Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th
Edition,
by Various

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Volume 4, Part 3, by Various This eBook is for the use of anyone
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Title: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 3
"Brescia" to "Bulgaria"
Author: Various
Release Date: November 2, 2006 [EBook #19699]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA ***

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Transcriber's note: A few typographical errors have been corrected:
they are listed at the end of the text. Volume and page numbers have
been incorporated into the text of each page as: v.04 p.0001.
[v.04 p.0498] volumes x.-xiv., the preface to vol. xi. containing
important researches into the French communes. To the Table
chronologique des diplômes, chartes, lettres, et actes imprimés
concernant l'histoire de France he contributed three volumes in
collaboration with Mouchet (1769-1783). Charged with the supervision
of a large collection of documents bearing on French history, analogous
to Rymer's Foedera, he published the first volume (Diplomatat.
Chartae, &c., 1791). The Revolution interrupted him in his collection
of Mémoires concernant l'histoire, les sciences, les lettres, et les arts
des Chinois, begun in 1776 at the instance of the minister Bertin, when
fifteen volumes had appeared.
See the note on Bréquigny at the end of vol. i. of the Mémoires de
l'Académie des Inscriptions (1808); the Introduction to vol. iv. of the
Table chronologique des diplômes (1836); Champollion-Figeac's
preface to the Lettres des rois et reines; the Comité des travaux
historiques, by X. Charmes, vol. i. passim; N. Oursel, Nouvelle
biographie normande (1886); and the Catalogue des manuscrits des
collections Duchesne et Bréquigny (in the Bibliothèque Nationale), by
René Poupardin (1905).
(C. B.*)
BRESCIA (anc. Brixia), a city and episcopal see of Lombardy, Italy,
the capital of the province of Brescia, finely situated at the foot of the
Alps, 52 m. E. of Milan and 40 m. W. of Verona by rail. Pop. (1901)
town, 42,495; commune, 72,731. The plan of the city is rectangular,
and the streets intersect at right angles, a peculiarity handed down from
Roman times, though the area enclosed by the medieval walls is larger
than that of the Roman town, which occupied the eastern portion of the
present one. The Piazza del Museo marks the site of the forum, and the
museum on its north side is ensconced in a Corinthian temple with
three cellae, by some attributed to Hercules, but more probably the
Capitolium of the city, erected by Vespasian in A.D. 73 (if the

inscription really belongs to the building; cf. Th. Mommsen in Corp.
Inscrip. Lat. v. No. 4312, Berlin, 1872), and excavated in 1823. It
contains a famous bronze statue of Victory, found in 1826. Scanty
remains of a building on the south side of the forum, called the curia,
but which may be a basilica, and of the theatre, on the east of the
temple, still exist.
Brescia contains many interesting medieval buildings. The castle, at the
north-east angle of the town, commands a fine view. It is now a
military prison. The old cathedral is a round domed structure of the
10th (?) century erected over an early Christian basilica, which has
forty-two ancient columns; and the Broletto, adjoining the new
cathedral (a building of 1604) on the north, is a massive building of the
12th and 13th centuries (the original town hall, now the prefecture and
law courts), with a lofty tower. There are also remains of the convent of
S. Salvatore, founded by Desiderius, king of Lombardy, including three
churches, two of which now contain the fine medieval museum, which
possesses good ivories. The church of S. Francesco has a Gothic façade
and cloisters. There are also some good Renaissance palaces and other
buildings, including the Municipio, begun in 1492 and completed by
Jacopo Sansovino in 1554-1574. This is a magnificent structure, with
fine ornamentation. The church of S. Maria dei Miracoli (1488-1523) is
also noteworthy for its general effect and for the richness of its details,
especially of the reliefs on the façade. Many other churches, and the
picture gallery (Galleria Martinengo), contain fine works of the painters
of the Brescian school, Alessandro Bonvicino (generally known as
Moretto), Girolamo Romanino and Moretto's pupil, Giovanni Battista
Moroni. The Biblioteca Queriniana contains early MSS., a 14th-century
MS. of Dante, &c., and some rare incunabula. The city is well supplied
with water, and has no less than seventy-two public fountains. Brescia
has considerable factories of iron ware, particularly fire-arms and
weapons (one