

BF.RI ; 



BERfirv 



H 



Vienna fa 1815, the larger portion of them was include*! in the 

 province of Dusseldorf, and the remainder was consolidated with that 

 of JulicrK, i 



BKKOAMo. i\ delegation or prorinoe of Austrian Italy, in bounded 

 E. by the |,n.vinco of Brescia, S. by that of Milan, W. by that of 

 Como, and N. by the Valteline. The province is very mountainous, 

 lying on the southern slope of the Alps, the lower heights of which 

 consist of woodlands and pasture*. The wood in chiefly larch, fir. 

 oak, birch, and chestnut. The herdsmen with their families ana 

 cattle ascend to the higher Alps during the summer, and descend 

 gradually, as the winter approaches, to the valleys. The lower slopes 

 are formed into terraces, and cultivated with great labour. Honey 

 and wax are gathered. Among the numerous rivers the principal are 

 the Brembo and the Serio, feeders of the Adda, and the Oglio, v. hi.-h 

 falls into the Lago Iseo. The valleys of these rivers are very fertile ; 

 and the system of irrigation is extensively applied. The vine, the 

 "live, and the walnut are cultivated, and there are large plantations of 

 mulberry-trees for the production of silk. There are also valuable iroii- 

 minea, large iron-works, and several woollen and silk-factories in the 

 province. The province is celebrated for its beautiful scenery. The 

 inhabitant* of the country parts of the province speak a peculiar dialect, 

 in which the Harlequin of the Italian stage is always made to express 

 himself. This character is said to have been conceived as an imitation 

 or rather caricature of the manners and language of the people of the 

 valley of the Brembo. The population is about 330,000, and there 

 are close upon 1000 elementary schools in the pnovince. 



The chief tows are BERGAMO ; Zogno, population 2500 ; San 

 Pollegrino in the Val Brembana, frequented for its mineral baths ; 

 Romano, population 8000; Martinengo, population 8000; Clusone, 

 in the Val Seriana, in which broadcloth and hardware are manu- 

 factured, population 8000 ; Lovere, on the northern shore of the lake 

 Iseo, which has 4000 inhabitants, and several cloth-factories ; Pisogne, 

 at the north-eastern extremity of the lake, which has 8000 inhabitants, 

 who are engaged chiefly in the manufacture of hardware; Brcno, 

 higher up on the Oglio, population 2000 ; and Edolo, a small place 

 in the upper part of the Val d' Oglio, at which there are iron-works. 



(Balhi, Gfoyraphie ; Macgregor's Commercial Statistic!.) 



BKRG A'MO (the ancient Btryomum), the capital of the delegation 

 of Bergamo, stands on a hill between the Brembo and the Serio, in 

 45* 42' N. lat, 9 87' E. long., 25 miles N.E. from Milan. It has a 

 population of 32,000. Bergamo consists of two parts the upper 

 town or city, which is the residence of the Bergamesque nobility, a 

 very exclusive class : and the Borgo, a suburb, which is the seat of the 

 commercial transactions of Bergamo. The city is surrounded by walls 

 and ditches, and has a castle on the summit of the bill. The main 

 street winds up and round the hill ; the other streets are narrow and 

 frequently shaded by arcades. The houses are very solid and lofty 

 and all have a mediaeval look. Among the churches of Bergamo the 

 most remarkable arc the cathedral, those of Santa-Maria Maggiore, 

 Santa-Orata, San Thomas, San Alessandro, and Han Augustino, all of 

 which are decorated with paintings and gilding. Among the other 

 important buildings is the Brogb'o, or town-hall, which stands upon 

 lofty gothic arches ; the hall is reached by an open staircase on the 

 ouUide, and contains a fine statue of Tasso, whose father was a native 

 of Bergamo. In the Borgo, or lower town, an important fair is held 

 yearly. This mart is held in a'building called I,a Kiero, in th, 

 end of Augnat and beginning of September every year. F.a Kicr.-i is 

 a vast quadrangular building, with three gates on each side, courts 

 and streets within, and contains 800 shops, in which the various manu- 

 facture* of Lombardy and other provinces of Austria are exposed for 

 ale. Good* are sold at this fair to the amount of 1,000,0001, about 

 one-third of which is laid ont for silks. 



Bergamo is the seat of a bishop. It possesses a public library of 



45,000 volumes, a lyoeum, two gymnasia, an ecclesiastical semitmrv, 



and several schools. In the Carrara Academy, which was founded by 



.rrara, lectures are given on painting and architecture; 



in connection with it there are collections of paintings, medallions, 



cMta, Ac. There are also in the town a house ..f in.ln-try, an asylum 



'orming young vagrants, and several hospitals and dispensaries. 



Bergamo is a place of considerable trade, and has large silk-mum- 







The foundation of Bergnmum is attributed by some to the Orobii, 

 who are said to have been a uscans. Tl. 



Chuls lnva-1 f Bcrgomum is a 



'. In later writers the name is corruptly given 



as Perynmtu and Beryame. Bergomnm under th.- empire became an 

 important manicipml town, and seems to have dc. 

 wealth from the copper mini- in its territory. It was burnt l>j 

 B.C. 452. It was afterwards rebuilt by the Longobards, and again 

 destroy ed about the year 00 by the Hungarians. In the 1 Oth . 

 Armilph king and afterwards emperor of Germany, made it a county, 

 of which he gave the investiti,.. t., the bi<hop. It became 

 the town. . ir d league against Frederick Barbaroasa, and, 



rthe pmce of Constance, secured its own independence. It sn: 



afterwards during the factions of the Om-lphs and Ohibelines, and in 



J?* U 7 ft became subject to the dominion of ;l chief called 



PJP Torr..-.ni. * -i '-y the Visoonti of Mil.in.it th.. l--gimmi K 



4th century, and passed successively under the tyranny of 



several n.itive and foreign chiefs, until at last, in 1 4 27, its citizens gre 

 themselves up voluntarily to the republic of Venice, to which Bergamo 

 r.-m-iued firmly attached till the destruction of that republic by 

 Bonaparte in 



BKHGAUA. [ ' 



BERGEN, a town and port in the kingdom of Norway, is situated 

 in 62" 23' N. lat., 6 20' E. long. At an early period, attracted Li- 

 the prolific fisheries on the coast, and particularly by tin- herring- 



.1 number of fishermen were induced to settle round a c 

 the North Sea, on a part of which the town of Bergen is now built. 

 Its convenient situation for trade induced one of the ancient kings of 

 Norway, Olaf Kyrre, to enlarge the place and to build a regular town 

 there in 1069 or 1070. 



The island of Askoen, situated about three miles from the 

 town, forms a bulwark against the sea, and incloses the large bay 

 livcfjordcn, which, dividing into two branches called Vaag. . 

 Puddeflorden, encircles the town. The town is built on a pr 

 tory, ii-' round that part of the bay called Vaagen, 



c, institutes the harbour. On the east side of the town are two lakes, 

 Lille and Store Lungegaard- nU-uting with the Pnd- 



dcfjord, so that the town is almost entirely mrroaoded by wat. 

 only joins the mainland on the n. 



by high mountains, the highest summit of which t \ nbuut 



2600 feet above the level of the sea. 



Many commercial privileges were granted, and \. 

 tutions established in the town during the reign of Olaf Kyr: 

 likewise adorned it with several magnificent buildings, among which 

 was Christ church, the first Christian temple erected in 1. 

 which is described as having been a beautiful specimen of ai . 

 ture. It was pulled down in 1531. The palace (Kongsgaarden) was 

 also built in his reign, and was situated on the spot on which the 

 fortress now stands. This fort, which has been several times destroyed 

 by fire, was remodelled, and made a regular fortress in 1 ' 



A commercial treaty was entered into with England in the year 

 1217, the first of the kind which England made with any foreign 

 power. 



During the 12th and 18th centuries, for a peri it ISO 



years, Bergen was a sort of residence for the ancient king- 

 a circumstance which greatly contributed to its prosperity. Trade 

 was carried on partly with Nordlandine, partly with the islands of 

 Fterde, the Orkneys, Iceland, and Greenland. In the year 127> the 

 German merchants of the Hanse Towns obtained permission to 

 in and trade with Bergen, by whom the English and Scotch merchants 

 who had settled there were gradually displaced, and at lost entirely 

 expelled in the year 1312. The situation of Bergen was then of great 

 importance aa the central point for the whole trade of \orwny. The 

 privileges of the Hanse merchants were confirmed and extended in 

 1348 by King Magnus Smek. From tlii .icquired a coin 



plete ascendancy in the town, supplair --very 



branch of commerce (even that with Nordlandine, although tli 

 po.-itively interdicted them), and usurped an almost despot 

 o\ert.he townsmen for more than a century and a half. 



About the year 1435 the Hanseatics formed a fixed trading estab- 

 lishment in Bergen called the ' Hanscatic Contoir,' whose . 

 servants, &c., under the immediate supcrini 

 Towns, frequently set the laws and authorities of the com 

 defiance, and carried things so far as to fortify their own ipi.!. 

 the town, which, as it occupied the whole quay, gave them tli 

 plete command of the harbour, fn their lawless vio ; .-nelly 



put to death on the 1st of September 1455 the governor ( ' 

 and Bishop Torleif, who had incurred th. <iro, together with 



sixty other persons who bad taken refuge in a com.-. it. which ww 

 burnt at the same time. To prevent their forming alliances with the 

 inhabitants, they were prevented by their statutes from marrying, the 

 consequence of which was that a licentiousness that exceeded nil '. 

 became prevalent in the town. In their in- .-:mls 



/.ii" they were join. <l by a great number of foreign 

 who had likewise established themselves in a separate quarter of 1],,. 

 town, where they also exercised unlimited dominion. The oppressed 

 frequently presented their complaint* ' ntj but 



their wrongs were not redressed until Krederiek II. of Denmark, on 

 the 25th of July 1.10U issue. I ' 'de-rise Recess,' , 



placed more definite limit* t : leges of the Hanseatics, and 



became a law, according to which the quarrels between the Hanseatics 

 and the citizens were decided. This Act entirely broke the supremacy 

 of the Hanseatics, "1 a severe shock from 



the vigorous conduct of Walkendorff, who wn -. ivcnior in 



1656, and became afterwards celebrated f..i- .!. the 



astronomer Tycho Brahe. Other natjoi mish, 



A.-, now began to trade with Bergon, and in the beneficial results which 

 follow. rt., ok. Although the Hanseatic confederacy 



was dissolved in 1630, Hamburg, L<ubeck, ami lin-nn-n -till continued 

 to posses* extensive privileges in Bergen ; but as the citizens got pos- 

 session "f th oum on th.. ijii.iy, their power and influence 

 gradually declined. In 1763, when the last of these came into the 

 hands of a citizen, the only remnant of the influence of foreigners, 

 which had continued during four centuries, entire! red. 



The trade of Bergen may be divided into two branches, the internal 



