BIIUNHILIDS -BRUNO. 



731 



those of B. are distinguished only by the alphabetical 

 form.) An attempt to unite the plan of his work with 

 the considerations which must guide the man of 

 learning in his studies and labours, is contained in the 

 Bibliographical Lexicon, by Ebert, since published. 



BRUNHILDIS. See Nibelungen. 



BRUNI. See Bruno, Giordano. 



BRUNINGS, Christian ; one of the greatest hydraulic 

 architects of Holland ; was born in 1736, at Neckerau, 

 in the Palatinate. In his childhood he devoted him- 

 self to the sciences connected with hydraulic archi- 

 tecture. In 1769 the states of Holland appointed 

 him general inspector of rivers. This introduced 

 him to a share in several important commissions ; for 

 instance, that for the improvement of the dike sys- 

 tem, in 1796; that for draining the tracts between 

 Niewskogs and Zevenhoven, in 1797, &c. His most 

 important water-works are his improvements in the 

 diking of the lake of Haarlem, the improved diking 

 and deepening of the Oberwasser, so called, in the 

 Netherlands, which, at high tides, often inundated 

 vast extents of country, together with the change in 

 the course of the Waal-stream and the canal of Pan- 

 nerde, by which the beds of the Rhine, the Waal, and 

 the Leek were improved. He introduced into his 

 department the use of the stream measure, so called. 

 His many official duties permitted this worthy officer 

 but seldom to appear as an author. Yet we find 

 scientific essays written by him in the fourteenth, 

 nineteenth, and twentieth volumes of the Memoirs of 

 the Haarlem Society of Sciences, and some other 

 pieces. He died in 1805. The directory of the then 

 republic wished to erect a monument to him in the 

 cathedral church at Haarlem ; but it has never been 

 completed, on account of the political disturbances 

 that occurred soon after his death. 



BRUNN ; the capital of Moravia, and of a circle of the 

 same name, which contains a population of 300,000, 

 and is fertile in corn and flax. The population of the 

 city, with the suburbs, is 33,300. It contains the go- 

 vernment offices, the house for the meeting of the 

 states, the palace of prince Lichtenstein, a gymnasium, 

 many fine houses, c. There are at B. sex/eral 

 flourishing manufactures of fine woollen cloths and 

 kerseymeres, one of which employs 5000 individuals. 

 It is the centre of the Moravian commerce, a great 

 part of which is carried on by fairs held at B. every 

 three months. On a hill near it is the fortress of 

 Spielberg, now used as a prison. Lat. 49 1 1 N . ; 

 Ion. 16" 35' E. 



BRUNO THE GREAT, archbishop of Cologne and duke 

 of Lorraine, third son of Henry the Fowler, and bro- 

 ther of the emperor Otho I., had a great share in the 

 events of his time, and surpassed all the contemporary 

 bishops in talents and knowledge. A numerous train 

 of learned men from all countries, even from Greece, 

 continually followed him, and his excellent example 

 was imitated by many prelates. He died at Rheims, 

 Oct. 11, 965. Commentaries on the five books of 

 Moses, and the biographies of some saints, are ascribed 

 to him. 



BRUNO, St. Among several individuals of this name, 

 the most famous is the one who established the order 

 of Carthusian monks. He was born at Cologne, about 

 1030, of an old and noble family, which still flourished 

 in the middle of the 18th century ; was educated in the 

 school of the collegiate church of St Cunibert ; in 

 which also, he afterwards received a canonship, and 

 then studied at Rheims, where he distinguished him- 

 self to such a degree, that Gervais, the bishop, appoint- 

 ed him to superintend all the schools of the district. 

 He attracted mar.-/ distinguished scholars, and, 

 among others, Odo, afterwards pope Urban II. The 

 immorality of his times induced him to go into soli- 

 tude. He retired, therefore, with six friendsof the same 



disposition, to the residence of St Hugo, bishop of 

 Grenoble, who, in 1084, led them to a desert, four or 

 five leagues distant from the city, called Chartreuse, 

 whence the order of monks received its name. Here, 

 in a narrow valley, overshadowed by two steep rocks, 

 covered with snow and thorns, B. and his companions 

 built an oratory, and small separate cells to dwell in, 

 and founded, in 1086, one of the severest orders of 

 monks. In the mean time, Urban II. became pope, 

 and, in 1089, invited his former instructor to his court. 

 B. reluctantly obeyed, but refused every spiritual dig- 

 nity, and, in 1094, received permission to found a se- 

 cond Carthusian establishment in the solitude of della 

 Torre, in Calabria. Here he lived in his former mode, 

 ruled his new colony with wisdom, and died in the 

 a,-ms of his scholars, A. D. 1101. Leo X., in 1514, 

 permitted the Carthusians to celebrate a mass in ho- 

 nour of him ; and Gregory XV., in 1623, extended it 

 to the whole Catholic church. He was afterwards 

 canonized. B. gave his scholars no particular laws. 

 A complete set of regulations for the Carthusians was 

 first formed, A. D. 1581, and confirmed by Innocent 

 XI. 



BRUNO, or BRUNI (Brunus, Leonardo), of Arezzo, 

 whence his name Aretino (Aretinus), was one of the 

 most famous of the literati at the period of the revival 

 of classic literature in Italy. He was born in 1370, 

 and, in his childhood, was excited by the character of 

 Petrarch, to the pursuit of those studies to which he 

 consecrated his life. He first studied law at Florence 

 and Ravenna ; but the arrival of Emanuel Chrysoloras 

 at Florence gave him a decided turn for classical learn- 

 ing. He afterwards filled many offices in the Roman 

 Catholic church, and accompanied pope John XXIII. 

 to Constance, where the latter was deposed, and B. 

 escaped to Florence. Here he wrote his Florentine 

 History, received, in consequence, the rights of ci- 

 tizenship, and afterwards, by the favour of the Medici, 

 became secretary to the republic. In this important 

 post he died, A. D. 1444. Florence and Arezzo vied 

 with each other in honouring his memory by splendid 

 obsequies and monuments. The merits of B., in 

 spreading and advancing the study of Greek literature, 

 consist particularly in his literal Latin translations of 

 the classics ; for instance, the writings of Aristotle, 

 the orations of Demosthenes, the biographies of Plu- 

 tarch, &c. The other works on which his fame rests 

 are, his Florentine History, also a history of his times, 

 from 1378 to 1440, and his speeches. His collection 

 of letters, also, is valuable. His writings are in the 

 Latin language, with the exception of two biographies 

 of Dante and Petrarch. His chief work is Historic 

 Florentine, (twelve books, Strasb., 1610, folio), with 

 which is connected the Commentarius Rerum sui 

 Tempore Gestarum, published in Italian, at Venice, 

 1476, folio. 



BRU.NO, Giordano ; a philosopher of the 16th cen- 

 tury, distinguished by the originality and poetical bold- 

 ness of his speculations ; born at Nola, in the Neapo- 

 litan territory ; entered the order of Dominicans ; took 

 refuge, probably from the persecutions which he drew 

 upon himself by his religious doubts and his satires on 

 the life of the monks, at Geneva, in 1582, where, 

 however, he was soon persecuted, by the Calvinists, 

 for his paradoxes and his violence ; stood forth, in 

 1583, at Paris, as the antagonist of the Aristotelian 

 philosophy, and as teacher of the ars Lulliana. Here 

 he found many opponents, went to London, returned 

 to Paris, and, from 1586 to 1588, taught his philosophy 

 at Wittenberg. Why he left Wittenberg is not known ; 

 but it is certain that he went, in 1588, to Helmstadt, 

 and he seems to have visited Prague before that year. 

 Protected by duke Julius of Wolfenbuttel, he remained 

 in Helmstadt till his protector died in 1589. He 

 was then engaged, at Frankfort on the Maine, with 



