Guesclin, constable of France, in 1378; it
was taken several times by the English during the first half of the 15th
century, and by Admiral de Coligny in 1563. The fortress was razed in
1589.
BERNAYS, JAKOB (1824-1881), German philologist and philosophical writer,
was born at Hamburg of Jewish parents on the 11th of September 1824. His
father, Isaac Bernays (1792-1849), a man of wide culture, was the first
orthodox German rabbi to preach in the vernacular. Jakob studied from
1844 to 1848 at the university of Bonn, the philological school of
which, under Welcker and Ritschl (whose favourite pupil Bernays became),
was the best in Germany. In 1853 he accepted the chair of classical
philology at the newly founded Jewish theological college (the Frankel
seminary) at Breslau, where he formed a close friendship with Mommsen.
In 1866, when Ritschl left Bonn for Leipzig, Bernays returned to his old
university as extraordinary professor and chief librarian. He remained
at Bonn until his death on the 28th of May 1881. His chief works, which
deal mainly with the Greek philosophers, are:--_Die Lebensbeschreibung
des J.J. Scaliger_ (1855); _Uber das Phokylidische Gedicht_ (1856); _Die
Chronik des Sulpicius Severus_ (1861); _Die Dialoge des Aristoteles im
Verhaltniss zu seinen ubrigen Werken_ (1863); _Theophrastos' Schrift
uber Frommigkeit_ (1866); _Die Heraklitischen Briefe_ (1869); _Lucian
und die Cyniker_ (1879); _Zwei Abhandlungen uber die Aristolelische
Theorie des Dramas_ (1880). The last of these was a republication of his
_Grundzuge der verlorenen Abhandlungen des Aristoteles uber die Wirkung
der Tragodie_ (1857), which aroused considerable controversy.
See notices in _Biographisches Jahrbuch fur Alterthumskunde_ (1881),
and _Allgemeine deutsche Biographie_, xlvi. (1902); art. in _Jewish
Encyclopaedia_; also Sandys, _Hist. of Class. Schol._ iii. 176 (1908).
His brother, MICHAEL BERNAYS (1834-1897), was born in Hamburg on the
27th of November 1834. He studied first law and then literature at Bonn
and Heidelberg, and obtained a considerable reputation by his lectures
on Shakespeare at Leipzig and an explanatory text to Beethoven's music
to _Egmont_. Having refused an invitation to take part in the editorship
of the _Preussiche Jahrbucher_, in the same year (1866) he published his
celebrated _Zur Kritik und Geschichte des Goetheschen-Textes._ He
confirmed his reputation by his lectures at the university of Leipzig,
and in 1873 accepted the post of extraordinary professor of German
literature at Munich specially created for him by Louis II. of Bavaria.
In 1874 he became an ordinary professor, a position which he only
resigned in 1889 when he settled at Carlsruhe. He died at Carlsruhe on
the 25th of February 1897. At an early age he had embraced Christianity,
whereas his brother Jakob remained a Jew. Among his other publications
were: _Briefe Goethes an F.A. Wolf_ (1868); _Zur Enstehungsgeschichte
des Schlegelschen Shakespeare_ (1872); an introduction to Hirzel's
collection entitled _Der junge Goethe_ (1875); and he edited a revised
edition of Voss's translation of the _Odyssey_. From his literary
remains were published _Schriften zur Kritik und Litteraturgeschichte_
(1895-1899).
BERNBURG, a town in the duchy of Anhalt, Germany, on the Saale, 29 m. N.
by W. from Halle by rail, formerly the capital of the new incorporated
duchy of Anhalt-Bernburg. Pop. (1900) 34,427; (1905) 34,929. It consists
of four parts, the Altstadt or old town, the Bergstadt or hill town, the
Neustadt or new town, and the suburb of Waldau--the Bergstadt on the
right and the other three on the left of the river Saale, which is
crossed by a massive stone bridge. It is a well-built city, the
principal public buildings being the government house, the church of St
Mary, the gymnasium and the house of correction. The castle, formerly
the ducal residence, is in the Bergstadt, defended by moats, and
surrounded by beautiful gardens. Bernburg is the seat of considerable
industry, manufacturing machinery and boilers, sugar, pottery and
chemicals, and has lead and zinc smelting. Market-gardening is also
extensively carried on, and there is a large river traffic in grain and
agricultural produce.
Bernburg is of great antiquity. The Bergstadt was fortified by Otto III.
in the 10th century, and the new town was founded in the 13th. For a
long period the different parts were under separate municipalities, the
new town uniting with the old in 1560, and the Bergstadt with both in
1824. Prince Frederick removed the ducal residence to Ballenstedt in
1765.
BERNERS, JOHN BOURCHIER, 2ND BARON (1469-1533), English translator, was
born probably at Tharfield, Hertfordshire, about 1469. His father was
killed at Barnet in 1471, and he inherited his title in 1474 from his
grandfather, John Bourchier, who was a descendant of Edward III. It is
supposed that he was educated at Oxford, perhaps at Balliol. His
political life began early, for in 1484 he was implicated in a premature
attempt to place Henry, duke of Richmond (afterwards Henry VII.), on the
throne, and fled in consequence to Brittany. In 1497 he helped to put
down an insurrection in Cornwall and Devonshire, raised by Michael
Joseph, a blacksmith, and from this time was in high favour at court. He
accompanied Henry VIII. to Calais in 1513, and was a captain of pioneers
at the siege of Therouanne. In the next year he was again sent to France
as chamberlain to the king's sister Mary on her marriage with Louis
XII., but he soon returned to England. He had been given the reversion
of the office of lord chancellor, and in 1516 he received the actual
appointment. In 1518 he was sent to Madrid to negotiate an alliance with
Charles of Spain. He sent letters to Henry chronicling the bull-fights
and other doings of the Spanish court, and to Wolsey complaining of the
expense to which he was put in his position as ambassador. In the next
year he returned to England, and with his wife Catherine Howard,
daughter of the duke of Norfolk, was present in 1520 at the Field of the
Cloth of Gold. But his affairs were greatly embarrassed. He was harassed
by lawsuits about his Hertfordshire property and owed the king sums he
was unable to repay. Perhaps in the hope of repairing his fortune, he
accepted the office of deputy of Calais, where he spent the rest of his
life in comparative leisure, though still harassed by his debts, and
died on the 16th of March 1533.
His translation of _Syr Johan Froyssart of the Cronycles of England,
France, Spayne, Portyngale, Scotland, Bretayne, Flaunders: and other
places adjoynynge_, was undertaken at the request of Henry VIII., and
was printed by Richard Pynson in two volumes dated 1523 and 1525. It was
the most considerable historical work that had yet appeared in English,
and exercised great influence on 16th-century chroniclers. Berners tells
us in his prefaces of his own love of histories of all kinds, and in the
introduction to his story of Arthur of Little Britain he excuses its
"fayned mater" and "many unpossybylytees" on the ground that other well
reputed histories are equally incredible. He goes on to excuse his
deficiencies by saying that he knew himself to be unskilled in the
"facundyous arte of retoryke," and that he was but a "lerner of the
language of Frensshe." The want of rhetoric is not to be deplored. The
style of his translation is clear and simple, and he rarely introduces
French words or idioms. Two romances from the French followed: _The Boke
of Duke Huon of Burdeux_ (printed 1534? by Wynkyn de Worde), and _The
Hystory of the Moost noble and valyaunt knight Arthur of lytell
brytayne_. His other two translations, _The Castell of Love_ (printed
1540), from the _Carcel de Amor_ of Diego de San Pedro, and _The Golden
Boke of Marcus Aurelius_ (completed six days before his death, printed
1534), from a French version of Antonio Guevara's book, are in a
different manner. _The Golden Boke_ gives Berners a claim to be a
pioneer of Euphuism, although Lyly was probably acquainted with Guevara
not through his version, but through Sir Thomas North's _Dial of
Princes_. Berners is also credited with a book on the duties of the
inhabitants of Calais, which Mr Sidney Lee thinks may be identical with
the ordinance for watch and ward of Calais preserved in the Cotton MSS.
and with a lost comedy, _Ite in vineam meam_, which used to be acted at
Calais after vespers.
A biographical account of Berners is to be found in Mr Sidney Lee's
introduction to _Huon of Bourdeaux_ (Early English Text Society
1882-1883). Among the many editions of his translation of Froissart
may be mentioned that in the "Tudor Translations" (1901), with an
introductory critical note by Professor W.P. Ker.
BERNERS, BARNES or BERNES, JULIANA (b. 1388?), English writer on hawking
and hunting, is said to have been prioress of Sopwell nunnery near St
Albans, and daughter of Sir James Berners, who was beheaded in 1388. She
was probably brought up at court, and when she adopted the religious
life, she still retained her love of hawking, hunting and fishing, and
her passion for field sports. The only documentary evidence regarding
her, however, is the statement at the end of her treatise on hunting in
the _Boke of St Albans_, "Explicit Dam Julyans Barnes in her boke of
huntyng" (edition of 1486), and the name is changed by Wynkyn de Worde
to "dame Julyans Bernes." There is no such person to be found in the
pedigree of the Berners family, and there is a gap in the records of the
priory of Sopwell between 1430 and 1480. Juliana Berners is the supposed
author of the work generally known as the _Boke of St Albans_. The first
and rarest edition was printed in 1486 by an unknown schoolmaster at St
Albans. It has no title-page. Wynkyn de Worde's edition (fol. 1496),
also without a title-page, begins:--"This present boke shewyth the
manere of hawkynge and huntynge: and also of diuysynge of Cote armours.
It shewyth also a good matere belongynge to horses: wyth other
comendable treatyses. And ferdermore of the blasynge of armys: as
hereafter it maye appere." This edition was adorned by three woodcuts,
and included a "Treatyse of fysshynge wyth an Angle," not contained in
the St Albans edition. J. Haslewood, who published a facsimile of that
of Wynkyn de Worde (London, 1811, folio), with a biographical and
bibliographical notice, examined with the greatest care the author's
claims to figure as the earliest woman author in the English language.
He assigned to her little else in the _Boke_ except part of the treatise
on hawking and the section on hunting. It is expressly stated at the end
of the "Blasynge of Armys" that the section was "translatyd and
compylyt," and it is likely that the other treatises are translations,
probably from the French. An older form of the treatise on fishing was
edited in 1883 by Mr T. Satchell from a MS. in possession of Mr A.
Denison. This treatise probably dates from about 1450, and formed the
foundation of that section in the book of 1496. Only three perfect
copies of the first edition are known to exist. A facsimile, entitled
_The Book of St Albans_, with an introduction by William Blades,
appeared in 1881. During the 16th century the work was very popular, and
was many times reprinted. It was edited by Gervase Markham in 1595 as
_The Gentleman's Academie_.
BERNHARD OF SAXE-WEIMAR, DUKE (1604-1639), a celebrated general in the
Thirty Years' War, was the eleventh son of John, duke of Saxe-Weimar. He
received an unusually good education, and studied at Jena, but soon went
to the court of the Saxon elector to engage in knightly exercises. At
the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War he took the field on the
Protestant side, and served under Mansfeld at Wiesloch (1622), under the
margrave of Baden at Wimpfen (1622), and with his brother William at
Stadtlohn (1623). Undismayed by these defeats, he took part in the
campaigns of the king of Denmark; and when Christian withdrew from the
struggle Bernhard went to Holland and was present at the famous siege of
Hertogenbosch (Bois-le-Duc) in 1629. When Gustavus Adolphus landed in
Germany Bernhard quickly joined him, and for a short time he was colonel
of the Swedish life guards. After the battle of Breitenfeld he
accompanied Gustavus in his march to the Rhine and, between this event
and the battle of the Alte Veste, Bernhard commanded numerous
expeditions in almost every district from the Moselle to Tirol. At the
Alte Veste he displayed the greatest courage, and at Lutzen, when
Gustavus was killed, Bernhard immediately assumed the command, killed a
colonel who refused to lead his men to the charge, and finally by his
furious energy won the victory at sundown. At first as a subordinate to
his brother William, who as a Swedish lieutenant-general succeeded to
the command, but later as an independent commander, Bernhard continued
to push his forays over southern Germany; and with the Swedish General
Horn he made in 1633 a successful invasion into Bavaria, which was
defended by the imperialist general Arldinger. In this year he acquired
the duchy of Wurzburg, installing one of his brothers as _Stadthalter_,
and returning to the wars. A stern Protestant, he exacted heavy
contributions from the Catholic cities which he took, and his repeated
victories caused him to be regarded by German Protestants as the saviour
of their religion. But in 1634 Bernhard suffered the great defeat of
Nordlingen, in which the flower of the Swedish army perished. In 1635 he
entered the service of France, which had now intervened in the war. He
was now at the same time general-in-chief of the forces maintained by
the Heilbronn union of Protestant princes, and a general officer in the
pay of France. This double position was very difficult; in the following
campaigns, ably and resolutely conducted as they were, Bernhard
sometimes pursued a purely French policy, whilst at other times he used
the French mercenaries to forward the cause of the princes. From a
military point of view his most notable achievements were on the common
ground of the upper Rhine, in the Breisgau. In his great campaign of
1638 he won the battles of Rheinfelden, Wittenweiher and Thann, and
captured successively Rheinfelden, Fieiburg and Breisach, the last
reputed one of the strongest fortresses in Europe. Bernhard had in the
first instance received definite assurances from France that he should
be given Alsace and Hagenau, Wurzburg having been lost in the _debacle_
of 1634; he now hoped to make Breisach the capital of his new duchy. But
his health was now broken. He died on the 8/18th of July 1639 at the
beginning of the campaign, and the governor of Breisach was bribed to
transfer the fortress to France. The duke was buried at Breisach, his
remains being subsequently removed to Weimar.
See J.A.C. Hellfeld, _Geschichte Bernhards des Grossen, Herzogs v.
Saxe-Weimar_ (Jena, 1747); B. Rose, _Herzog Bernhard d. Grosse von
Saxe-Weimar_ (Weimar, 1828-1829); Droysen, _Bernhard v. Weimar_
(Leipzig, 1885).
BERNHARDT, SARAH (ROSINE BERNARD) (1845- ), French actress, was born
in Paris on the 22nd of October 1845, of mixed French and Dutch
parentage, and of Jewish descent. She was, however, baptized at the age
of twelve and brought up in a convent. At thirteen she entered the
Conservatoire, where she gained the second prize for tragedy in 1861 and
for comedy in 1862. Her _debut_ was made at the Comedie Francaise on the
11th of August 1862, in a minor part in Racine's _Iphigenie en Aulide_,
without any marked success, nor did she do much better in burlesque at
the Porte St-Martin and Gymnase. In 1867 she became a member of the
company at the Odeon, where she made her first definite successes as
Cordelia in a French translation of _King Lear_, as the queen in Victor
Hugo's _Ruy Blas_, and, above all, as Zanetto in Francois Coppee's _Le
Passant_ (1869). When peace was restored after the Franco-German War she
left the Odeon for the Comedie Francaise, thereby incurring a
considerable monetary forfeit. From that time she steadily increased her
reputation, two of the most definite steps in her progress being her
performances of Phedre in Racine's play (1874) and of Dona Sol in Victor
Hugo's _Hernani_ (1877). In 1879 she had a famous season at the Gaiety
in London. By this time her position as the greatest actress of her day
was securely established. Her amazing power of emotional acting, the
extraordinary realism and pathos of her death-scenes, the magnetism of
her personality, and the beauty of her _"voix d'or,"_ made the public
tolerant of her occasional caprices. She had developed some skill as a
sculptor, and exhibited at the Salon at various times between 1876
(honourable mention) and 1881. She also exhibited a painting there in
1880. In 1878 she published a prose sketch, _Dans les nuages; les
impressions d'une chaise_. Her comedy _L'Aveu_ was produced in 1888 at
the Odeon without much success. Her relations with the other
_societaires_ of the Comedie Francaise having become somewhat strained,
a crisis arrived in 1880, when, enraged by an unfavourable criticism of
her acting, she threw up her position on the day following the first
performance of Emile Augier's _L'Aventuriere_. This obliged her to pay a
forfeit of L4000 for breach of contract. Immediately after the rupture
she gave a series of performances in London, relying chiefly upon Scribe
and Legouve's _Adrienne Lecouvreur_ and Meilhac and Halevy's _Frou
Frou_. These were followed by tours in Denmark, America and Russia,
during 1880 and 1881, with _La Dame aux camelias_ as the principal
attraction. In 1882 she married Jacques Damala, a Greek, in London, but
separated from him at the end of the following year. After a fresh
triumph in Paris with Sardou's _Fedora_ at the Vaudeville she became
proprietress of the Porte St-Martin. Jean Richepin's _Nana Sahib_
(1883), Sardou's _Theodora_ (1884) and _La Tosca_ (1887), Jules
Barbier's _Jeanne d'Arc_ (1890) and Sardou and Moreau's _Cleopatre_
(1890) were among her most conspicuous successes here, where she
remained till she became proprietress of the Renaissance theatre in
1893. During those ten years she made several extended tours, including
visits to America in 1886-1887 and 1888-1889. Between 1891 and 1893 she
again visited America (North and South), Australia, and the chief
European capitals. In November 1893 she opened the Renaissance with _Les
Rois_ by Jules Lemaitre, which was followed by _Sylvestre_ and Morand's
_Izeyl_ (1894), Sardou's _Gismonda_ (1894) and Edmond Rostand's _La
Princesse lointaine_ (1895). In 1895 she also appeared with conspicuous
success as Magda in a French translation of Sudermann's _Heimat_. For
the next few years she visited London almost annually, and America in
1896. In that year she made a success with an adaptation of Alfred de
Musset's _Lorenzaccio_. In Easter week of 1897 she played in a religious
drama, _La Samaritaine_, by Rostand. In December 1896 an elaborate fete
was organized in Paris in her honour; and the value of this public
recognition of her position at the head of her profession was enhanced
by cordial greetings from all parts of the world. By this time she had
played one hundred and twelve parts, thirty-eight of which she had
created. Early in 1899 she removed from the Renaissance to the Theatre
des Nations, a larger house, which she opened with a revival of _La
Tosca_. In the same year she made the bold experiment of a French
production of _Hamlet_, in which she played the title part. She repeated
the impersonation in London not long afterwards, where she also appeared
(1901) as the fate-ridden son of Napoleon I., in Rostand's _L'Aiglon_,
which had been produced in Paris the year before. Of the successful
productions of her later years perhaps none was more remarkable than her
impersonation of La Tisbe in Victor Hugo's romantic drama _Angelo_
(1905).
See Jules Huret, _Sarah Bernhardt_ (1889); and her own volume of
autobiography (1907).
BERNHARDY, GOTTFRIED (1800-1875), German philologist and literary
historian, was born on the 20th of March 1800, at Landsberg on the
Wartia, in Brandenburg. He was the son of Jewish parents in reduced
circumstances. Two well-to-do uncles provided the means for his
education, and in 1811 he entered the Joachimsthal gymnasium at Berlin.
In 1817 he went to Berlin University to study philology, where he had
the advantage of hearing F.A. Wolf (then advanced in years), August
Bockh and P. Buttmann. In 1822 he took the degree of doctor of
philosophy at Berlin, and in 1825 became extraordinary professor. In
1829 he succeeded C. Reisig as ordinary professor and director of the
philological seminary at Halle, and in 1844 was appointed chief
librarian of the university. He died suddenly on the 14th of May 1875.
The most important of Bernhardy's works were his histories (or sketches)
of Greek and Roman literature; _Grundriss der romischen Litteratur_ (5th
ed., 1872); _Grundriss der griechischcn Litteratur_ (pt. i.,
Introduction and General View, 1836; pt. ii, Greek Poetry, 1845; pt.
iii., Greek Prose Literature, was never published). A fifth edition of
pts. i. and ii., by R. Volkmann, began in 1892. Other works by Bernhardy
are: _Eratosthenica_ (1822); _Wissenschaftliche Syntax der griechischen
Sprache_ (1829, suppts. 1854, 1862); _Grundlinien zur Encyclopadie der
Philologie_ (1832); the monumental edition of the Lexicon of Suidas
(1834-1853); and an edition of F.A. Wolf's _Kleine Schriften_ (1869).
See Volkmann, _G. Bernhardy_ (1887).
BERNI, FRANCESCO (1497-1536), Italian poet, was born about 1497 at
Lamporecchio, in Bibbiena, a district lying along the Upper Arno. His
family was of good descent, but excessively poor. At an early age he was
sent to Florence, where he remained till his 19th year. He then set out
for Rome, trusting to obtain some assistance from his uncle, the
Cardinal Bibbiena. The cardinal, however, did nothing for him, and he
was obliged to accept a situation as clerk or secretary to Ghiberti,
datary to Clement VII. The duties of his office, for which Berni was in
every way unfit, were exceedingly irksome to the poet, who, however,
made himself celebrated at Rome as the most witty and inventive of a
certain club of literary men, who devoted themselves to light and
sparkling effusions. So strong was the admiration for Berni's verses,
that mocking or burlesque poems have since been called _poesie
bernesca_. About the year 1530 he was relieved from his servitude by
obtaining a canonry in the cathedral of Florence. In that city he died
in 1536, according to tradition poisoned by Duke Alessandro de' Medici,
for having refused to poison the duke's cousin, Ippolito de' Medici; but
considerable obscurity rests over this story. Berni stands at the head
of Italian comic or burlesque poets. For lightness, sparkling wit,
variety of form and fluent diction, his verses are unsurpassed. Perhaps,
however, he owes his greatest fame to the recasting (_Rifacimento_) of
Boiardo's _Orlando Innamorato_. The enormous success of Ariosto's
_Orlando Furioso_ had directed fresh attention to the older poem, from
which it took its characters, and of which it is the continuation. But
Boiardo's work, though good in plan, could never have achieved wide
popularity on account of the extreme ruggedness of its style. Berni
undertook the revision of the whole poem, avowedly altering no
sentiment, removing or adding no incident, but simply giving to each
line and stanza due gracefulness and polish. His task he completed with
marvellous success; scarcely a line remains as it was, and the general
opinion has pronounced decisively in favour of the revision over the
original. To each canto he prefixed a few stanzas of reflective verse in
the manner of Ariosto, and in one of these introductions he gives us the
only certain information we have concerning his own life. Berni appears
to have been favourably disposed towards the Reformation principles at
that time introduced into Italy, and this may explain the bitterness of
some remarks of his upon the church. The first edition of the
_Rifacimento_ was printed posthumously in 1541, and it has been supposed
that a few passages either did not receive the author's final revision,
or have been retouched by another hand.
A partial translation of Berni's _Orlando_ was published by W.S. Rose
(1823).
BERNICIA, the northern of the two English kingdoms which were eventually
united in the kingdom of Northumbria. Its territory is said to have
stretched from the Tyne northwards, ultimately reaching the Forth, while
its western frontier was gradually extended at the expense of the Welsh.
The chief royal residence was Bamburgh, and near it was the island of
Lindisfarne, afterwards the see of a bishop. The first king of whom we
have any record is Ida, who is said to have obtained the throne about
547. Aethelfrith, king of Bernicia, united Deira to his own kingdom,
probably about 605, and the union continued under his successor Edwin,
son of Ella or Aelle, king of Deira. Bernicia was again separate from
Deira under Eanfrith, son of Aethelfrith (633-634), after which date the
kings of Bernicia were supreme in Northumbria, though for a short time
under Oswio Deira had a king of its own.
See Bede, _Hist. Eccles._ ii. 14, iii. 1, 14; Nennius, S 63; Simeon of
Durham, i. 339. (F. G. M. B.)
BERNICIAN SERIES, in geology, a term proposed by S.P. Woodward in 1856
(_Manual of Mollusca_, p. 409) for the lower portion of the
Carboniferous System, below the Millstone Grit. The name was suggested
by that of the ancient province of Bernicia on the Anglo-Scottish
borderland. It is practically equivalent to the "Dinantien" of A. de
Lapparent and Munier-Chalmas (1893). In 1875 G. Tate's "Calcareous and
Carbonaceous" groups of the Carboniferous Limestone series of
Northumberland were united by Professor Lebour into a single series, to
which he applied the name "Bernician"; but later he speaks of the whole
of the Carboniferous rocks of Northumberland and its borders as of the
"Bernician type," which is the most satisfactory way in which the term
may now be used (_Report of the Brit. Sub-committee on Classification
and Nomenclature_, 2nd ed., Cambridge, 1888). "Demetian" was the
corresponding designation proposed by Woodward for the Upper
Carboniferous rocks.
BERNINI, GIOVANNI LORENZO (1598-1680), Italian artist, was born at
Naples. He was more celebrated as an architect and a sculptor than as a
painter. At a very early age his great skill in modelling introduced him
to court favour at Rome, and he was specially patronized by Maffeo
Barberini, afterwards Pope Urban VIII., whose palace he designed. None
of his sculptured groups at all come up to the promised excellence of
his first effort, the Apollo and Daphne, nor are any of his paintings of
particular merit. His busts were in so much request that Charles I. of
England, being unable to have a personal interview with Bernini, sent
him three portraits by Vandyck, from which the artist was enabled to
complete his model. His architectural designs, including the great
colonnade of St Peter's, brought him perhaps his greatest celebrity.
Louis XIV., when he contemplated the restoration of the Louvre, sent for
Bernini, but did not adopt his designs. The artist's progress through
France was a triumphal procession, and he was most liberally rewarded by
the great monarch. He left a fortune of over L100,000.
BERNIS, FRANCOIS JOACHIM DE PIERRE DE (1715-1794), French cardinal and
statesman, was born at St Marcel-d'Ardeche on the 22nd of May 1715. He
was of a noble but impoverished family, and, being a younger son, was
intended for the church. He was educated at the Louis-le-Grand college
and the seminary of Saint-Sulpice, Paris, but did not take orders till
1755. He became known as one of the most expert epigrammatists in the
gay society of Louis XV.'s court, and by his verses won the friendship
of Madame de Pompadour, the royal mistress, who obtained for him an
apartment, furnished at her expense, in the Tuileries, and a yearly
pension of 1500 livres (about L60). In 1751 he was appointed to the
French embassy at Venice, where he acted, to the satisfaction of both
parties, as mediator between the republic and Pope Benedict XIV. During
his stay in Venice he received subdeacon's orders, and on his return to
France in 1755 was made a papal councillor of state. He took an
important part in the delicate negotiations between France and Austria
which preceded the Seven Years' War. He regarded the alliance purely as
a temporary expedient, and did not propose to employ the whole forces of
France in a general war. But he was overruled by his colleagues. He
became secretary for foreign affairs on the 27th of June 1757, but owing
to his attempts to counteract the spendthrift policy of the marquise de
Pompadour and her creatures, he fell into disgrace and was in December
1758 banished to Soissons by Louis XV., where he remained in retirement
for six years. In the previous November he had been created cardinal by
Clement XIII. On the death of the royal mistress in 1764, Bernis was
recalled and once more offered the seals of office, but declined them,
and was appointed archbishop of Albi. His occupancy of the see was not
of long duration. In 1769 he went to Rome to assist at the conclave
which resulted in the election of Clement XIV., and the talent which he
displayed on that occasion procured him the appointment of ambassador in
Rome, where he spent the remainder of his life. He was partly
instrumental in bringing about the suppression of the Jesuits, and acted
with greater moderation than is generally allowed. He lost his influence
under Pius VI., who was friendly to the Jesuits, and the French
Revolution, to which he was hostile, reduced him almost to penury; the
court of Spain, however, mindful of the support he had given to their
ambassador in obtaining the condemnation of the Jesuits, came to his
relief with a handsome pension. He died at Rome on the 3rd of November
1794, and was buried in the church of S. Luigi de' Francesi. In 1803 his
remains were transferred to the cathedral at Nimes. His poems, the
longest of which is _La Religion vengee_ (Parma, 1794), have no merit;
they were collected and published after his death (Paris, 1797, &c.);
his _Memoires et lettres 1715-58_ (2 vols., Paris, 1878) are still
interesting to the historian.
See Frederic Masson's prefaces to the _Memoires et lettres_, and _Le
Cardinal de Bernis depuis son ministere;_ (Paris, 1884); E. et J. de
Goncourt, _Mme de Pompadour_ (Paris, 1888), and Sainte-Beuve,
_Causeries du lundi_, t. viii.
BERNKASTEL, a town of Germany, in the Prussian Rhine province, on the
Mosel, in a deep and romantic valley, connected by a branch to Wengerohr
with the main Trier-Coblenz railway. Pop. 2300. It has some unimportant
manufactures; the chief industry is in wine, of which Berncastler Doctor
enjoys great repute. Above the town lie the ruins of the castle
Landshut. Bernkastel originally belonged to the chapter of Trier, and
received its name from one of the provosts of the cathedral, Adalbero of
Luxemburg (hence _Adalberonis castellum_).
BERNOULLI, or BERNOUILLI, the name of an illustrious family in the
annals of science, who came originally from Antwerp. Driven from their
country during the oppressive government of Spain for their attachment
to the Reformed religion, the Bernoullis sought first an asylum at
Frankfort (1583), and afterwards at Basel, where they ultimately
obtained the highest distinctions. In the course of a century eight of
its members successfully cultivated various branches of mathematics, and
contributed powerfully to the advance of science. The most celebrated
were Jacques (James), Jean (John) and Daniel, the first, second and
fourth as dealt with below; but, for the sake of perspicuity they may be
considered as nearly as possible in the order of family succession. A
complete summary of the great developments of mathematical learning,
which the members of this family effected, lies outside the scope of
this notice. More detailed accounts are to be found in the various
mathematical articles.
I. JACQUES BERNOULLI (1654-1705), mathematician, was born at Basel on
the 27th of December 1654. He was educated at the public school of
Basel, and also received private instruction from the learned Hoffmann,
then professor of Greek. At the conclusion of his philosophical studies
at the university, some geometrical figures, which fell in his way,
excited in him a passion for mathematical pursuits, and in spite of the
opposition of his father, who wished him to be a clergyman, he applied
himself in secret to his favourite science. In 1676 he visited Geneva on
his way to France, and subsequently travelled to England and Holland.
While at Geneva he taught a blind girl several branches of science, and
also how to write; and this led him to publish _A Method of Teaching
Mathematics to the Blind_. At Bordeaux his _Universal Tables on
Dialling_ were constructed; and in London he was admitted to the
meetings of Robert Boyle, Robert Hooke and other learned and scientific
men. On his final return to Basel in 1682, he devoted himself to
physical and mathematical investigations, and opened a public seminary
for experimental physics. In the same year he published his essay on
comets, _Conamen Novi Systematis Cometarum_, which was occasioned by the
appearance of the comet of 1680. This essay, and his next publication,
entitled _De Gravitate Aetheris_, were deeply tinged with the philosophy
of Rene Descartes, but they contain truths not unworthy of the
philosophy of Sir Isaac Newton's _Principia_.
Jacques Bernoulli cannot be strictly called an independent discoverer;
but, from his extensive and successful application of the calculus and
other mathematical methods, he is deserving of a place by the side of
Newton and Leibnitz. As an additional claim to remembrance, he was the
first to solve Leibnitz's problem of the isochronous curve (_Acta
Eruditorum_, 1690). He proposed the problem of the catenary (q.v.) or
curve formed by a chain suspended by its two extremities, accepted
Leibnitz's construction of the curve and solved more complicated
problems relating to it. He determined the "elastic curve," which is
formed by an elastic plate or rod fixed at one end and bent by a weight
applied to the other, and which he showed to be the same as the
curvature of an impervious sail filled with a liquid (_lintearia_). In
his investigations respecting cycloidal lines and various spiral curves,
his attention was directed to the loxodromic and logarithmic spirals, in
the last of which he took particular interest from its remarkable
property of reproducing itself under a variety of conditions.
In 1696 he proposed the famous problem of isoperimetrical figures, and
offered a reward for its solution. This problem engaged the attention of
British as well as continental mathematicians; and its proposal gave
rise to a painful quarrel with his brother Jean. Jean offered a solution
of the problem; his brother pronounced it to be wrong. Jean then amended
his solution, and again offered it, and claimed the reward. Jacques
still declared it to be no solution, and soon after published his own.
In 1701 he published also the demonstration of his solution, which was
accepted by the marquis de l'Hopital and Leibnitz. Jean, however, held
his peace for several years, and then dishonestly published, after the
death of Jacques, another incorrect solution; and not until 1718 did he
admit that he had been in error. Even then he set forth as his own his
brother's solution purposely disguised.
In 1687 the mathematical chair of the university of Basel was conferred
upon Jacques. He was once made rector of his university, and had other
distinctions bestowed on him. He and his brother Jean were the first two
foreign associates of the Academy of Sciences of Paris; and, at the
request of Leibnitz, they were both received as members of the academy
of Berlin. In 1684 he had been offered a professorship at Heidelberg;
but his marriage with a lady of his native city led him to decline the
invitation. Intense application brought on infirmities and a slow fever,
of which he died on the 16th of August 1705. Like another Archimedes, he
requested that the logarithmic spiral should be engraven on his
tombstone, with these words, _Eadem mutata resurgo_.
Jacques Bernoulli wrote elegant verses in Latin, German and French;
but although these were held in high estimation in his own time, it is
on his mathematical works that his fame now rests. These are:--_Jacobi
Bernoulli Basiliensis Opera_ (Genevae, 1744), 2 tom. 4to; _Ars
Conjectandi, opus posthumum: accedunt tractatus de Seriebus Infinitis,
et epistola (Gallice scripta) de Ludo Pilae Reticularis_ (Basiliae,
1713), 1 tom. 4to.
II. JEAN BERNOULLI (1667-1748), brother of the preceding, was born at
Basel on the 27th of July 1667. After finishing his literary studies he
was sent to Neuchatel to learn commerce and acquire the French language.
But at the end of a year he renounced the pursuits of commerce, returned
to the university of Basel, and was admitted to the degree of bachelor
in philosophy, and a year later, at the age of 18, to that of master of
arts. In his studies he was aided by his elder brother Jacques.
Chemistry, as well as mathematics, seems to have been the object of his
early attention; and in the year 1690 he published a dissertation on
effervescence and fermentation. The same year he went to Geneva, where
he gave instruction in the differential calculus to Nicolas Fatio de
Duillier, and afterwards proceeded to Paris, where he enjoyed the
society of N. Malebranche, J.D. Cassini, Philip de Lahire and Pierre
Varignon. With the marquis de l'Hopital he spent four months studying
higher geometry and the resources of the new calculus. His independent
discoveries in mathematics are numerous and important. Among these were
the exponential calculus, and the curve called by him the _linea
brachistochrona_, or line of swiftest descent, which he was the first to
determine, pointing out at the same time the relation which this curve
bears to the path described by a ray of light passing through strata of
variable density. On his return to his native city he studied medicine,
and in 1694 took the degree of M.D. Although he had declined a
professorship in Germany, he now accepted an invitation to the chair of
mathematics at Groningen (_Commercium Philosophicum_, epist. xi. and
xii.). There, in addition to the learned lectures by which he
endeavoured to revive mathematical science in the university, he gave a
public course of experimental physics. During a residence of ten years
in Groningen, his controversies were almost as numerous as his
discoveries. His dissertation on the "barometric light," first observed
by Jean Picard, and discussed by Jean Bernoulli under the name of
mercurial phosphorus, or mercury shining in vacuo (_Diss. physica de
mercurio lucente in vacuo_), procured him the notice of royalty, and
engaged him in controversy. Through the influence of Leibnitz he
received from the king of Prussia a gold medal for his supposed
discoveries; but Nicolaus Hartsoeker and some of the French academicians
disputed the fact. The family quarrel about the problem of
isoperimetrical figures above mentioned began about this time. In his
dispute with his brother, in his controversies with the English and
Scottish mathematicians, and in his harsh and jealous bearing to his son
Daniel, he showed a mean, unfair and violent temper. He had declined,
during his residence at Groningen, an invitation to Utrecht, but
accepted in 1705 the mathematical chair in the university of his native
city, vacant by the death of his brother Jacques; and here he remained
till his death. His inaugural discourse was on the "new analysis," which
he so successfully applied in investigating various problems both in
pure and applied mathematics.
He was several times a successful competitor for the prizes given by the
Academy of Sciences of Paris; the subjects of his essays being:--the
laws of motion (_Discours sur les lois de la communication du
mouvement_, 1727), the elliptical orbits of the planets, and the
inclinations of the planetary orbits (_Essai d'une nouvelle physique
celeste_, 1735). In the last case his son Daniel divided the prize with
him. Some years after his return to Basel he published an essay,
entitled _Nouvelle Theorie de la manoeuvre des vaisseaux_. It is,
however, his works in pure mathematics that are the permanent monuments
of his fame. Jean le Rond d'Alembert acknowledges with gratitude, that
"whatever he knew of mathematics he owed to the works of Jean
Bernoulli." He was a member of almost every learned society in Europe,
and one of the first mathematicians of a mathematical age. He was as
keen in his resentments as he was ardent in his friendships; fondly
attached to his family, he yet disliked a deserving son; he gave full
praise to Leibnitz and Leonhard Euler, yet was blind to the excellence
of Sir Isaac Newton. Such was the vigour of his constitution that he
continued to pursue his usual mathematical studies till the age of
eighty. He was then attacked by a complaint at first apparently
trifling; but his strength daily and rapidly declined till the 1st of
January 1748, when he died peacefully in his sleep.
His writings were collected under his own eye by Gabriel Cramer,
professor of mathematics at Geneva, and published under the title of
_Johannis Bernoulli Operi Omnia_ (Lausan. et Genev.), 4 tom. 4to; his
interesting correspondence with Leibnitz appeared under the title of
_Gul. Leibnitii et Johannis Bernoulli Commercium Philosophicum et
Mathematicum_ (Lausan. et Genev. 1745), 2 tom. 4to.
III. NICOLAS BERNOULLI (1695-1726), the eldest of the three sons of Jean
Bernoulli, was born on the 27th of January 1695. At the age of eight he
could speak German, Dutch, French and Latin. When his father returned to
Basel he went to the university of that city, where, at the age of
sixteen, he took the degree of doctor in philosophy, and four years
later the highest degree in law. Meanwhile the study of mathematics was
not neglected, as appears not only from his giving instruction in
geometry to his younger brother Daniel, but from his writings on the
differential, integral, and exponential calculus, and from his father
considering him, at the age of twenty-one, worthy of receiving the torch
of science from his own hands. ("Lampada nunc tradam filio meo natu
maximo, juveni xxi. annorum, ingenio mathematico aliisque dotibus satis
instructo," _Com. Phil._ ep. 223.) With his father's permission he
visited Italy and France, and during his travels formed friendship with
Pierre Varignon and Count Riccati. The invitation of a Venetian nobleman
induced him again to visit Italy, where he resided two years, till his
return to be a candidate for the chair of jurisprudence at Basel. He was
unsuccessful, but was soon afterwards appointed to a similar office in
the university of Bern. Here he resided three years, his happiness only
marred by regret on account of his separation from his brother Daniel.
Both were appointed at the same time professors of mathematics in the
academy of St Petersburg; but this office Nicolas enjoyed for little
more then eight months. He died on the 26th of July 1726 of a lingering
fever. Sensible of the loss which the nation had sustained by his death,
the empress Catherine ordered him a funeral at the public expense.
Some of his papers are published in his father's works, and others in
the _Acta Eruditorum_ and the _Comment. Acad. Petropol._
IV. DANIEL BERNOULLI (1700-1782), the second son of Jean Bernoulli, was
born on the 29th of January 1700, at Groningen. He studied medicine and
became a physician, but his attention was early directed also to
geometrical studies. The severity of his father's manner was
ill-calculated to encourage the first efforts of one so sensitive; but
fortunately, at the age of eleven, he became the pupil of his brother
Nicolas. He afterwards studied in Italy under Francesco Domenico
Michelotti and Giambattista Morgagni. After his return, though only
twenty-four years of age, he was invited to become president of an
academy then projected at Genoa; but, declining this honour, he was, in
the following year, appointed professor of mathematics at St Petersburg.
In consequence of the state of his health, however, he returned to Basel
in 1733, where he was appointed professor of anatomy and botany, and
afterwards of experimental and speculative philosophy. In the labours of
this office he spent the remaining years of his life. He had previously
published some medical and botanical dissertations, besides his
_Exercitationes quaedam Mathematicae_, containing a solution of the
differential equation proposed by Riccati and now known by his name. In
1738 appeared his _Hydrodynamica_, in which the equilibrium, the
pressure, the reaction and varied velocities of fluids are considered
both theoretically and practically. One of these problems, illustrated
by experiment, deals with an ingenious mode of propelling vessels by the
reaction of water ejected from the stern. Some of his experiments on
this subject were performed before Pierre Louis M. de Maupertuis and
Alexis Claude Clairaut, whom the fame of the Bernoullis had attracted to
Basel. With a success equalled only by Leonhard Euler, Daniel Bernoulli
gained or shared no less than ten prizes of the Academy of Sciences of
Paris. The first, for a memoir on the construction of a clepsydra for
measuring time exactly at sea, he gained at the age of twenty-four; the
second, for one on the physical cause of the inclination of the
planetary orbits, he divided with his father; and the third, for a
communication on the tides, he shared with Euler, Colin Maclaurin and
another competitor. The problem of vibrating cords, which had been some
time before resolved by Brook Taylor (1685-1731) and d'Alembert, became
the subject of a long discussion conducted in a generous spirit between
Bernoulli and his friend Euler. In one of his early investigations he
gave an ingenious though indirect demonstration of the problem of the
parallelogram of forces. His labours in the decline of life were chiefly
directed to the doctrine of probabilities in reference to practical
purposes, and in particular to economical subjects, as, for example, to
inoculation, and to the duration of married life in the two sexes, as
well as to the relative proportion of male and female births. He
retained his usual vigour of understanding till near the age of eighty,
when his nephew Jacques relieved him of his public duties. He was
afflicted with asthma, and his retirement was relieved only by the
society of a few chosen friends. He died on the 17th of March 1782 at
Basel. Excluded by his professional character from the councils of the
republic, he nevertheless received all the deference and honour due to a
first magistrate. He was wont to mention the following as the two
incidents in his life which had afforded him the greatest
pleasure,--that a stranger, whom he had met as a travelling companion in
his youth, made to his declaration "I am Daniel Bernoulli" the
incredulous and mocking reply, "And I am Isaac Newton"; and that, while
entertaining Konig and other guests, he solved without rising from table
a problem which that mathematician had submitted as difficult and
lengthy. Like his father, he was a member of almost every learned
society of Europe, and he succeeded him as foreign associate of the
Academy of Paris.
Several of his investigations are contained in the earlier volumes of
the _Comment. Acad. Petropol._; and his separately published works
are:--_Dissertatio Inaugur. Phys. Med. de Respiratione_ (Basil. 1721),
4to; _Positiones Anatomico-Botanicae_ (Basil. 1721), 4to;
_Exercitationes quaedam Mathematicae_ (Venetiis, 1724), 4to;
_Hydrodynamica_ (Argentorati, 1738), 4to.
V. JEAN BERNOULLI (1710-1790), the youngest of the three sons of Jean
Bernoulli, was born at Basel on the 18th of May 1710. He studied law and
mathematics, and, after travelling in France, was for five years
professor of eloquence in the university of his native city. On the
death of his father he succeeded him as professor of mathematics. He was
thrice a successful competitor for the prizes of the Academy of Sciences
of Paris. His prize subjects were, the capstan, the propagation of
light, and the magnet. He enjoyed the friendship of P.L.M. de
Maupertuis, who died under his roof while on his way to Berlin. He
himself died in 1790. His two sons, Jean and Jacques, are the last noted
mathematicians of the family.
VI. NICOLAS BERNOULLI (1687-1759), cousin of the three preceding, and
son of Nicolas Bernoulli, one of the senators of Basel, was born in that
city on the 10th of October 1687. He visited England, where he was
kindly received by Sir Isaac Newton and Edmund Halley (_Com. Phil._ ep.
199), held for a time the mathematical chair at Padua, and was
successively professor of logic and of law at Basel, where he died on
the 29th of November 1759. He was editor of the _Ars Conjectandi_ of his
uncle Jacques. His own works are contained in the _Acta Eruditorum_, the
_Giornale de' letterati d' Italia_, and the _Commercium Philosophicum_.
VII. JEAN BERNOULLI (1744-1807), grandson of the first Jean Bernoulli,
and son of the second of that name, was born at Basel on the 4th of
November 1744. He studied at Basel and at Neuchatel, and when thirteen
years of age took the degree of doctor in philosophy. At nineteen he was
appointed astronomer royal of Berlin. Some years after, he visited
Germany, France and England, and subsequently Italy, Russia and Poland.
On his return to Berlin he was appointed director of the mathematical
department of the academy. Here he died on the 13th of July 1807. His
writings consist of travels and astronomical, geographical and
mathematical works. In 1774 he published a French translation of
Leonhard Euler's _Elements of Algebra_. He contributed several papers to
the Academy of Berlin.
VIII. JACQUES BERNOULLI (1759-1789), younger brother of the preceding,
and the second of this name, was born at Basel on the 17th of October
1759. Having finished his literary studies, he was, according to custom,
sent to Neuchatel to learn French. On his return he graduated in law.
This study, however, did not check his hereditary taste for geometry.
The early lessons which he had received from his father were continued
by his uncle Daniel, and such was his progress that at the age of
twenty-one he was called to undertake the duties of the chair of
experimental physics, which his uncle's advanced years rendered him
unable to discharge. He afterwards accepted the situation of secretary
to count de Brenner, which afforded him an opportunity of seeing Germany
and Italy. In Italy he formed a friendship with Lorgna, professor of
mathematics at Verona, and one of the founders of the _Societa Italiana_
for the encouragement of the sciences. He was also made corresponding
member of the royal society of Turin; and, while residing at Venice, he
was, through the friendly representation of Nicolaus von Fuss, admitted
into the academy of St Petersburg. In 1788 he was named one of its
mathematical professors.
He was tragically drowned while bathing in the Neva in July 1789, a few
months after his marriage with a daughter of Albert Euler, son of
Leonhard Euler.
Several of his papers are contained in the first six volumes of _Nova
Acta Acad. Scien. Imper. Petropol._, in the _Acta Helvetica_, in the
_Memoirs of the Academies of Berlin and Turin_, and in his brother
John's publications. He also published separately some juridical and
physical theses, and a German translation of _Memoires du philosophe
de Merian_. See generally M. Cantor, _Geschichte der Mathematik_; J.C.
Poggendorff, _Biographisch-literarisches Handworterbuch_ (1863-1904).
BERNSTEIN, AARON (1812-1884), Jewish scientist, author and reformer. In
the middle of the 19th century Bernstein took an active share in the
movement for synagogue reform in Germany. He was the author of two
delightful Ghetto stories, _Vogele der Maggid_ and _Mendel Gibbor_,
being one of the originators of this _genre_ of modern fiction. He was
also a publicist, and his _History of Revolution and Reaction in
Germany_ (3 vols., 1883-1884) was a collection of important political
essays.
BERNSTORFF, ANDREAS PETER, COUNT VON (1735-1797), Danish statesman, was
born at Hanover on the 28th of August 1735. His career was determined by
his uncle, Johann Hartwig Ernst Bernstorff, who early discerned the
talents of his nephew and induced him to study in the German and Swiss
universities and travel for some years in Italy, France, England and
Holland, to prepare himself for a statesman's career. During these
_Wanderjahre_ he made the acquaintance of the poets Gellert and Jacobi,
the learned Jean-Jacques Barthelemy, the duc de Choiseul, and Gottfried
Achenwall, the statistician. At his uncle's desire he rejected the
Hanoverian for the Danish service, and in 1759 took his seat in the
German chancery at Copenhagen. In 1767, at the same time as his uncle,
he was created a count, and in 1769 was made a privy-councillor. He is
described at this period as intellectual, upright and absolutely
trustworthy, but obstinate and self-opinionated to the highest degree,
arguing with antiquaries about coins, with equerries about horses, and
with foreigners about their own countries, always certain that he was
right and they wrong, whatever the discussion might be. He shared the
disgrace of his uncle when Struensee came into power, but re-entered the
Danish service after Struensee's fall at the end of 1772, working at
first in the financial and economical departments, and taking an
especial interest in agriculture. The improvements he introduced in the
tenures of his peasantry anticipated in some respects the agricultural
reforms of the next generation.
In April 1773 Bernstorff was transferred to the position for which he
was especially fitted, the ministry of foreign affairs, with which he
combined the presidency of the German chancery (for Schleswig-Holstein).
His predecessor, Adolf Siegfried Osten, had been dismissed because he
was not _persona grata_ at St Petersburg, and Bernstorff's first
official act was to conclude the negotiations which had long been
pending with the grand-duke Paul as duke of Holstein-Gottorp. The result
was the exchange-treaty of the 1st of June (May 21 O.S.) 1773,
confirming the previous treaty of 1767 (see BERNSTORFF, J.H.E.). This
was followed by the treaty of alliance between Denmark and Russia of the
12th of August 1773, which was partly a mutually defensive league, and
partly an engagement between the two states to upset the new
constitution recently established in Sweden by Gustavus III., when the
right moment for doing so should arrive. For this mischievous and
immoral alliance, which bound Denmark to the wheels of the Russian
empress's chariot and sought to interfere in the internal affairs of a
neighbouring state, Bernstorff was scarcely responsible, for the
preliminaries had been definitely settled in his uncle's time and he
merely concluded them. But there can be no doubt that he regarded this
anti-Swedish policy as the correct one for Denmark, especially with a
monarch like Gustavus III. on the Swedish throne. It is also pretty
certain that the anti-Swedish alliance was Russia's price for
compounding the Gottorp difficulty.
Starting from the hypothesis that Sweden was "Denmark-Norway's most
active and irreconcilable enemy," Bernstorff logically included France,
the secular ally of Sweden, among the hostile powers with whom an
alliance was to be avoided, and drew near to Great Britain as the
natural foe of France, especially during the American War of
Independence, and this too despite the irritation occasioned in
Denmark-Norway by Great Britain's masterful interpretation of the
expression "contraband." Bernstorff's sympathy with England grew
stronger still when in 1779 Spain joined her enemies; and he was much
inclined, the same winter, to join a triple alliance between Great
Britain, Russia and Denmark-Norway, proposed by England for the purpose
of compelling the Bourbon powers to accept reasonable terms of peace.
But he was overruled by the crown prince Frederick, who thought such a
policy too hazardous, when Russia declined to have anything to do with
it. Instead of this the Russian chancellor Nikita Panin proposed an
armed league to embrace all the neutral powers, for the purpose of
protecting neutral shipping in time of war. This league was very similar
to one proposed by Bernstorff himself in September 1778 for enforcing
the principle "a free ship makes the cargo free"; but as now presented
by Russia, he rightly regarded it as directed exclusively against
England. He acceded to it indeed (9th of July 1780) because he could not
help doing so; but he had previously, by a separate treaty with England,
on the 4th of July, come to an understanding with that power as to the
meaning of the expression "contraband of war." This independence caused
great wrath at St Petersburg, where Bernstorff was accused of
disloyalty, and ultimately sacrificed to the resentment of the Russian
government (13th of November 1780), the more readily as he already
disagreed on many important points of domestic administration with the
prime minister Hoegh Guldberg. He retired to his Mecklenburg estates,
but on the fall of Guldberg four years later, was recalled to office
(April 1784). The ensuing thirteen years were perhaps the best days of
the old Danish absolutism. The government, under the direction of such
enlightened ministers as Bernstorff, Reventlow and others, held the mean
between Struensee's extravagant cosmopolitanism and Guldberg's stiff
conservatism. In such noble projects of reform as the emancipation of
the serfs (see REVENTLOW) Bernstorff took a leading part, and so closely
did he associate himself with everything Danish, so popular did he
become in the Danish capital, that a Swedish diplomatist expressed the
opinion that henceforth Bernstorff could not be removed without danger.
Liberal-minded as he was, he held that "the will of the nation should be
a law to the king," and he boldly upheld the freedom of the press as the
surest of safety-valves.
Meanwhile foreign complications were again endangering the position of
Denmark-Norway. As Bernstorff had predicted, Panin's neutrality project
had resulted in a breach between Great Britain and Russia. Then came
Gustavus III.'s sudden war with Russia in 1788. Bernstorff was bound by
treaty to assist Russia in such a contingency, but he took care that the
assistance so rendered should be as trifling as possible, to avoid
offending Great Britain and Prussia. Still more menacing became the
political situation on the outbreak of the French Revolution.
Ill-disposed as Bernstorff was towards the Jacobins, he now condemned on
principle any interference in the domestic affairs of France, and he was
persuaded that Denmark's safest policy was to keep clear of every
anti-French coalition. From this unassailable standpoint he never
swerved, despite the promises and even the menaces both of the eastern
and the western powers. He was rewarded with complete success and the
respect of all the diplomatists in Europe. His neutrality treaty with
Sweden (17th of March 1794), for protecting their merchantmen by
combined squadrons, was also extremely beneficial to the Scandinavian
powers, both commercially and politically. Taught by the lesson of
Poland, he had, in fact, long since abandoned his former policy of
weakening Sweden. Bernstorff's great faculties appeared, indeed, to
mature and increase with age, and his death, on the 21st of June 1797,
was regarded in Denmark as a national calamity.
Count Bernstorff was twice married, his wives being the two sisters of
the writers Counts Christian and Friedrich Leopold zu Stolberg. He left
seven sons and three daughters. Of his sons the best known is Christian
Gunther, count von Bernstorff. Another, Count Joachim, was attached to
his brother's fortunes so long as he remained in the Danish service, was
associated with him in representing Denmark at the congress of Vienna,
and in 1815 was appointed ambassador at that court.
See Rasmus Nyerup, _Bernstorffs Eftermaele_ (Kjobenhavn, 1799); Peter
Edward Holm, _Danmark-Norges udenrigske Historie_ (Copenhagen, 1875);
_Danmarks Riges Historie V._ (Copenhagen, 1897-1905); Christian Ulrich
Detlev von Eggers, _Denkwurdigskeiten aus dem Leben des Grafen A.P.
Bernstorff_ (Copenhagen, 1800); Aage Frus, _A.P. Bernstorff og O.
Hoegh-Guldberg_ (Copenhagen, 1899); and _Bernstorfferne og Danmark_
(Copenhagen, 1903). (R. N. B.)
BERNSTORFF, CHRISTIAN GUNTHER, COUNT VON (1769-1835), Danish and
Prussian statesman and diplomatist, son of Count Andreas Peter von
Bernstorff, was born at Copenhagen on the 3rd of April 1769. Educated
for the diplomatic service under his father's direction, he began his
career in 1787, as attache to the representative of Denmark at the
opening of the Swedish diet. In 1789 he went as secretary of legation to
Berlin, where his maternal uncle, Count Leopold Friedrich zu Stolberg,
was Danish ambassador. His uncle's influence, as well as his own social
qualities, obtained him rapid promotion; he was soon charge d'affaires,
and in 1791 minister plenipotentiary. In 1794 he exchanged this post for
the important one of ambassador at Stockholm, where he remained until
May 1797, when he was summoned to Copenhagen to act as substitute for
his father during his illness. On the death of the latter (21st June),
he succeeded him as secretary of state for foreign affairs and privy
councillor. In 1800 he became head of the ministry. He remained
responsible for the foreign policy of Denmark until May 1810, a fateful
period which saw the battle of Copenhagen (2nd of April 1801), the
bombardment of Copenhagen and capture of the Danish fleet in 1807. After
his retirement he remained without office until his appointment in 1811
as Danish ambassador at Vienna. He remained here, in spite of the fact
that for a while Denmark was nominally at war with Austria, until, in
January 1814, on the accession of Denmark to the coalition against
Napoleon, he publicly resumed his functions as ambassador. He
accompanied the emperor Francis to Paris, and was present at the
signature of the first peace of Paris. With his brother Joachim, he
represented Denmark at the congress of Vienna and, as a member for the
commission for the regulation of the affairs of Germany, was responsible
for some of that confusion of Danish and German interests which was to
bear bitter fruit later in the Schleswig-Holstein question (q.v.). He
again accompanied the allied sovereigns to Paris in 1815, returning to
Copenhagen the same year. In 1817 he was appointed Danish ambassador at
Berlin, his brother Joachim going at the same time to Vienna. In the
following year Prince Hardenberg made him the formal proposition that he
should transfer his services to Prussia, which, with the consent of his
sovereign, he did.
It was, therefore, as a Prussian diplomat that Bernstorff attended the
congress of Aix-la-Chapelle (October 1818), at the close of which he
returned to Berlin as minister of state and head of the department for
foreign affairs. Bernstorff's management of Prussian policy during the
many years that he remained in office has been variously judged. He was
by training and temperament opposed to the Revolution, and he was
initiated into his new duties as a Prussian minister by the reactionary
Ancillon. He is accused of having subordinated the particular interests
of Prussia to the European policy of Metternich and the "Holy Alliance."
Whether any other policy would in the long run have served Prussia
better is a matter for speculation. It is true that Bernstorff supported
the Carlsbad decrees, and the Vienna Final Act; he was also the faithful
henchman of Metternich at the congresses of Laibach, Troppau and Verona.
On the other hand, he took a considerable share in laying the
foundations of the customs union (_Zollverein_), which was destined to
be the foundation of the Prussian hegemony in Germany. In his support of
Russia's action against Turkey in 1828 also he showed that he was no
blind follower of Metternich's views. In the crisis of 1830 his
moderation in face of the warlike clamour of the military party at
Berlin did much to prevent the troubles in Belgium and Poland from
ending in a universal European conflagration.
From 1824 onward Bernstorff had been a constant sufferer from hereditary
gout, intensified and complicated by the results of overwork. In the
spring of 1832 the state of his health compelled him to resign the
ministry of foreign affairs to Ancillon, who had already acted as his
deputy for a year. He died on the 18th of March 1835.
See J. Caro in _Allgem. Deutsch. Biog._ s.v.; also H. von Treitschke,
_Deutsche Geschichte_ (Leipzig, 1874-1894). (R. N. B.)
BERNSTORFF, JOHANN HARTWIG ERNST, COUNT VON (1712-1772), Danish
statesman, who came of a very ancient Mecklenburg family, was the son of
Joachim Engelke, Freiherr von Bernstorff, chamberlain to the elector of
Hanover, and was born on the 13th of May 1712. His maternal grandfather,
Andreas Gottlieb Bernstorff (1640-1726), had been one of the ablest
ministers of George I., and under his guidance Johann was very carefully
educated, acquiring amongst other things that intimate knowledge of the
leading European languages, especially French, which ever afterwards
distinguished him. He was introduced into the Danish service by his
relations, the brothers Plessen, who were ministers of state under
Christian VI. In 1732 he was sent on a diplomatic mission to the court
of Dresden; and from 1738 he represented Holstein at the diet of
Regensburg, from 1744 to 1750 he represented Denmark at Paris, whence he
returned in 1754 to Denmark as minister of foreign affairs. Supported by
the powerful favourite A.G. Moltke, and highly respected by Frederick
V., he occupied for twenty-one years the highest position in the
government, and in the council of state his opinion was decisive. But
his chief concern was with foreign affairs. Ever since the conclusion of
the Great Northern War, Danish statesmen had been occupied in harvesting
its fruits, namely, the Gottorp portions of Schleswig definitely annexed
to Denmark in 1721 by the treaty of Nystad, and endeavouring to bring
about a definitive general understanding with the house of Gottorp as to
their remaining possessions in Holstein. With the head of the Swedish
branch of the Gottorps, the crown prince Adolphus Frederick, things had
been arranged by the exchange of 1750; but an attempt to make a similar
arrangement with the chief of the elder Gottorp line, the cesarevitch
Peter Feodorovich, had failed. In intimate connexion with the Gottorp
affair stood the question of the political equilibrium of the north.
Ever since Russia had become the dominant Baltic power, as well as the
state to which the Gottorpers looked primarily for help, the necessity
for a better understanding between the two Scandinavian kingdoms had
clearly been recognized by the best statesmen of both, especially in
Denmark from Christian VI.'s time; but unfortunately this sound and
sensible policy was seriously impeded by the survival of the old
national hatred on both sides of the Sound, still further complicated by
Gottorp's hatred of Denmark. Moreover, it was a diplomatic axiom in
Denmark, founded on experience, that an absolute monarchy in Sweden was
incomparably more dangerous to her neighbour than a limited monarchy,
and after the collapse of Swedish absolutism with Charles XII., the
upholding of the comparatively feeble, and ultimately anarchical,
parliamentary government of Sweden became a question of principle with
Danish statesmen throughout the 18th century. A friendly alliance with a
relatively weak Sweden was the cardinal point of Bernstorff's policy.
But his plans were traversed again and again by unforeseen
complications, the failure of the most promising presumptions, the
perpetual shifting of apparently stable alliances; and again and again
he had to modify his means to attain his ends. Amidst all these
perplexities Bernstorff approved himself a consummate statesman. It
seemed almost as if his wits were sharpened into a keener edge by his
very difficulties; but since he condemned on principle every war which
was not strictly defensive, and it had fallen to his lot to guide a
comparatively small power, he always preferred the way of negotiation,
even sometimes where the diplomatic tangle would perhaps best have been
severed boldly by the sword. The first difficult problem he had to face
was the Seven Years' War. He was determined to preserve the neutrality
of Denmark at any cost, and this he succeeded in doing, despite the
existence of a subsidy-treaty with the king of Prussia, and the
suspicions of England and Sweden. It was through his initiative, too,
that the convention of Kloster-Seven was signed (10th of September
1757), and on the 4th of May 1758 he concluded a still more promising
treaty with France, whereby, in consideration of Denmark's holding an
army-corps of 24,000 men in Holstein till the end of the war, to secure
Hamburg, Lubeck and the Gottorp part of Holstein from invasion, France,
and ultimately Austria also, engaged to bring about an exchange between
the king of Denmark and the cesarevitch, as regards Holstein. But the
course of the war made this compact inoperative. Austria hastened to
repudiate her guarantee to Denmark in order not to offend the new
emperor of Russia, Peter III., and one of Peter's first acts on
ascending the throne was to declare war against Denmark. The coolness
and firmness of Bernstorff saved the situation. He protested that the
king of Denmark was bound to defend Schleswig "so long as there was a
sword in Denmark and a drop of blood in the veins of the Danish people."
He rejected the insulting ultimatum of the Russian emperor. He placed
the best French general of the day at the head of the well-equipped
Danish army. But just as the Russian and Danish armies had come within
striking distance, the tidings reached Copenhagen that Peter III. had
been overthrown by his consort. Bernstorff was one of the first to
recognize the impotence of the French monarchy after the Seven Years'
War, and in 1763 he considered it expedient to exchange the French for
the Russian alliance, which was cemented by the treaty of the 28th of
April (March 11) 1765. This compact engaged Denmark to join with Russia
in upholding the existing Swedish constitution, in return for which
Catherine II. undertook to adjust the Gottorp difficulty by the cession
of the Gottorp portion of Holstein in exchange for the counties of
Oldenburg and Delmenhorst. For his part in this treaty Bernstorff was
created count. On the accession of Christian VII., in 1766, Bernstorff's
position became very precarious, and he was exposed to all manner of
attacks, being accused, without a shadow of truth, of exploiting
Denmark, and of unduly promoting foreigners. It is remarkable, however,
that though Bernstorff ruled Denmark for twenty years he never learnt
Danish. His last political achievement was to draw still closer to
Russia by the treaty of the 13th of December 1769, the most important
paragraph of which stipulated that any change in the Swedish
constitution should be regarded by Denmark and Russia as a _casus belli_
against Sweden, and that in the event of such a war Denmark should
retain all the territory conquered from Sweden. This treaty proved to be
a great mistake on Denmark's part, but circumstances seemed at the time
to warrant it. Nine months later, on the 13th of September 1770,
Bernstorff was dismissed as the result of Struensee's intrigues, and,
rejecting the brilliant offers of Catherine II. if he would enter the
Russian service, retired to his German estates, where he died on the
18th of February 1772. Bernstorff was not only one of the ablest but one
of the noblest and most conscientious statesmen of his day. The motto he
chose on receiving the order of the Daneborg was "Integritas et rectum
custodiunt me," and throughout a long life he was never false to it.
See Poul Vedel, _Den aeldre Grev Bernstorffs ministerium_ (Copenhagen,
1882); _Correspondance ministerielle du Comte J.H.E. Bernstorff_, ed.
Vedel (Copenhagen, 1882); Aage Friis, _Bernslorfferne og Danmark_
(Copenhagen, 1899). (R. N. B.)
BEROSSUS, a priest of Bel at Babylon, who translated into Greek the
standard Babylonian work on astrology and astronomy, and compiled (in
three books) the history of his country from native documents, which he
published in Greek in the reign of Antiochus II. (250 B.C.). His works
have perished, but extracts from the history have been preserved by
Josephus and Eusebius, the latter of whom probably derived them not
directly from Berossus, but through the medium of Alexander Polyhistor
and Apollodorus. The extracts containing the Babylonian cosmology, the
list of the antediluvian kings of Babylonia, and the Chaldaean story of
the Deluge, have been shown by the decipherment of the cuneiform texts
to have faithfully reproduced the native legends; we may, therefore,
conclude that the rest of the History was equally trustworthy. On the
other hand, a list of post-diluvian dynasties, which is quoted by
Eusebius and Georgius Syncellus as having been given by Berossus,
cannot, in its present form, be reconciled with the monumental facts,
though a substratum of historical truth is discoverable in it. As it
stands, it is as follows:--
1. 86 Chaldaean kings 34,080 or 33,091 years
2. 8 Median " 224 "
3. 11 other kings " no number.
4. 49 Chaldaean " 458 "
5. 9 Arabian " 245 "
6. 45 Assyrian " 526 "
After these, according to Eusebius, came the reign of Pul. By means of
an ingenious chronological combination, the several items of which,
however, are very questionable, J.A. Brandis assigned 258 years to the
3rd dynasty; other summations have been proposed with equally little
assurance of certainty. If Eusebius can be trusted, the 6th dynasty
ended in 729 B.C., the year in which Pul or Tiglath-pileser III. was
crowned king of Babylonia. But all attempts to harmonize the scheme of
dynasties thus ascribed to Berossus with the list given us in the
so-called dynastic Tablets discovered by Dr Pinches have been failures.
The numbers, whether of kings or of years, cannot have been handed down
to us correctly by the Greek writers. All that seems certain is that
Berossus arranged his history so that it should fill the astronomical
period of 36,000 years, beginning with the first man and ending with the
conquest of Babylon by Alexander the Great.
See J.P. Cory, _Ancient Fragments_ (1826, ed. by E.R. Hodges, 1876);
Fr. Lenormant, _Essai de commentaire des fragments cosmogoniques de
Berose_ (1872); A. von Gutschmid in the _Rheinisches Museum_ (1853);
George Smith in _T.S.B.A._ iii., 1874, pp. 361-379; Th.G. Pinches in
_P.S.B.A._, 1880-1881. (A. H. S.)
BERRY, CHARLES ALBERT (1852-1899), English non-conformist divine, was
born on the 14th of December 1852 at Bradshawgate, Leigh, Lancashire. At
the age of seventeen he entered Airedale College, Bradford, to train for
the Congregational ministry, and in 1875 became pastor of St George's
Road Congregational church, Bolton. He became widely known as a man of
administrative ability, a vigorous platform speaker and an eloquent
preacher. In July 1883 he undertook the pastorate of the church at Queen
Street, Wolverhampton, with the supervision of nine dependent churches
in the neighbourhood. Here again he exercised a wide influence, due in
part to his evangelical conviction, eloquence, broad views and powers of
organization, but also to the magnetic force of his personality. In 1887
he went to America in fulfilment of a promise to Henry Ward Beecher of
Brooklyn, and received a unanimous invitation to succeed Beecher in what
was then the best-known pulpit in the United States. Berry, however,
felt that his work lay in England and declined the invitation. In 1892
he took part in a conference at Grindelwald on the question of Christian
Reunion, and subsequently, with Hugh Price Hughes and Alexander
Mackennal of Bowdon, conducted a campaign throughout England,
introducing the ideas and principles of Free Church federation. He was
the first president of the Free Church congress. He played an effective
part in expressing the popular desire for peace between England and
America in reply to President Cleveland's message on the Venezuelan
boundary dispute, and was invited to Washington to preach in connexion
with the endeavour to establish an international arbitration treaty. In
1896 he was elected chairman of the Congregational Union of England and
Wales. In 1898 his health began to fail, and he died suddenly on the
31st of January 1899. His published works consist chiefly of addresses,
and two volumes of sermons, _Vision and Duty_, and _Mischievous
Goodness_. (D. Mn.)
BERRY, CHARLES FERDINAND, DUKE OF (1778-1820), younger son of Charles X.
of France, was born at Versailles. At the Revolution he left France with
his father, then comte d'Artois, and served in the army of Conde; from
1792 to 1797. He afterwards joined the Russian army, and in 1801 took up
his residence in England, where he remained for thirteen years. During
that time he married an Englishwoman, Anna Brown, by whom he had two
daughters, afterwards the baronne de Charette and the comtesse de
Lucinge-Faucigny. The marriage was cancelled for political reasons in
1814, when the duke set out for France. His frank, open manners gained
him some favour with his countrymen, and Louis XVIII. named him
commander-in-chief of the army at Paris on the return of Napoleon from
Elba. He was, however, unable to retain the loyalty of his troops, and
retired to Ghent during the Hundred Days. In 1816 he married the
princess Caroline Ferdinande Louise (1798-1870), eldest daughter of King
Francis I. of Naples. On the 13th of February 1820 he was mortally
wounded, when leaving the opera-house at Paris with his wife, by a
saddler named Louis Pierre Louvel. Seven months after his death the
duchess gave birth to a son, who received the title of duke of Bordeaux,
but who is known in history as the comte de Chambord. A daughter,
afterwards duchess of Parma, was born in 1819.
The duchess of Berry was compelled to follow Charles X. to Holyrood
after July 1830, but it was with the resolution of returning speedily
and making an attempt to secure the throne for her son. From England she
went to Italy, and in April 1832 she landed near Marseilles, but,
receiving no support, was compelled to make her way towards the loyal
districts of Vendee and Brittany. Her followers, however, were defeated,
and, after remaining concealed for five months in a house in Nantes, she
was betrayed to the government and imprisoned in the castle of Blaye.
Here she gave birth to a daughter, the fruit of a secret marriage
contracted with an Italian nobleman, Count Ettore Lucchesi-Palli
(1805-1864). The announcement of this marriage at once deprived the
duchess of the sympathies of her supporters. She was no longer an object
of fear to the French government, who released her in June 1833. She set
sail for Sicily, and, joining her husband, lived in retirement from that
time till her death, at Brunnensee in Switzerland, in April 1870.
BERRY, JOHN, DUKE OF (1340-1416), third son of John II., king of France
and Bonne of Luxemburg, was born on the 30th of November 1340 at
Vincennes. He was created count of Poitiers in 1356, and was made the
king's lieutenant in southern France, though the real power rested
chiefly with John of Armagnac, whose daughter Jeanne he married in 1360.
The loss of his southern possessions by the treaty of Bretigny was
compensated by the fiefs of Auvergne and Berry, with the rank of peer of
France. The duke went to England in 1360 as a hostage for the fulfilment
of the treaty of Bretigny, returning to France in 1367 on the pretext of
collecting his ransom. He took no leading part in the war against the
English, his energies being largely occupied with the satisfaction of
his artistic and luxurious tastes. For this reason perhaps his brother
Charles V. assigned him no share in the government during the minority
of Charles VI. He received, however, the province of Languedoc. The
peasant revolt of the _Tuchins_ and _Coquins_, as the insurgents were
called, was suppressed with great harshness, and the duke exacted from
the states of Languedoc assembled at Lyons a fine of L15,000. He fought
at Rosebeke in 1382 against the Flemings and helped to suppress the
Parisian revolts. By a series of delays he caused the failure of the
naval expedition prepared at Sluys against England in 1386, and a second
accusation of military negligence led to disgrace of the royal princes
and the temporary triumph of the _marmousels_, as the advisers of the
late king were nicknamed. Charles VI. visited Languedoc in 1389-1390,
and enquired into his uncle's government. The duke was deprived of the
government of Languedoc, and his agent, Betizac, was burnt. When in 1401
he was restored, he delegated his authority in the province, where he
was still hated, to Bernard d'Armagnac. In 1396 he negotiated a truce
with Richard II. of England, and his marriage with the princess Isabella
of France. He tried to mediate between his brother Philip the Bold of
Burgundy and his nephew Louis, duke of Orleans, and later between John
"sans Peur" of Burgundy and Orleans. He broke with John after the murder
of Orleans, though he tried to prevent civil war, and only finally
joined the Armagnac party in 1410. In 1413 he resumed his role of
mediator, and was for a short time tutor to the dauphin. He died in
Paris on the 15th of June 1416, leaving vast treasures of jewelry,
objects of art, and especially of illuminated MSS., many of which have
been preserved. He decorated the Sainte Chapelle at Bourges; he built
the Hotel de Nesle in Paris, and palaces at Poitiers, Bourges,
Mehun-sur-Yevre and elsewhere.
See also L. Raynal, _Histoire du Berry_ (Bourges, 1845); "Jean, duc de
Berry," in S Luce, _La France pendant la guerre de Cent Ans_ (1890),
vol. i.; Toulgoet-Treanna, in _Mem. de la Soc. des antiquaires du
centre_, vol. xvii. (1890). His beautiful illuminated _Livre d'heures_
was reproduced (Paris, fol. 1904) by P. Durrieu.
BERRY, or BERRI, a former province of France, absorbed in 1790 in the
departments of Cher, corresponding roughly with Haut-Berry, and Indre,
representing Bas-Berry. George Sand, the most famous of "berrichon"
writers, has described the quiet scenery and rural life of the province
in the rustic novels of her later life. Berry is the _civitas_ or
_pagus_ Bituricensis of Gregory of Tours. The Bituriges were said by
Livy (v. 34) to have been the dominating tribe in Gaul in the 7th
century, one of their kings, Ambigat, having ruled over all Gaul. In
Caesar's time they were dependent on the Aedui. The tribes inhabiting
the districts of Berry and Bourbonnais were distinguished as Bituriges
Cubi. The numerous menhirs and dolmens to be found in the district, to
which local superstitions still cling, are probably monuments of still
earlier inhabitants. In 52 B.C. the Bituriges, at the order of
Vercingetorix, set fire to their towns, but spared Bourges (Avaricum)
their capital, which was taken and sacked by the Romans. The province
was amalgamated under Augustus with Aquitaine, and Bourges became the
capital of Aquitania Prima. In 475 Berry came into the possession of the
west Goths, from whom it was taken (c. 507) by Clovis. The first count
of Berry, Chunibert (d. 763), was created by Waifer, duke of Aquitaine,
from whom the county was wrested by Pippin the Short, who made it his
residence and left it to his son Carloman, on whose death it fell to his
brother Charlemagne. The countship of Berry was suppressed (926) by
Rudolph, king of the Franks (fl. 923-936). Berry was for some time a
group of lordships dependent directly on the crown, but the chief
authority eventually passed to the viscounts of Bourges, who, while
owning the royal suzerainty, preserved a certain independence until
1101, when the viscount Odo Arpin de Dun sold his fief to the crown.
Berry was part of the dowry of Eleanor, wife of Louis VII., and on her
divorce and remarriage with Henry II. of England it passed to the
English king. Its possession remained, however, a matter of dispute
until 1200, when Berry reverted by treaty with John of England to Philip
Augustus, and the various fiefs of Berry were given as a dowry to John's
niece, Blanche of Castile, on her marriage with Philip's son Louis
(afterwards Louis VIII.). Philip Augustus established an effective
control over the administration of the province by the appointment of a
royal _bailli_. Berry suffered during the Hundred Years' War, and more
severely during the wars of religion in the 16th century. It had been
made a duchy in 1360, and its first duke, John [Jean] (1340-1416), son
of the French king John II., encouraged the arts and beautified the
province with money wrung from his government of Languedoc.
Thenceforward it was held as an apanage of the French crown, usually by
a member of the royal family closely related to the king. Charles of
France (1447-1472), brother of Louis XI, was duke of Berry, but was
deprived of this province, as subsequently of the duchies of Normandy
and Guienne, for intrigues against his brother. The duchy was also
governed by Jeanne de Valois (d. 1505), the repudiated wife of Louis
XII.[1]; by Marguerite d'Angouleme, afterwards queen of Navarre; by
Marguerite de Valois, afterwards duchess of Savoy; and by Louise of
Lorraine, widow of Henry III., after whose death (1601) the province was
finally reabsorbed in the royal domain. The title of duke of Berry,
divested of territorial significance, was held by princes of the royal
house. Charles (1686-1714), duke of Berry, grandson of Louis XIV., and
third son of the dauphin Louis (d. 1711), married Marie Louise Elisabeth
(1686-1714), eldest daughter of the duke of Orleans, whose intrigues
made her notorious. The last to bear the title of duke of Berry was the
ill-fated Charles Ferdinand, grandson and heir of Charles X.