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BREMER BRENDAN 249 justice, finance, police, medical and sanitary administration, military affairs, commerce and shipping ; all the ministers are senators. In 1 854 a law was enacted admitting Jews to the right of citizenship. Bremen was founded by Char- Jemagne in 788, and endowed with a bishopric, which was subsequently raised to an archbish- opric. In the course of time the city increased in strength, wrested the temporal power from the hand of the church, and became one of the early participants in the league of the Hanse towns. It conquered a number of Norwegian and Livonian ports, founded Riga in 1158, took part in the conquest of Prussia, extorted commercial privileges from all ports between Bremen and Amsterdam, from England and Flanders, and subjected to its control a large strip of land on both banks of the Weser. In common with Hamburg, it purged the North sea of pirates. It was one of the earliest cities to decide for Protestantism, but religious dis- sensions within the city, and finally the thirty jears' war, brought the archiepiscopal territory under Swedish sway, with the title of duchy. The city itself was twice unsuccessfully besieged by the Swedes (1654 and 1666). Both the duchy and city were conquered by the Danes in 1712 ; the former was subsequently acquired by Hanover, and the latter restored to its inde- pendence. In the Napoleonic wars, when the city suffered much, its volunteer militia were among the earliest and bravest defenders of German independence. The treaties of Vienna made it a member of the Germanic confedera- tion, after the dissolution of which in 1866 it joined the North German union, and four years later the German empire. BREMER, a N. E. county of Iowa, intersected by the Cedar and Wapsipinicon rivers ; area, 430 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 12,528. The Cedar Falls and Minnesota railroad traverses the county. The soil is of good quality, well wa- tered, and abundantly supplied with timber. The chief productions in 1870 were 527,638 bushels of wheat, 423,362 of Indian corn, 587,658 of oats, 15,493 of barley, 77,349 of potatoes, 26,550 tons of hay, 20,101 Ibs. of wool, and 400,791 of butter. There were 4,946 horses, 5,101 milch cows, 5,223 sheep, .and 9,424 swine. Capital, Waverley. BREMER, Fredrika, a Swedish novelist, born near Abo, in Finland, Aug. 17, 1801, died at Arsta, near Stockholm, Dec. 31, 1865. Her father was a wealthy merchant, and on the annexation of Finland to Russia in 1809 re- moved with his family to Sweden. Fredrika was carefully educated, resided for some time in Norway with the countess Sonnerhjelm, and to complete her education was sent for -a year to Paris. On her return she became a teacher in a female academy at Stock- holm. She began at the age of eight years to write verses, and in 1824 published at Stock- holm her first novel, " The Neighbors," which was soon translated into German, French, Dutch, and Russian, and in 1842 into English by Mary Howitt, who also translated her sub- sequent works. Previous to 1849 she had published "The Home," "The Diary," "The H Family," " The President's Daughter," "Nina," "Brothers and Sisters," "Life in Dalecarlia,"and "The Midnight Sun." In 1849 she visited the United States, where she was cordially received. She spent two years in travelling through the country, and made a short visit to Cuba. Her observations were recorded in a work entitled "The Homes of the New World," which was published sim- ultaneously in Sweden, England, and the United States in 1853, and was exceedingly complimentary to this country and to her American friends. On her return to Europe she spent some time in England, and published at Altona in 1852 an account of her visit under the title of "England in 1851." From Eng- land she returned to Sweden, where she wrote two more novels of home life, " Hertha" (1856) and " Father and Daughter " (1858). In 1857 she went to the south of Europe, and the re- sult of her travels was published in 1860 under the title of "Two Years in Switzerland and Italy." From Italy she went to Palestine, Greece, and Turkey, and in 1863 published her observations on those countries. A German edition of her works in 30 volumes was com- pleted in 1864. BREMERHiFEN, or Bremerhaven, a town of Germany, belonging to Bremen, of which it is the port, situated on the estuary of the Weser, at the mouth of the river Geeste, 30 m. N. N. W. of Bremen, with which it is connected by rail- way and the Weser ; pop. in 1871, 10,594. The channel of the Weser having become so filled up as to be impassable for large vessels, the spot on which Bremerhafen stands was ac- quired from the kingdom of Hanover in 1827, and the town was established in 1830. The port, which is accessible for the largest vessels, consists of an outer harbor, a sluiced dock, and an inner harbor. Bremerhafen has become the chief point from which German emigrants sail for America. (See BBEMEN.) For their ac- commodation the Auswandererhaus was erect- ed in 1849 by the authorities of Bremen, ca- pable of sheltering 2,500 persons at a time, and of feeding 6,000 a day. The town is de- fended by Fort Wilhelm on the opposite bank of the river. Lines of steamers connect it with London, Hull, and New York. BRENDAN, or Brandanus, an Irish saint, died in 578. He founded religious establishments in Ireland and England, and is the legendary hero of voyages undertaken under the protection of an angel, narratives of which, in Latin and old French, were published in Paris in 1836, from original MSS. of the llth or 12th century. Blommaert's Oudvlaemschen Oedichten (Ghent, 1838- '41) gave a version of another MS. said to have existed in old German. A Low-Ger- man dramatic version and German translation of the Latin appeared at the end of the 15th century.