110 



B tr ft 



But KOS, It is an exact outline of the human figure, and is 

 Burgundy. covere< J from the waist to the feet with a kind of 

 v petticoat, full plaited, and of the finest cloth. It 

 is concealed behind three curtains, and is only exhi- 

 bited on great occasions, and always with poir.pous 

 solemnity. There are also several handsome con- 

 vents and hospitals", particularly the monastery de las 

 Hue.' gas, and the royal hospital, which is richly en- 

 dowed, and remarkable for its cleanliness and heal- 

 thy situation. 



Burgos has a college for the education of youth, 

 and also an academy for the polite arts, both of 

 which are exclusively supported by the merchants. 

 A surgical school was instituted here in 1800 ; but, 

 unfortunately, its professors were chosen without 

 any regard to their character and abilities. 



This city was erected into an archbishopric in 

 1574. Its diocese comprehends a cathedral chapter, 

 eix collegiate chapters, eight archpriests, and six 

 hundred and ninety-three parishes. The cathedral 

 chapter includes 17 dignitaries, 30 canons, 26 pre- 

 bends, and 19 chaplains. Burgos is the residence of 

 the intendant for the province of the same name, and 

 has also a corregidor, and an alcaide. 



As long as Burgos was animated by the presence 

 of its sovereign, it continued to enjoy splendour and 

 pre-eminence ; commerce flourished, industry was ex- 

 cited, and manufactures were multiplied. Its crowded 

 fairs displayed wealth and prosperity ; and it was the 

 entrepot of all the trade that was carried on from the 

 interior of Spain with the several ports on the bay 

 of Biscay. It was also the residence of many fo- 

 reign merchants ; and the famous Segovian cloth 

 was transmitted from this city to every quarter of 

 Europe. But, when Charles V. transferred the seat 

 of royalty, in the beginning of the 17th century, to 

 Madrid, its prosperity began rapidly to decline ; and, 

 before the conclusion of a century, it was impover- 

 ished and depopulated. Of its 40,000 inhabitants, 

 scarcely 9000 remain. A little cloth, and some fine 

 woollen stockings, called bas declaim, are its princi- 

 pal manufactures ; and its only trade consists in the 

 exportation of the woollen cloths of Old Castile, 

 from which it derives a considerable profit. It is 

 112 miles north of Madrid. West longitude 3 38'. 

 North latitude 47 10'. See Laborde's View of Spain, 

 vol. iii. p. 14 ; and Bourgoing's Travels in Spain, 

 p. 19, in Phillips's Coll. vol. ix. (p) 



BURGUNDY, or BO-URGOGNE, anciently a pow- 

 erful kingdom in Gaul, was first established by the 

 Burgundians, a German nation, in the beginning of 

 the fifth century. This people formerly occupied 

 the countries of the present Thuringia and Lusace, 

 on either side of the Elbe, and were supposed to 

 have been descended from the Roman soldiers who 

 had been left to garrison the conquests of Drusus ; 

 though Pliny decidedly asserts, that they were a 

 tribe of the Vandals. (" Vindili, quorum pars Bur- 

 gundiones," Hist, Nat, iv. 28.) Before their emigra- 

 tion from the shores of the Baltic, they were en- 

 gaged in almost constant hostilities with the Aletnan- 

 ni, concerning their respective boundaries ; and it 

 was in conjunction with that nation that they made 

 their first appearance on the Rhine, in the reign of 

 the emperor Tacitus. After repeated irruptions in- 



to the empire, they at last obtained a grant from the Burgundy, 

 usurper Jovinus, to settle in that part of G-iul which */' 

 borders on the Rhine, under their kin^ Gfimhcar, in 

 413 ; and this grant was afterwards con firmed by 

 the emperor Honorius, upon condition that they 

 should assist the Romans, and serve in his armies as 

 Subjects of the empire. Their irruptions, however, 

 were continued ; and, leaguing themselves with the 

 other barbarians from the north, they entered Belgic 

 Gaul, committing unparalleled ravages wherever they 

 carne. But their army was at last completely de- 

 feated by ./Etius the Roman general, when they 

 were compelled to sue for peace. ./Etius afterwards 

 removed them into Sabaudu, now Savoy, an exten- 

 sive tract between the Rhone and the Alps ; and 

 here: they gradually dilated their boundaries until 

 490> when the territory of Gundobald, the Burgun- 

 dian king, comprehended modern Burgundy, almost 

 the whole of Switzerland and JDauphine, with a 

 part of Provence and Savoy, and had Vienna for its 

 capital. This monareh had sacrificed to his fears of 

 a rival, two of his brothers, one of whom was the 

 father of Clotilda, queen of the Franks ; but had 

 permitted the youngest to live, arid to possess the 

 dependent principality of Geneva. The prosperity 

 of the Burgundians, however, was but of short du- 

 ration. Clovis, king of the Franks, had spread his 

 conquests over the finest provinces of Gaul, and was 

 stopped only by the power and the valour of Gun- 

 dobald. But the defection of Godegesil, the bro- 

 ther of the Burgundian king, decided the fate of his 

 country ; and Gundobald was compelled to yield to 

 the arms of Clovis, and condescended to pay a year- 

 ly tribute to his conqueror. Upon the death of 

 Gundobald in 509, his son, Sigistnund, ascended 

 the throne. The first act of his reign was to ac- 

 knowledge his subjection to the Emperor of Con- 

 stantinople ; and the second, that is worth record- 

 ing, was the inhuman murder of his innocent son, to 

 satisfy the pride and resentment of a step-mother. 

 This he afterwards attempted to expiate, by austere 

 devotion, and liberal donations to the monastery of 

 St Maurice in Vallais, which obtained for him the 

 honours of a saint and a martyr. But a more dread- 

 ful expiation awaited him from the sons of Clovis, 

 who, with a powerful army of Franks, came to re- 

 venge upon the son of Gundobald the murder of 

 their grandfather. After an unsuccessful battle in 

 523, Sigismund fled to the desert, and attempted to 

 conceal himself, under the habit of a monk ; but, 

 being discovered and betrayed by his own subjects, 

 he was condemned, with his wife and two children, 

 to be buried alive in a deep well at Orleans. The 

 Burgundians submitted for a short while to their in- 

 vaders, when, revolting under Gondemar, the bro- 

 ther of Sigismund, they recovered their independ- 

 ence after A severe struggle, but maintained it only 

 for eight years. The sons of Clovis again entered 

 Burgundy ; and, in 534, completed the conquest of 

 the kingdom, when Gondemar was obliged to save 

 himself by flight ; and his subjects were reduced to 

 pay an annual tribute, and to serve in the armies of 

 their conquerors. But, though now under the do- 

 minion of the Franks, they continued to enjoy their 

 national laws, until the reign of 



