Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition | Page 4

1807, were given to the
civic authorities by King Frederick William III., and converted into
promenades. In March 1813 this monarch issued from Breslau his
stirring appeals to the Prussians, An mein Volk and An mein
Kriegesheer, and the city was the centre of the Prussian preparations
for the campaign which ended at Leipzig. After the Prussian victory at

Sadowa in 1866, William I. made a triumphant and complimentary
entry into the city, which since the days of Frederick the Great has been
only less loyal to the royal house than Berlin itself.
See Bürkner and Stein, Geschichte der Stadt Breslau (Bresl.
1851-1853); J-Stein, Geschichte der Stadt Breslau im 19ten
Jahrhundert (1884); O Frenzel, Breslauer Stadtbuch ("Codex dipl.
Silisiae," vol. ii. 1882); Luchs, Breslau, ein Führer durch die Stadt
(12th ed., Bresl. 1904).
[1] In 1195 Jaroslaw, son of Boleslaus I. of Lower Silesia, who became
bishop of Breslau in 1198, inherited the duchy of Neisse, which at his
death (1201) he bequeathed to his successors in the see. The Austrian
part of Neisse still belongs to the bishop of Breslau, who also still bears
the title of prince bishop.
BRESSANT, JEAN BAPTISTE PROSPER (1815-1886), French actor,
was born at Chalon-sur-Saône on the 23rd of October 1815, and began
his stage career at the Variétés in Paris in 1833. In 1838 he went to the
French theatre at St Petersburg, where for eight years he played
important parts with ever-increasing reputation. His success was
confirmed at the Gymnase when he returned to Paris in 1846, and he
made his début at the Comédie Française as a full-fledged sociétaire in
1854. From playing the ardent young lover, he turned to leading rôles
both in modern plays and in the classical répertoire. His Richelieu in
Mlle de Belle-Isle, his Octave in Alfred de Musset's Les Caprices de
Marianne, and his appearance in de Musset's Il faut qu'une porte soit
ouverte ou fermée and Un caprice were followed by Tartuffe, Le
Misanthrope and Don Juan. Bressant retired in 1875, and died on the
23rd of January 1886. During his professorship at the Conservatoire,
Mounet-Sully was one of his pupils.
BRESSE, a district of eastern France embracing portions of the
departments of Ain, Saône-et-Loire and Jura. The Bresse extends from
the Dombes on the south to the river Doubs on the north, and from the
Saône eastwards to the Jura, measuring some 60 m. in the former, and
20 m. in the latter direction. It is a plain varying from 600 to 800 ft.
above the sea, with few eminences and a slight inclination westwards.

Heaths and coppice alternate with pastures and arable land; pools and
marshes are numerous, especially in the north. Its chief rivers are the
Veyle, the Reyssouze and the Seille, all tributaries of the Saône. The
soil is a gravelly clay but moderately fertile, and cattle-raising is largely
carried on. The region is, however, more especially celebrated for its
table poultry. The inhabitants preserve a distinctive but almost obsolete
costume, with a curious head-dress. The Bresse proper, called the
Bresse Bressane, comprises the northern portion of the department of
Ain. The greater part of the district belonged in the middle ages to the
lords of Bâgé, from whom it passed in 1272 to the house of Savoy. It
was not till the first half of the 15th century that the province, with
Bourg as its capital, was founded as such. In 1601 it was ceded to
France by the treaty of Lyons, after which it formed (together with the
province of Bugey) first a separate government and afterwards part of
the government of Burgundy.
BRESSUIRE, a town of western France, capital of an arrondissement
in the department of Deux-Sèvres, 48 m. N. of Niort by rail. Pop. (1906)
4561. The town is situated on an eminence overlooking the Dolo, a
tributary of the Argenton. It is the centre of a cattle-rearing and
agricultural region, and has important markets; the manufacture of
wooden type and woollen goods is carried on. Bressuire has two
buildings of interest: the church of Notre-Dame, which, dating chiefly
from the 12th and 15th centuries, has an imposing tower of the
Renaissance period; and the castle, built by the lords of [v.04 p.0500]
Beaumont, vassals of the viscount of Thouars. The latter is now in ruins,
and a portion of the site is occupied by a modern château, but an inner
and outer line of fortifications are still to be seen. The whole forms the
finest assemblage of feudal ruins in Poitou. Bressuire is the seat of a
sub-prefect and has a tribunal of first instance. Among the disasters
suffered at various times by the town, its capture from the English and
subsequent pillage by French troops under du Guesclin in 1370 is the
most memorable.
BREST, a fortified