Brenta
a river in north Italy, falling, after a winding course of 112 miles, into the Adriatic. Formerly its embouchure was at Fusina, opposite Venice; but a new course was made for it.
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Single-source entries: B (136)
These 12 listings are so strange that each appears in only one of the 7 encyclopedias we compared. They include such classics as Brenta, Brentford, Brenz.
Brentford
county town of Middlesex, England, 7 miles W. of London; with saw mills, pottery works, foundries, etc. defeated Canute Here Edmund Ironside in 1016; and Prince Rupert, Colonel Hollis, in 1642. Pop. about 17,000. BRENT GOOSE (anser brenta or bernicla), a wild goose, smaller than the common barnacle goose and of much darker plumage, remarkable for length of wing and extent of migratory power, being a winter bird of passage in France, Germany, Holland, Great Britain, the United States, Canada, etc. It breeds in high northern latitudes; and is considered the the most delicate for the table of all goose tribe.
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Brenz
JOHANN, the Reformer of Württemberg, born in Weil, Suabia, June 24, 1499, and went in his 13th year to From Luther's study at Heidelberg. visit to Heidelberg in 1518 he became his zealous adherent. He was at the Marburg Disputation in 1529, and the Diet Augsburg 1530, in 1536 was summoned by Duke Ulrich to Württemberg to lead the Reformation there. For energetic opposition to the interim of his Charles V. he was forced to flee to Stuttgart, where, in 1553, he became "propst" (or superintendent). Brenz was coof the "Württemberg Confession author "Catechism" (1551) of Faith," and his has held the next place to that of Luther in Protestant Germany. He died in Stuttgart, Sept. 11, 1570.
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Brequet
He was the maker of a number of excellent astronomical clocks for Swiss, German and Russian observatories. He died in 1849.
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Brest
a seaport in the N. W. of France, department of Finisterre. It has one of the best harbors in France, and is the chief station of the French marine, having safe roads capable of containing 500 men-of-war in from 8 to 15 fathoms at low water. The entrance is narrow and rocky, and the coast on both sides is well fortified. The design to make it a naval arsenal originated with Richelieu, and was carried out by Duquesne and Vauban in the reign of Louis XIV., with the result that the town was made almost impregnable. Brest stands on the summit and sides of a projecting ridge, many of the streets being exceedingly steep. Several of the docks have been cut in the solid rock, and a breakwater extends far into the roadstead. The manufactures of Brest are inconsiderable, but it has an extensive trade in cereals, wine, brandy, sardines, mackerel, and colonial goods. It is connected with the United States by a cable terminating near Duxbury, Mass. The English and Dutch were repulsed at Brest in 1694. In 1794 it was blockaded by Howe, who won a great victory off the coast over the French fleet. Pop. about 91,000. Brest during the World War (1914-1918) became a great naval port of entry for the ships of the Allies-one of the chief ports of disembarkation in France for the Allied troops.
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Brest-Litovsk (Strongly fortified town)
a strongly fortified town of the province of Grodno (Russian Poland), on the Bug; commands the intersection of several important railways, being 132 miles E. S. E. of Warsaw, and 682 miles W. S. W. of Moscow. The town has vast magazines and military stores, and an extensive trade in its cloth manufactures, Russian leather, soap, and wood. Once the occasional residence of the Kings of Poland, it is now the seat of a Greek and an Armenian Catholic bishop. It fell to Russia in 1795. Pop. about 55,000.
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Bretigny
a village of France, in the department of Eure-et- Loire. By the treaty of Bretigny, May 8, 1360, between Edward III. of England and John II. of France, the latter, who had been taken prisoner at Poitiers, recovered his liberty on a ransom of 3,000,000 crowns, while Edward renounced his claim to the crown of France, and relinquished Anjou and Maine, and the greater part of Normandy, in return for Aquitaine, Gas- Poitou,urn Saintongenital Périgord, cony, Limousin, etc.
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Breton
JULES ADOLPHE (bratôn'), a French painter, born in Courrières, in 1827; was educated at St. Omer and at Douai, and trained as a painter under Félix Devigne at Ghent, and in Drölling's atelier at Paris. The subjects of his earlier pictures, such as "Misère de Désespoir" (1849), are taken from the French revolutionary period; but he soon turned to the scenes from peasant life which he has treated in a most poetic and suggestiv manner, with an admirable union of style with realism. In 1853 he exhibited "Le Retour des Moissonneurs," and in 1855 his celebrated "Les Glaneuses." He is represented in the Luxembourg by "La Bénédiction des Blés" (1857), "Le Rappel des Glaneuses" (1859), and "Le Soir" (1861). An author of note, Breton wrote poetry and prose with equal facility. He died July 5, 1906.
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Bretten
a town of Baden, Germany, the birthplace of Melanchthon, 16 miles E. N. E. of Karlsruhe by rail. The house in which the Reformer was born belongs now to a foundation bearing his name for the support of poor students, established in 1861. A monument was erected in 1867.
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Bretwalda
a title assigned by the Saxon chronicle to those kings of the Heptarchy who extended their government over the entire nation. The following are mentioned by Bede, but Hallam and other historians doubt whether any sovereign in those early times possessed such authority: A. D. 492, Ella King of Sussex; 571, Ceawlin, King of Wessex; 594, Ethelbert, King of Kent; 615, Redwald, King of West Angles; 623, Edwin, King of Deira; 634, Oswald, King of Bernicia; 643, Oswy, King of Bernicia.
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Breve
in music, a note or character of time, equal to two semibreves or four minims. It was formerly square in shape, but is now oval. It is the longest note in music.
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Brevet
an honorary rank in the army. If the individual receiving it is a member of the regular army of the United States, the commission must emanate from Congress and pass through the hands of the President and Secretary of War; if he be a member of the national guard of one of the States, he receives his commission from the Governor of the State by virtue of authority vested in that functionary by the laws and Constitution of the State. The form of the brevet shows a nominal advancement from a lower to a higher grade; as a Brigadier-General, who becomes a Brevet Major-General, or Major-General by brevet. The brevet is granted for a special service in advance of the officer's regular promotion to the next higher grade, and the officer receiving it is entitled to have it recognized as a part of his title, as "John Jones, Colonel, and Brevet Brigadier-General."
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