book 3, century 13, part 2, chapter 2, section 39-41,

and chapter 5, section 9, foot-note._

ALSO IN: _L. Mariotti (A. Gallenga), Fra Dolcino and his Times._

See, also, PICARDS.

BEGUMS OF OUDE, Warren Hastings and the.

See INDIA: A. D. 1773-1785.

BEHISTUN, Rock of.

"This remarkable spot, lying on the direct route between Babylon and Ecbatana, and presenting the unusual combination of a copious fountain, a rich plain and a rock suitable for sculpture, must have early attracted the attention of the great monarchs who marched their armies through the Zagros range, as a place where they might conveniently set up memorials of their exploits. ... The tablet and inscriptions of Darius, which have made Behistun famous in modern times, are in a recess to the right of the scarped face of the rock, and at a considerable elevation."

_G. Rawlinson, Five Great Monarchies: Media, chapter 1._

The mountain or rock of Behistun fixes the location of the district known to the Greeks as Bagistana. "It lies southwest of Elvend, between that mountain and the Zagrus in the valley of the Choaspes, and is the district now known as Kirmenshah."

_M. Duncker, History of Antiquity, book 8, chapter 1._

BEHRING SEA CONTROVERSY, and Arbitration.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1886-1893.

{278}

BEIRUT, Origin of.

See BERYTUS.

BELA I., King of Hungary, A. D. 1060-1063. Bela II., A. D. 1131-1141. Bela III., A. D. 1173-1196. Bela IV., A. D. 1235-1270.

BELCHITE, Battle of.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1809 (FEBRUARY-JUNE).

BELERION, OR BOLERIUM.

The Roman name of Land's End, England.

See BRITAIN: CELTIC TRIBES.

BELFORT. Siege by the Germans (1870-1871).

See FRANCE: A. D. 1870-1871.

BELGÆ, The.

"This Belgian confederation included the people of all the country north of the Seine and Marne, bounded by the Atlantic on the west and the Rhine on the north and east, except the Mediomatrici and Treviri. ... The old divisions of France before the great revolution of 1789 corresponded in some degree to the divisions of the country in the time of Cæsar, and the names of the people are still retained with little alteration in the names of the chief towns or the names of the ante-revolutionary divisions of France. In the country of the Remi between the Marne and the Aisne there is the town of Reims. In the territory of the Suessiones between the Marne and the Aisne there is Soissons on the Aisne. The Bellovaci were west of the Oise (Isara) a branch of the Seine: their chief town, which at some time received the name of Cæsaromagus, is now Beauvais. The Nervii were between and on the Sambre and the Schelde. The Atrebates were north of the Bellovaci between the Somme and the upper Schelde: their chief place was Nemetacum or Nemetocenna, now Arras in the old division of Artois. The Ambiani were on the Somme (Samara): their name is represented by Amiens (Samarobriva). The Morini, or sea-coast men extended from Boulogne towards Dunkerque. The Menapii bordered on the northern Morini and were on both sides of the lower Rhine (B. G. iv., 4). The Caleti were north of the lower Seine along the coast in the Pays de Caux. The Velocasses were east of the Caleti on the north side of the Seine as far as the Oise; their chief town was Rotomagus (Rouen) and their country was afterwards Vexin Normand and Vexin Français. The Veromandui were north of the Suessiones: their chief town under the Roman dominion, Augusta Veromanduorum, is now St. Quentin. The Aduatuci were on the lower Maas. The Condrusi and the others included under the name of Germani were on the Maas, or between the Maas and the Rhine. The Eburones had the country about Tongern and Spa, and were the immediate neighbours of the Menapii on the Rhine."

_G. Long, Decline of the Roman Republic, volume 4, chapter 3._

"Cæsar ... informs us that, in their own estimation, they [the Belgæ] were principally descended from a German stock, the offspring of some early migration across the Rhine. ... Strabo ... by no means concurred in Cæsar's view of the origin of this ... race, which he believed to be Gaulish and not German, though differing widely from the Galli, or Gauls of the central region."

_C. Merivale, History of the Romans, chapter 5._

ALSO IN: _E. Guest, Origines Celticæ, volume 1, chapter 12._

BELGÆ: B. C. 57. Cæsar's campaign against the confederacy.

In the second year of Cæsar's command in Gaul, B. C. 57, he led his legions against the Belgæ, whom he characterized in his Commentaries as the bravest of all the people of Gaul. The many tribes of the Belgian country had joined themselves in a great league to oppose the advancing Roman power, and were able to bring into the field no less than 290,000 men. The tribe of the Remi alone refused to join the confederacy and placed themselves on the Roman side. Cæsar who had quartered his army during the winter in the country of the Sequani, marched boldly, with eight legions, into the midst of these swarming enemies. In his first encounter with them on the banks of the Aisne, the Belgic barbarians were terribly cut to pieces and were so disheartened that tribe after tribe made submission to the proconsul as he advanced. But the Nervii, who boasted a Germanic descent, together with the Aduatuci, the Atrebates and the Veromandui, rallied their forces for a struggle to the death. The Nervii succeeded in surprising the Romans, while the latter were preparing their camp on the banks of the Sambre, and very nearly swept Cæsar and his veterans off the field, by their furious and tremendous charge. But the energy and personal influence of the one, with the steady discipline of the other, prevailed in the end over the untrained valour of the Nervii, and the proud nation was not only defeated but annihilated. "Their eulogy is preserved in the written testimony of their conqueror; and the Romans long remembered, and never failed to signalize their formidable valour. But this recollection of their ancient prowess became from that day the principal monument of their name and history, for the defeat they now sustained well nigh annihilated the nation. Their combatants were cut off almost to a man. The elders and the women, who had been left in secure retreats, came forth of their own accord to solicit the conqueror's clemency. ... 'Of 600 senators,' they said, 'we have lost all but three; of 60,000 fighting men 500 only remain.' Cæsar treated the survivors with compassion."

_C. Merivale, History of the Romans, chapter 7._

ALSO IN: _Julius Cæsar, Gallic Wars, book 2._

_G. Long, Decline of the Roman Republic, volume 4, chapter 3._

_Napoleon III., History of Cæsar, book 3, chapter 5._

BELGÆ OF BRITAIN, The. Supposed to be a colony from the Belgæ of the continent. The territory which they occupied is now embraced in the counties of Wiltshire and Somerset.

See BRITAIN: CELTIC TRIBES.

BELGIUM: Ancient and Mediaeval History.

See BELGÆ, NERVII, FRANKS, LORRAINE, FLANDERS, LIEGE. NETHERLANDS.

BELGIUM: Modern History.

See NETHERLANDS.

BELGRADE: Origin.

During the attacks of the Avars upon the territory of the Eastern Empire, in the last years of the 6th century, the city of Singidunum, at the junction of the Save with the Danube, was taken and totally destroyed. The advantageous site of the extinct town soon attracted a colony of Sclavonians, who raised out of the ruins a new and strongly fortified city--the Belgrade, or the White City of later times. "The Sclavonic name of Belgrade is mentioned in the 10th century by Constantine Porphyorgenitus: the Latin appellation of Alba Græca is used by the Franks in the beginning of the 9th."

_E. Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,