Chapter XLI: Front Matter (41)

"While anarchy and ruin ... overspread the greater part of the
beautiful continent of South America, the Empire of Brazil won an
independent existence without bloodshed, and kept it with
credit. The Dutch conquest of Brazil, and its reconquest by
the Portuguese, has been mentioned in a former chapter. The
country long remained under the close and oppressive monopoly
imposed upon it by the Portuguese; but in 1808 [1807] when
Napoleon invaded Portugal, the regent embarked [see PORTUGAL:
A. D. 1807], with the royal insignia, for Brazil, which at
once assumed the dignity of an integral part of the kingdom.
The ports were opened to the commerce of the world; the
printing-press was introduced; learning was encouraged; the
enormous resources of the country were explored; foreign
settlers were invited to establish themselves; embassies were
sent to European powers of the first rank, and diplomatic
agents received. New towns and harbours were planned; new life
was breathed into every department of the state. After a few
years, the state of affairs in Europe compelled King John VI.
to return to Europe, as the only chance of preserving the
integrity of the monarchy. The Cortes of Lisbon invited their
sovereign to revisit his ancient capital, and deputies from
Brazil were summoned to attend the sittings of the National
Assembly. But before the deputies could arrive, the Cortes had
resolved that Brazil should be again reduced to absolute
dependence on Portugal. A resolution more senseless or more
impracticable can hardly be imagined. The territory of Brazil
was as large as all Europe put together; Portugal was a little
kingdom, isolated and without influence among the monarchies
of the Old World; yet it was deliberately decreed that all the
monopolies of the exploded colonial system should be revived,
and that England should be deprived of her free trade to
Brazil. The king appointed his eldest son, Dom Pedro, Regent
of the new kingdom, and soon after took his departure for
Lisbon, with many of the emigrant nobility. Dom Pedro assumed
the government under the perplexing circumstances of an empty
treasury, a heavy public debt, and the provinces almost in
revolt. Bahia disavowed his authority, and the Cortes withheld
their support from him. The regent reduced his expenditure to
the monthly sum allowed to his princess for pin money; he
retired to a country house, and observed the most rigid
economy. By great exertions he reduced the public expenditure
from $50,000,000 to $15,000,000; but the northern and internal
provinces still withheld their taxes; the army became
mutinous, and the ministers of his father, who still remained
in power, were unpopular; the regent in despair demanded his
recall. But the Brazilians were at length disarmed by his
noble conduct; they recognized his activity, his beneficence,
his assiduity in the affairs of government, and the habitual
feelings of affection and respect for the House of Braganza,
which had for a moment been laid asleep by distrust, were
reawakened with renewed strength. It was fortunate that the
quarrels which disturbed Brazil were accommodated before the
arrival of intelligence from Portugal. Hardly had the king
arrived in Lisbon when he found himself obliged to assent to a
constitution which treated his Brazilian subjects as mere
colonists; succeeding mails brought orders more and more
humiliating to the Brazilians.
{313}
The design of declaring Brazil an independent kingdom, grew
more and more in public favour; but the prince was unwilling
to place himself in direct rebellion to the crown of Portugal,
and steadily adhered to his determination to leave America. At
length, it is related, a despatch was delivered to the regent,
which he declined to show to any of his ministers, but which
evidently excited in his mind no ordinary emotions of anger:
he crushed the paper in his hand, and moved away to a window,
where he stood for a few moments in thought; at length he
turned to his council with the words 'Independencia ou
morte':--the exclamation was received with tumultuous cheers,
and was adopted as the watchword of the Revolution. The
Portuguese troops were sent back to Europe. The Cortes of
Lisbon were now anxious to recall their obnoxious decrees; to
admit the deputies from Brazil; to make any concession that
might be demanded. But it was too late: the independence of
Brazil was formally proclaimed in August, 1822, and in
December of the same year, Dom Pedro was crowned Emperor of
Brazil. This is the first, and as yet the only instance of a
modern colony achieving its independence, and separating
itself completely from its metropolis without bloodshed."

_Viscount Bury, Exodus of the Western Nations,
volume 2, chapter 11._

ALSO IN:
_J. Armitage, History of Brazil, chapter 1-7._

See, also, PORTUGAL: A. D. 1820-1824.

BRAZIL: A. D. 1825-1865.
Wars with the Argentines.
Abdication of Dom Pedro I,
The Guerra dos Cabanos.

"In 1825, chiefly through the mediation of England, Brazil was
acknowledged as an independent empire. But the inner
commotions continued, and were not even soothed by a new
Constitution, drawn up in 1823, and sworn to by the Emperor in
1824. New revolts in Pernambuco, and some of the other
Northern provinces, and a war of three years with the
Argentine Republic, which ended in 1828 by Brazil giving up
Banda Oriental, annexed only eleven years before, disturbed
and weakened the land. The foreign soldiers, enlisted for this
war, and retained after its conclusion to keep down the
Opposition, and the extravagant private life of the Emperor,
who recklessly trampled down the honour of respectable
families, provoked dissatisfaction and murmurs, which rose to
the highest pitch when he insisted upon carrying on a most
unpopular war in Portugal to defend the rights of his
daughter, Dona Maria da Gloria (in whose favour he had
abdicated the Portuguese Crown), against his brother. Don
Miguel [see PORTUGAL: A. D. 1824-1889]. In April, 1831, Dom
Pedro I., so enthusiastically raised to the Brazilian throne
only nine years before, was forced to abdicate it, deserted
and betrayed by everyone, in behalf of his younger son, Pedro.
The next period was the most disturbed one that the young
Empire had yet witnessed. Slave revolts at Bahia, a civil war
in the South, which almost cost it the province of Rio Grande
do Sul, and the bloody rebellion known as the Guerra dos
Cabanos, in Pará and Amazon, from 1835 to 1837, followed each
other quickly. In this last revolt, the Brazilians had stirred
up the Indians and mestizoes against the abhorred Portuguese,
without considering that they should not be able to quench the
fire, they had themselves kindled. In a short time, the fury
of the whole colored population turned against all whites,
Brazilians and Portuguese alike, without any distinction.
More than 10,000 persons are said to have perished in this
Guerra dos Cabanos; and, to the present day, those terrible
times and the barbarous cruelties committed by the Indians,
half-castes, and mulattoes, continue to be talked of with awe
in the two provinces. A revolution in Minas, got up by the
personal ambitions of a few political leaders, rather than
emanating from the spirit of the people, and the war against
Rosas, the Dictator of the Argentine Republic, passed over
Brazil without leaving deep traces, at least when compared
with the last war against Paraguay; which, besides the
stimulus of the old differences about boundaries, was
occasioned by the endless vexations and restrictions with
which the Dictator Lopez strove to ruin the Brazilian trade on
the Paraguay, and to prejudice the province of Mato Grosso."

_F. Keller, The Amazon and Madeira Rivers, pages 25-26._

ALSO IN: _J. Armitage, History of Brazil, 1808-1831._

See, also, ARGENTINE REPUBLIC: A. D. 1819-1874.

BRAZIL: A. D. 1865-1870.
The war with Paraguay,

See PARAGUAY: A. D. 1608-1873.

BRAZIL: A. D. 1871-1888.
Emancipation of Slaves.

The Brazilian act of emancipation, known as the Law of Rio
Branco (taking that name from the Minister who carried it
through) was passed on the 28th of September, 1871, "and from
that date it was enacted 'that children henceforth born of
slave women shall be considered of free condition.' ... Such
children are not to be actually free, but are 'bound to serve
the owners of their mothers for a term of 21 years, under the
name of 'apprentices.' These must work, under severe
penalties, for their hereditary masters; but if the latter
inflict on them excessive bodily punishment, they are allowed
to bring suit in a criminal court, which may declare their
freedom. A provision was also made for the emancipation of
government slaves; and there was a clause which insured a
certain sum, to be annually set aside from fines, which was to
aid each province in emancipating by purchase a certain number
of slaves. ... The passage of this law did not prove merely
prospective in its effects. In a very short time the sums
placed aside for emancipating slaves by purchase resulted in
the freedom of many bondmen. And more than this, there seemed
to be a generous private rivalry in the good work, from
motives of benevolence and from religious influence. Many
persons in various parts of Brazil liberated their slaves
without compensation. ... I am happy to say that the number
liberated, either by the provisions of the State or by private
individuals, is always in an increasing ratio. When the writer
first went to Brazil [1852] ... it was estimated that there
were 3,000,000 in slavery. ... There were at the beginning of
1875, when the law of emancipation had been but a little more
than three years in operation, 1,476,567 slaves."

_J. C. Fletcher and D. P. Kidder, Brazil and the
Brazilians, chapter 28._

"On the 25th of March, 1884, slavery was abolished in the
province of Ceará. The Rio News says, 'The movement began only
15 months ago, the first municipality liberating its slaves on
the 1st of January, 1883. The new tax law of last November
greatly accelerated this progress, because it made
slave-holding impossible, the value of the slave being less
than the tax.'" On the 28th of September, 1885, the
impatience of the Brazilians to rid themselves of slavery
expressed itself in a new Emancipation Act, known as the
Saraiva law. It provided for facilitating and hastening the
extension of freedom, by increasing the public fund
appropriated to it, by defining the valuation of slaves, and
by other effective provisions, so that "within ten years [from
its date] it is supposed that slavery will have ceased to
exist in Brazil."

_H. C. Dent, A Year in Brazil, pages 281-296._

{314}

"On March 30, 1887, the official return gave the number of
slaves in Brazil as 723,419, of the legal value of
$485,225,212. On May 13, 1888, the Crown Princess, as regent,
gave the royal assent to a short measure of two clauses, the
first declaring that slavery was abolished in Brazil from the
day of the promulgation of the law, and the second repealing
all former Acts on the subject. Both Chambers refused to
consider the claim for compensation made by the slave owners."

_Statesman's Year-Book, 1890, page 391._

BRAZIL: A. D. 1889-1891.
Revolution.
Overthrow of the Empire.
Establishment of the Republic of the United States of Brazil.
Religious freedom declared

"The sudden collapse of the Imperial Government in November
[1889], resulting in the downfall of Dom Pedro and his
banishment, caused universal surprise. For some time the
Government had been credited by the Republican journals with
the wish and intention to disperse the army throughout the
provinces and along the frontier, so that, with the assistance
of the newly-organised National Guard, the succession of the
Princess Imperial to the throne might be secured in the event
of the death or incapacity through old age of the Emperor Dom
Pedro. An infantry battalion, ordered to embark for a distant
province, mutinied and refused to go. The War Department
resolved to compel them by force to depart." The result was a
general mutiny (November 15, 1889), which soon became a
revolution. "The organiser of the mutiny was Colonel Benjamin
Constant Botelho de Magalhaes, an officer of exceptional
ability and Professor in the Military Academy. The movement
seemed directed at first only against the obnoxious Ouro Preto
Ministry; but the enthusiasm of the Republicans, under the
leadership of a popular agitator, Jose de Patrocinio, was so
very pronounced, that at a meeting held in the city hall, in
the afternoon of November 15, a resolution proclaiming the
Republic was passed by acclamation. About the same hour, a
self-constituted committee, consisting of General Deodoro [da
Fonseca], Benjamin Constant, and Quintino Bocayuva, met and
organised a Provisional Government," with Marshal Deodoro da
Fonseca for its Chief, Colonel Botelho de Magalhaes for
Minister of War. "A formal decree was issued declaring a
federal Republic, the several provinces of the late Empire
constituting the States and each State arranging its own
constitution and electing its deliberative bodies and local
governments. On the morning of the 16th the deposed Emperor
received intimation that he and his family must leave the
country within twenty-four hours:--'Between 2 and 3 o'clock on
the morning of the 17th an officer appeared at the palace and
informed the Emperor that he must at once embark, with all the
members of his family. The wretched old man protested that he
was not a fugitive, and that he preferred to embark by day;
but after listening to the officer's explanation that a
conflict might occur and blood might be shed, he finally
yielded, protesting that in such a crisis his old grey head
was the only one that was cool. And so at the dead hour of
night, with no one to say a farewell and bid him God-speed,
the aged Emperor, with his devoted wife and children, went
down to the Caes Pharonx, where a launch was waiting to convey
them out to the small gunboat Parnahyba. About 10 o'clock the
gunboat steamed out of the harbour and went down to Ilha
Grande to wait for the merchant steamer Alagoas, which had
been chartered to convey the exiles to Europe'. ... It was
said that the Imperial Ministry, principally through the
instrumentality of Ouro Preto, had arranged with Dom Pedro to
abdicate at the end of January, 1890, in favour of his
daughter, the Countess d'Eu. But the Countess, with her
husband, was extremely unpopular with the army and navy, and
from these the feeling of disloyalty spread rapidly among the
people. By decree of the Provisional Government, the provinces
of Brazil, united by the tie of federation, were to be styled
the 'United States of Brazil,' and general elections were to
take place in August, 1890, to confirm the establishment of
the Republic. A counter-revolution broke out in Rio on December
18. A number of soldiers, sailors, and civilians took part in
it, and troops had to be ordered out to disperse them. It was
not until the 20th that the disturbance was finally quelled."

_Annual Register, 1889, part 1, pages 444-448._

"The revolution was the work of leaders who were not only
conscious of their power, but also confident that the nation
would inevitably condone their temporary acts of usurpation.
There were no signs of weakness, vacillation or uncertainty in
their action. ... A coalition of the army officers and the
constitution-makers and political dreamers of the League would
have been impracticable if the leaders had not known that the 20
provinces of the Empire were profoundly disaffected and would
readily acquiesce in a radical change of government. ... The
Emperor of Brazil has enjoyed the reputation of being one of
the most enlightened and progressive sovereigns of his time.
... He was a ruler with many fascinating and estimable traits,
who endeared himself to his people. This and much more may be
said in praise of the deposed and banished Emperor; but when
the record of his public services and of his private virtues
is complete, the fact remains that he stood for a system of
centralization that practically deprived the great series of
federated provinces of their autonomy and his subjects of the
privileges of self-government. Dom Pedro II. was not a
constitutional reformer. The charter which he had received
from his father was not modified in any essential respect
during his long reign."

_New York Tribune Extra, volume 1, number 12 (1889)_.

"A new Constitution ... was ratified by the first National
Congress, convened on November 15, 1890. By this instrument the
Brazilian nation constituted itself into a federal republic,
under the name of the United States of Brazil. Each of the old
provinces was declared a self-governing state, to be
administered under a republican form of government, with power
to impose taxes, and subject to no interference from the
Central Government, except for purposes of national defense or
the preservation of internal order or for the execution of
Federal laws.
{315}
Legislation relating to customs, paper currency, and postal
communications is reserved to the Federal Government. The
right of suffrage is secured to all male citizens over 21
years old, with the exception of beggars, persons ignorant of
the alphabet, soldiers in actual service, and persons under
monastic vows, registration being the only prerequisite. The
executive authority is vested in the President ... elected by
the people directly for the term of six years, and .... not
eligible for the succeeding term. ... Senators are elected by
the Legislatures of the States for nine years, three from each
State, one retiring and his successor being chosen every three
years. ... The Chamber of Deputies has the initiative in all
laws relating to taxation. Deputies are elected for three
years by direct popular vote in the proportion of one to every
70,000 inhabitants. ... It is declared that no sect or church
shall receive aid from the National or State governments." In
1891, differences arose between the President and Congress, at
first over financial measures passed by the Chambers and
vetoed by the President and schemes recommended by the
President that were voted down by Congress. In November the
President published a decree dissolving Congress, closed the
Chambers by force, proclaimed himself Dictator on the
invitation of officers of the army, and convoked a new
Congress, to be charged with the revision of the constitution.
The State of Rio Grande do Sul led off in a revolt against
this usurpation, and on the 23d of November, after some shots
had been fired into the city of Rio de Janeiro by a naval
squadron acting against him, President Fonseca resigned.
"Floriano Peixoto was immediately installed by the
revolutionary committee as President in his stead ... and the
country soon settled down under the new government."--

_Appleton's Annual Cyclopædia 1891, pages 91-96._

"When Deodoro, after struggling for twelve months with the
factions in Congress, closed the doors of São Christovão
Palace and proclaimed a dictatorship, he had recourse to a
familiar expedient of Latin-American civilization. The speedy
collapse of his administration, when it was wholly dependent
upon military force, was a good augury for the future of
Brazil. ... In the early days of the Republic, the Provisional
Ministry were unable to agree upon the radical policy of
disestablishing the Church. ... Fortunately for Brazil there
was no compromise of the disestablishment question. ... Under
the Constitution no religious denomination was permitted to
hold relations of dependence upon, or alliance with, the
federal or State governments. ... Every church was made free
in the free State. Civil marriage was recognized as essential.
... Perhaps the most hopeful sign for the cause of progress
and religion is the adoption of educational suffrage."

_I. N. Ford, Tropical America, chapter 4._

See CONSTITUTION OF BRAZIL.

----------BRAZIL: End----------

BREAD AND CHEESE WAR.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1482-1493.

BRECKINRIDGE, John C.
Defeat in Presidential election.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1860 (APRIL-NOVEMBER).

BREDA: A. D. 1575.
Spanish-Dutch Congress.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1575-1577.

BREDA: A. D. 1590.
Capture by Prince Maurice of Nassau-Orange.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1588-1593.

BREDA: A. D. 1624-1625.
Siege and capture by the Spaniards.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1621-1633.

BREDA: A. D. 1637.
Taken by the Prince of Orange.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1635-1638.

BREDA: A. D. 1793.
Taken and lost by the French.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1793 (FEBRUARY-APRIL).

----------BREDA: End----------

BREDA, Declaration from.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1658-1660.

BREDA, Treaty of (1666).

See NETHERLANDS (HOLLAND): A. D. 1665-1666.

BREED'S HILL (Bunker Hill), Battle of.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1775 (JUNE).

BREHON LAWS.

"The portion of the Irish tribe system which has attracted
most attention is the mode in which the judicial authority was
withdrawn from the chief and appropriated by the hereditary
caste of the Brehons, and also the supposed anomalous
principles which they applied to the decision of the cases
which came before them. The earlier English writers found no
terms too strong to express their abhorrence and contempt of
these native judges, and their contempt for the principles
upon which they proceeded. On the other hand, Irish writers
attributed to these professional arbitrators advanced
principles of equity wholly foreign to an early community. ...
The translation of the existing vast mass of Brehon law books,
and the translation [publication?] of the most important of
them by the order of the government, have disposed of the
arguments and assertions on both sides. It is now admitted,
that the system and principles of the Brehon jurisprudence
present no characteristics of any special character, although
in them primitive ideas of law were elaborated in a manner not
found elsewhere; ... the laws which existed among the native
Irish were in substance those which are found to have
prevailed among other Aryan tribes in a similar stage of
social progress; as the social development of the nation was
prematurely arrested, so also were the legal ideas of the same
stage of existence retained after they had disappeared in all
other nations of Europe. This legal survival continued for
centuries the property of an hereditary caste, who had
acquired the knowledge of writing, and some tincture of
scholastic philosophy and civil law. ... The learning of the
Brehons consisted (1) in an acquaintance with the minute
ceremonies, intelligible now only to an archæologist, and not
always to him, by which the action could be instituted, and
without which no Brehon could assume the role of arbitrator;
and (2) in a knowledge of the traditions, customs and
precedents of the tribe, in accordance with which the dispute
should be decided."

_A. G. Richey, Short History of the Irish People, chapter 3._

ALSO IN: _Sir H. Maine, Early History of Institutions,
lecture 2._

BREISACH: A. D. 1638.
Siege and capture by Duke Bernhard.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1634-1639.

BREISACH: A. D. 1648.
Cession to France.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1648.

BREITENFELD,
Battle of (or first battle of Leipsic).

See GERMANY: A. D. 1631.

The second battle of (1642).

See GERMANY: A. D. 1640-1645.

{316}

BREMEN: 13th-15th Centuries.
In the Hanseatic League.

See HANSA TOWNS.

BREMEN: A. D. 1525
Formal establishment of the Reformed Religion.

See PAPACY: A. D. 1522-1525.

BREMEN: A. D. 1648.
Cession of the Bishoprick to Sweden.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1648.

BREMEN: A. D. 1720.
The Duchy ceded to the Elector of Hanover.

See SCANDINAVIAN STATES (SWEDEN): A. D. 1719-1721.

BREMEN: A. D. 1801-1803.
One of six free cities which survive the Peace of Luneville.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1801-1803.

BREMEN: A. D. 1810.
Annexed to France.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1810 (FEBRUARY-DECEMBER).

BREMEN: A. D. 1810-1815.
Loss and recovery of autonomy as a "free city."

See CITIES, IMPERIAL AND FREE, OF GERMANY.

BREMEN: A. D. 1815.
Once more a Free City and a member of the Germanic
Confederation.

See VIENNA, THE CONGRESS OF.

BREMEN: A. D. 1888.
Surrender of free privileges.
Absorption in the Zollverein and Empire.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1888.

----------BREMEN: End----------

BREMI: A. D. 1635-1638.
Taken by the French.
Recovered by the Spaniards.

See ITALY: A. D. 1635-1659.

BRÊMULE, Battle of (1119).

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1087-1135.

BRENHIN, The Cymric title.

See ROME: B. C. 390-347.

BRENNI, The.

See RHÆTIANS.

BRENTFORD, Battle of.

Fought and won by Edmund Ironsides in his contest with Cnut,
or Canute, for the English throne A. D. 1016.

BRESCIA: A. D. 1512.
Capture and pillage by the French.

See ITALY: A. D. 1510-1513.

BRESCIA: A. D. 1849.
Bombardment, capture and brutal treatment by the Austrian
Haynau.

See ITALY: A. D. 1848-1849.

----------BRESCIA: End----------

BRESLAU: A. D. 1741-1760.
In the wars of Frederick the Great.

See AUSTRIA: A. D. 1741 (MAY-JUNE); 1742 (JANUARY-MAY);
1742 (JUNE); GERMANY: A. D. 1757 (JULY-DECEMBER), and 1760.

BREST: A. D. 1694.
Repulse of the English fleet.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1694.

BRETAGNE.

See BRITTANY.

BRETHREN OF THE COMMON LOT OR COMMON LIFE.

"The Societies of the Beguines, Beghards, and Lollards [see
BEGUINES], which from the first laboured under various defects
and imperfections, had in course of time degenerated, and by
their own fault, either fallen to pieces of themselves, or
been suppressed. The two things, however, still existed, viz.,
the propensity to religious association, ... and, likewise,
the outward condition, which required and rendered practicable
the efforts of benevolence and charity, strengthened by
cooperation. The last was particularly the case in the
Netherlands, and most in the northern provinces. ... Here,
then, the Institute of the Common Lot takes its rise. ... The
first author of this new series of evolutions was Gerhard
Groot (Geert Groete or de Groot, Gerhardus Magnus), a man of
glowing piety and great zeal in doing good, a powerful popular
orator and an affectionate friend of youth [1340-1384]. ...
His affection for Holy Scripture and the ancient Fathers
kindled in Gerhard's bosom the liveliest zeal for collecting
the records of Christian antiquity. ... Hence, he had long
before employed young men, under his oversight, as copyists,
thereby accomplishing the threefold end of multiplying these
good theological works, giving profitable employment to the
youths, and obtaining an opportunity of influencing their
minds. This he continued more and more to do. The circle of
his youthful friends, scholars, and transcribers, became from
day to day larger, and grew at length into a regular society.
Having thus in part owed its origin to the copying of the
Scriptures and devotional books, the Society from the outset,
and through its whole continuance, made the Holy Scripture and
its propagation, the copying, collecting, preserving, and
utilizing of good theological and ascetical books, one of its
main objects. ... The members were called 'Brethren of the
Common Lot,' [or of the Common Life] or 'Brethren of Good
Will,' 'Fratres Collationarii,' 'Jeronymians,' and
'Gregorians.' ... Imitating the Church at Jerusalem, and
prompted by brotherly affection, they mutually shared with
each other their earnings and property, or consecrated also
their fortune, if they possessed any, to the service of the
community. From this source, and from donations and legacies
made to them, arose the 'Brother-houses,' in each of which a
certain number of members lived together, subjected, it is
true, in dress, diet, and general way of life, to an appointed
rule, but yet not conventually sequestered from the world,
with which they maintained constant intercourse, and in such a
way as, in opposition to Monachism [monasticism], to preserve
the principle of individual liberty."

_C. Ullmann, Reformers before the Reformation,
volume 2, part 2, chapter l._

"Through the wonderful activity of that fraternity of
teachers, begun about 1360, called the Brethren of the Common
Life, the Netherlands had the first system of common schools
in Europe. These schools flourished in every large town and
almost in every village, so that popular education was the
rule."

_W. E. Griffis, The Influence of the Netherlands, page 3._

ALSO IN: _S. Kettlewell, Thomas à Kempis and the Brothers
of Common Life, chapter 5-6 (volume 1)._

BRETHREN OF THE FREE SPIRIT.

See BEGUINES.

BRETIGNY, Treaty of.

The treaty, called at the time "the great peace," concluded
May 8, 1360, between Edward III. of England and John II. of
France, in which Edward renounced his pretensions to the
French crown, released for a ransom King John, then a prisoner
in his hands, and received the full sovereignty of Guienne,
Poitou and Ponthieu in France, besides retaining Calais and
Guisnes.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1337-1360.

BRETWALDA.

A title given to some of the early English kings. "Opinions
differ as to the meaning of the word Bretwalda. Palgrave and
Lappenberg take it as equivalent to 'ruler of Britain': Kemble
construes it 'broad-ruling,' and sees in it a dignity without
duty, hardly more than an accidental predominance.' (Saxons in
England, ii., 18.) The list of those who obtained this
'ducatus' includes Ethelbert of Kent, who broke the power of
the petty kings as far as the Humber, Redbald of East Anglia,
who obtained it by some means even in the lifetime of
Ethelbert, and the three great Northumbrian kings, Edwin,
Oswold and Oswy, whose supremacy however did not extend to
Kent."

_O. Elton, Origins of English History, page 392, note._

ALSO IN:
_E. A. Freeman, History of the Norman Conquest of
England, volume 1, appendix B._

See, also, ENGLAND: A. D. 477-527,
and ENGLAND: 7TH CENTURY.

{317}

BREWSTER, William, and the Plymouth Pilgrims.

See INDEPENDENTS: A. D. 1604-1617,
and MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1620, and after.

BREYZAD.
The people and the language of Brittany, or Bretagne.

See BRITTANY: A. D. 818-912.

BRIAN BORU,
The reign in Ireland of.

See IRELAND: A. D. 1014.

BRIDGE, Battle of the.

A serious reverse suffered by the Arab followers of Mahomet in
their early movements against the Persians, A. D. 634. A force
of 9,000 or 10,000 having crossed the Euphrates by a bridge of
boats were beaten back, their bridge destroyed and half of
them slain or drowned.

_G. Rawlinson, Seventh Great Oriental Monarchy, chapter
26._

See MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 632-651.

BRIDGEWATER, OR LUNDY'S LANE, Battle of.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1814 (JULY-SEPTEMBER).

BRIDGEWATER, Storming of.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1645 (JULY-SEPTEMBER).

BRIENNE, Battle of.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1814 (JANUARY-MARCH).

BRIGANTES, The.

One of the strongest and fiercest of the tribes of ancient
Britain, believed by some historians to have been the original
pre-Celtic inhabitants of the island. At the time of the Roman
conquest they held the whole interior northward from the
Humber and Mersey to the Forth and Clyde. They were subdued by
Agricola.

_E. Guest, Origines Celticæ, volume 1, chapter 1._

See, also, BRITAIN, CELTIC TRIBES,
and A. D. 43-53;
also, IRELAND, TRIBES of EARLY CELTIC INHABITANTS.

BRIGANTINE.--BERGANTIN.

See CARAVELS.

BRIHUEGA, Battle of (A. D. 1710).

See SPAIN: A. D. 1707-1710.

BRILL, The capture of.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1572.

BRISBANE.

See AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1800-1840, and 1859.

BRISSOT DE WARVILLE AND THE GIRONDISTS.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1791 (OCTOBER), to 1793
(SEPTEMBER-DECEMBER).

BRISSOTINS.

The party of the Girondists, in the French Revolution, was
sometimes so called, after Brissot de Warville, one of its
leaders.

BRISTOE STATION, Battle of.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1863
(JULY-NOVEMBER: VIRGINIA).

BRISTOL: 12th Century.
Its slave trade and other commerce.

"Within its comparatively narrow limits Bristol must have been
in general character and aspect not unlike what it is
to-day--a busy, bustling, closely-packed city, full of the
eager, active, surging life of commercial enterprise. Ostmen
from Waterford and Dublin, Northmen from the Western Isles and
the more distant Orkneys, and even from Norway itself, had
long ago learnt to avoid the shock of the 'Higra,' the mighty
current which still kept its heathen name derived from the
sea-god of their forefathers, and make it serve to float them
into the safe and commodious harbour of Bristol, where a
thousand ships could ride at anchor. As the great trading
centre of the west Bristol ranked as the third city in the
kingdom, surpassed in importance only by Winchester and
London. The most lucrative branch of its trade, however,
reflects no credit on its burghers. All the eloquence of S.
Wulfstan and all the sternness of the Conqueror had barely
availed to check for a while their practice of kidnapping men
for the Irish slave-market; and that the traffic was in full
career in the latter years of Henry I. we learn from the
experiences of the canons of Laon."

_K. Norgate, England under the Angevin Kings, volume 1, chapter
1._

BRISTOL: A. D. 1497.
Cabot's voyage of discovery.

See AMERICA: A. D. 1497.

BRISTOL: A. D. 1645.
The storming of the city by Fairfax.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1645 (JULY-SEPTEMBER).

BRISTOL: A. D. 1685.
The commerce and wealth of the city.

"Next to the capital, but next at an immense distance, stood
Bristol, then the first English seaport. ... Pepys, who
visited Bristol eight years after the Restoration, was struck
by the splendour of the city. But his standard was not high;
for he noted down as a wonder the circumstance that, in
Bristol, a man might look round him and see nothing but
houses. ... A few churches of eminent beauty rose out of a
labyrinth of narrow lanes built upon vaults of no great
solidity. If a coach or cart entered those alleys, there was
danger that it would be wedged between the houses, and danger
also that it would break in the cellars. Goods were therefore
conveyed about the town almost exclusively in trucks drawn by
dogs; and the richest inhabitants exhibited their wealth, not
by riding in carriages, but by walking the streets with trains
of servants in rich liveries and by keeping tables loaded with
good cheer. The hospitality of the city was widely renowned,
and especially the collations with which the sugar refiners
regaled their visitors. ... This luxury was supported by a
thriving trade with the North American Plantations and with
the West Indies. The passion for colonial traffic was so
strong that there was scarcely a small shopkeeper in Bristol
who had not a venture on board of some ship bound for Virginia
or the Antilles. Some of these venturers indeed were not of
the most honourable kind. There was, in the Transatlantic
possessions of the crown, a great demand for labour; and this
demand was partly supplied by a system of crimping and
kidnapping at the principal English seaports. Nowhere was this
system in such active and extensive operation as at Bristol.
... The number of houses appears, from the returns of the
hearth-money, to have been, in the year 1685, just 5,300. ...
The population of Bristol must therefore have been about
29,000."

_Lord Macaulay, History of England, chapter 3 (volume 1)._

BRISTOL: A. D. 1831.
The Reform Bill Riots.

The popular excitement produced in England in 1831 by the
action of the House of Lords in rejecting the Reform Bill, led
to riots in several places, but most seriously at Bristol.
"The Bristol mobs have always been noted for their brutality;
and the outbreak now was such as to amaze and confound the the
whole kingdom. ...
{318}
The lower parts of the city were the harbourage of probably a
worse seaport populace than any other place in England, while
the police was ineffective and demoralised. There was no city
in which a greater amount of savagery lay beneath a society
proud, exclusive, and mutually repellent, rather than
enlightened and accustomed to social co-operation. These are
circumstances which go far to account for the Bristol riots
being so fearfully bad as they were. Of this city, Sir Charles
Wetherell--then at the height of his unpopularity as a
vigorous opponent of the Reform Bill--was recorder; and there
he had to go, in the last days of October, in his judicial
capacity. ... The symptoms of discontent were such as to
induce the mayor, Mr. Pinney, to apply to the home-office for
military aid. Lord Melbourne sent down some troops of horse,
which were quartered within reach, in the neighbourhood of the
city. ... Sir Charles Wetherell could not be induced to
relinquish his public entry, though warned of the danger by
the magistrates themselves. ... On Saturday, October 29, Sir
Charles Wetherell entered Bristol in pomp; and before he
reached the Mansion House at noon, he must have been pretty
well convinced, by the hootings and throwing of stones, that
he had better have foregone the procession. For some hours the
special constables and the noisy mob in front of the Mansion
House exchanged discourtesies of an emphatic character, but
there was no actual violence till night. At night, the Mansion
House was attacked, and the Riot Act was read; but the
military were not brought down, as they ought to have been, to
clear the streets. The mayor had 'religious scruples,' and was
'humane'; and his indecision was not overborne by any aid from
his brother-magistrates. When the military were brought in, it
was after violence had been committed, and when the passions
of the mob were much excited. Sir Charles Wetherell escaped
from the city that night. During the dark hours, sounds were
heard provocative of further riot; shouts in the streets, and
the hammering of workmen who were boarding up the lower
windows of the Mansion House and the neighbouring dwellings.
On the Sunday morning, the rioters broke into the Mansion
House without opposition; and from the time they got into the
cellars, all went wrong. Hungry wretches and boys broke the
necks of the bottles, and Queen Square was strewed with the
bodies of the dead-drunk. The soldiers were left without
orders, and their officers without that sanction of the
magistracy in the absence of which they could not act, but
only parade; and in this parading, some of the soldiers
naturally lost their tempers, and spoke and made gestures on
their own account, which did not tend to the soothing of the
mob. This mob never consisted of more than five or six
hundred. ... The mob declared openly what they were going to
do; and they went to work unchecked--armed with staves and
bludgeons from the quays, and with iron palisades from the
Mansion House--to break open and burn the bridewell, the jail,
the bishop's palace, the custom-house, and Queen Square. They
gave half an hour's notice to the inhabitants of each house in
the square, which they then set fire to in regular succession,
till two sides, each measuring 550 feet, lay in smoking ruins.
The bodies of the drunken were seen roasting in the fire. The
greater number of the rioters were believed to be under twenty
years of age, and some were mere children; some Sunday
scholars, hitherto well conducted, and it may be questioned
whether one in ten knew anything of the Reform Bill, or the
offences of Sir Charles Wetherell. On the Monday morning,
after all actual riot seemed to be over, the soldiery at last
made two slaughterous charges. More horse arrived, and a
considerable body of foot soldiers; and the constabulary
became active; and from that time the city was in a more
orderly state than the residents were accustomed to see it.
... The magistrates were brought to trial, and so was Colonel
Brereton, who was understood to be in command of the whole of
the military. The result of that court-martial caused more
emotion throughout the kingdom than all the slaughtering and
burning, and the subsequent executions which marked that
fearful season. It was a year before the trial of the
magistrates was entered upon. The result was the acquittal of
the mayor, and the consequent relinquishment of the
prosecution of his brother-magistrates."

_H. Martineau, A History of the Thirty Years' Peace,
book 4, chapter 4 (volume 2)._

----------BRISTOL: End----------

BRITAIN, Count and Duke of.
The military commanders of Roman Britain.

See BRITAIN: A. D. 323-337,
also ARTHUR, KING.

BRITAIN, The name.

See BRITANNIA.

BRITAIN: Celtic Tribes.

"It appears that the southeastern part of the island, or the
district now occupied by the county of Kent, was occupied by
the Cantii, a large and influential tribe, which in Cæsar's
time, was divided among four chiefs or kings. To the west, the
Regni held the modern counties of Sussex and Surrey, from the
sea-coast to the Thames. Still farther west, the Belgæ
occupied the country from the southern coast to the Bristol
Channel, including nearly the whole of Hampshire, Wiltshire
and Somersetshire. The whole of the extensive district
extending from the Belgæ to the extreme western point of the
island, then called Antivestæum or Bolerium (now the Land's
End) including Devonshire and Cornwall, was occupied by the
Dumnonii, or Damnonii. On the coast between the Dumnonii and
the Belgæ the smaller tribe of the Durotriges held the modern
county of Dorset. On the other side of the Thames, extending
northwards to the Stour, and including the greater part of
Middlesex as well as Essex, lay the Trinobantes. To the north
of the Stour dwelt the Iceni, extending over the counties of
Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridge and Huntingdon. The Coritavi
possessed the present counties of Northampton, Leicester,
Rutland, Derby, Nottingham and Lincoln; and the south-eastern
part of Yorkshire was held by the Parisi. Between the tribes
last enumerated, in the counties of Buckingham, Bedford and
Hertford, lay the tribe called by Ptolemy the Catyeuchlani,
and by others Catuvellani. Another name, apparently, for this
tribe, or for a division of it, was the Cassii. West of these
were the Atrebates, in Berkshire; and still further west were
the Dobuni, in the counties of Oxford and Gloucester. ... The
interior of the island northward was occupied by the
Brigantes, who held the extensive districts, difficult of
approach on account of their mountains and woods, extending
from the Humber and the Mersey to the present borders of
Scotland. This extensive tribe appears to have included
several smaller ones [the Voluntii, the Sestuntii, the
Jugantes and the Cangi].
{319}
The Brigantes are believed to have been the original
inhabitants of the island, who had been driven northward by
successive invasions. ... Wales, also, was inhabited by a
primitive population. The northern counties ... was the
territory of the Ordovices. The southeastern counties ... were
held by the Demetae. The still more celebrated tribe of the
Silures inhabited the modern counties of Hereford, Radnor,
Breeknoek, Monmouth and Clamorgan. Between these and the
Brigantes lay the Cornabii or Carnabii. The wilder parts of
the island of Britain, to the north of the Brigantes, were
inhabited by a great number of smaller tribes, some of whom
seem to have been raised in the scale of civilization little
above savages. Of these we have the names of no less than
twenty-one. Bordering on the Brigantes were the Otadeni,
inhabiting the coast from the Tyne to the Firth of Forth. ...
Next to them were the Gadeni. ... The Selgovæ inhabited
Annandale, Nithsdale and Eskdale, in Dumfriesshire, with the
East of Galloway. The Novantes inhabited the remainder of
Galloway. The Damnii, a larger tribe, held the country from
the chain of hills separating Galloway from Carrick, northward
to the river Ern. These tribes lay to the south of the Forth
and Clyde. Beyond the narrow boundary formed by these rivers
lay [the Horestii, the Venricones or Vernicomes, the Taixali
or Taexali, the Vacomagi, the Albani, the Cantæ, the Logi, the
Carnabii, the Catini, the Mertæ, the Carnonacæ, the Creones,
the Cerones, and the Epidii]. The ferocious tribe of the
Attacotti inhabited part of Argyleshire, and the greater part
of Dumbartonshire. The wild forest country of the interior,
known as the Caledonia Sylva (or Forest of Celyddon), extended
from the ridge of mountains between Inverness and Perth,
northward to the forest of Balnagowan, including the middle
parts of Inverness and Ross, was held by the Caledonii, which
appears to have been at this time [of the conquests of
Agricola] the most important and powerful of all the tribes
north of the Brigantes."

_T. Wright, The Celt, the Roman and the Saxon, chapter 2._

ALSO IN:
_J. Rhys, Celtic Britain._

_J. F. Skene, Celtic Scotland, book 1, chapter 2._

BRITAIN: B. C. 55-54.
Cæsar's invasions.

Having extended his conquests in Gaul to the British Channel
and the Strait of Dover (see GAUL: B. C. 58-51), Cæsar crossed
the latter, in August, B. C. 55, and made his first landing in
Britain, with two legions, numbering 8,000 to 10,000 men.
Portus Itius, from which he sailed, was probably either
Wissant or Boulogne, and his landing place on the British
coast is believed to have been near Deal. The Britons disputed
his landing with great obstinacy, but were driven back, and
offered to submit; but when a few days afterwards, Cæsar's
fleet suffered greatly from a storm, they reconsidered their
submission and opened hostilities again. Routed in a second
battle, they once more sued for peace, and gave hostages;
whereupon Cæsar reembarked his troops and returned to the
continent, having remained in Britain not more than three
weeks and penetrated the island a short distance only. The
following summer he crossed to Britain again, determined on
making a thorough conquest of the country. This time he had
five legions at his back, with two thousand horse, and the
expedition was embarked on more than eight hundred ships. He
sailed from and landed at the same points as before. Having
established and garrisoned a fortified camp, he advanced into
the country, encountering and defeating the Britons, first, at
a river, supposed to be the Stour which flows past Canterbury.
A storm which damaged his fleet then interrupted his advance,
compelling him to return to the coast. When the disaster had
been repaired he marched again, and again found the enemy on
the Stour, assembled under the command of Cassivelaunus, whose
kingdom was north of the Thames. He dispersed them, after much
fighting, with great slaughter, and crossed the Thames, at a
point, it is supposed, near the junction of the Wey. Thence he
pushed on until he reached the "oppidum" or stronghold of
Cassivelaunus, which is believed by some to have been on the
site of the modern town of St. Albans,--but the point is It
disputed one. On receiving the submission of Cassivelaunus,
and of other chiefs, or kings, fixing the tribute they should
pay and taking hostages, Cæsar returned to the coast,
reembarked his army and withdrew. His stay in Britain on this
occasion was about sixty days.

_Cæsar, Gallic War, book 4, chapter 20-36,
and book 7, chapter 7-33._

ALSO IN:
_H. M. Scarth, Roman Britain, chapter 2._

_G. Long, Decline of the Roman Republic, volume 4, chapter 9 and
11-12._

_T. Lewin, Invasion of Britain by Cæsar._

_F. T. Vine, Cæsar in Kent._

_E. Guest, Origines Celticæ, volume 2._

BRITAIN: A. D. 43-53.
Conquests of Claudius.

Nearly a hundred years passed after Cæsar's hasty invasion of
Britain before the Romans reappeared on the island, to enforce
their claim of tribute. It was under the fourth of the
imperial successors of Julius Cæsar, the feeble Claudius, that
the work of Roman conquest in Britain was really begun. Aulus
Plautius, who commanded in Gaul, was sent over with four
legions, A. D. 43, to obtain a footing and to smooth the way
for the Emperor's personal campaign. With him went one,
Vespasian, who began in Britain to win the fame which pushed
him into the imperial seat and to a great place in Roman
history. Plautius and Vespasian made good their occupation of
the country as far as the Thames, and planted their forces
strongly on the northern bank of that river; before they
summoned the Emperor to their aid. Claudius came before the
close of the military season, and his vanity was gratified by
the nominal leading of an advance on the chief oppidum, or
stronghold of the Britons, called Camulodunum, which occupied
the site of the modern city of Colchester. The Trinobantes,
whose capital it was, were beaten and the place surrendered.
Satisfied with this easy victory, the Emperor returned to
Rome, to enjoy the honors of a triumph; while Vespasian, in
command of the second legion, fought his way, foot by foot,
into the southwest of the island, and subjugated the obstinate
tribes of that region. During the next ten years, under the
command of Ostorius Scapula, who succeeded Plautius, and
Avitus Didius Gallus, who succeeded Ostorius, the Roman power
was firmly settled in southern Britain, from the Stour, at the
East, to the Exe and the Severn at the West. The Silures, of
South Wales, who had resisted most stubbornly, under
Caractacus, the fugitive Trinobantine prince, were subdued and
Caractacns made captive. The Iceni (in Suffolk, Norfolk and
Cambridge-shire) were reduced from allies to sullen
dependents. The Brigantes, most powerful of all the tribes,
and who held the greater part of the whole north of modern
England, were still independent, but distracted by internal
dissensions which Roman influence was active in keeping alive.
This, stated briefly, was the extent to which the conquest of
Britain was carried during the reign of Claudius, between A.
D. 43 and 54.

_C. Merivale, History of the Romans, chapter 51._

ALSO IN:
_E. Guest, Origines Celticæ, volume 2, part 2, chapter 13._

_H. M. Scarth, Roman Britain, chapter 4._

See, also, COLCHESTER, ORIGIN OF.

{320}

BRITAIN: A. D. 61.
Campaigns of Suetonius Paulinus.

From A. D. 50 to 61, while Didius Gallus and his successor
Veranius commanded in Britain, nothing was done to extend the
Roman acquisitions. In the latter year, Suetonius Paulinus
came to the command, and a stormy period of war ensued. His
first movement was to attack the Druids in the isle of Mona,
or Anglesey, into which they had retreated from Gaul and
Britain, in successive flights, before the implacable
hostility of Rome. "In this gloomy lair, secure apparently,
though shorn of might and dignity, they still persisted in the
practice of their unholy superstition. ... Here they retained
their assemblies, their schools, and their oracles; here was
the asylum of the fugitives; here was the sacred grove, the
abode of the awful deity, which in the stillest noon of night
or day the priest himself scarce ventured to enter lest he
should rush unwittingly into the presence of its lord." From
Segontium (modern Caernarvon) Suetonius crossed the Menai
Strait on rafts and boats with one of his legions, the
Batavian cavalry swimming their horses. The landing was
fiercely disputed by women and men, priests and worshippers;
but Roman valor bore down all resistance. "From this moment
the Druids disappear from the page of history; they were
exterminated, we may believe, upon their own altars; for
Suetonius took no half measures." This accomplished, the Roman
commander was quickly called upon to meet a terrific outburst
of patriotic rage on the part of the powerful nation of the
Iceni, who occupied the region now forming the counties of
Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridge, and Huntingdon. They had been
allies of the Romans, first; then tributaries, under their own
king, and finally subjects, much oppressed. Their last king,
Prasutagus, had vainly hoped to win favor for his wife and
children, when he died, by bequeathing his kingdom to the
Roman State. But the widowed queen, Boudicea, or Boadicea, and
her daughters, were only exposed with more helplessness to the
insolence and the outrages of a brutal Roman officer. They
appealed to their people and maddened them by the exposure of
indescribable wrongs. The rising which ensued was fierce and
general beyond precedent. "The Roman officials fled, or, if
arrested, were slaughtered; and a vast multitude, armed and
unarmed, rolled southward to overwhelm and extirpate the
intruders. To the Colne, to the Thames, to the sea, the
country lay entirely open." The colony at Camulodunum
(Colchester), was destroyed; Verulamium (St. Albans), and
Londinium (London), were sacked and burned; not less than
70,000 of the Romans in Britain were slaughtered without
mercy. Suetonius made haste to quit Anglesey when the dreadful
news reached him, and pressed, with all speed, along the great
highway of Watling Street--gathering up his forces in hand as
he went--to reach the awful scene of rage and terror. He had
collected but 10,000 men when he confronted, at last, the vast
swarm of the insurgents, on a favorable piece of ground that
he had secured, in the neighborhood of Camulodunum. But, once
more, the valor of undisciplined semi-barbarism wrecked itself
on the firm shields of the Roman cohorts, and 80,000 Britons
are said to have fallen in the merciless fight. The
insurrection was crushed and Roman authority in Britain
reaffirmed. But the grim Suetonius dealt so harshly with the
broken people that even Rome remonstrated, and he was,
presently, recalled, to give place to a more pacific
commander.

_C. Merivale, History of the Romans, chapter 51._

ALSO IN: _H. M. Scarth, Roman Britain, chapter 5._

_T. Mommsen, History of Rome, book 8, chapter 5._

BRITAIN: A. D. 78-84.
Campaigns of Agricola.