parts of Scotland, but now less so than formerly. It is usually composed of pease-meal or pease and barley-meal mixed; prepared without any leaven, it is baked on a circular plate of iron called a girdle. When made of mixed meal it is tailed a mashlum bannock. 'Bannocks of barley- meal' form the theme of a popular Scottish song. The bannock is doulitless of great antiquity, be- ing, in fact, the primitive cake, only varied in material, of every country.
BAN'NOCKBUBN (Gal., the stream of the white knoll ; hum, AS. buriia. a small stream; cf. Ger. Brunnen, well). A village in Scotland, .'i miles southeast of Stirling, on the Bannock Rivulet, the scene of a great battle, fought on
June 24, 1314, in which Roliert Bruce, with 30,000
Scotch, gained a signal victory over Edward 11.-
with 100,000 English, and secured his throne and
the independ'ence of Scotland. The victory was due
in great measure to the clever device of Bruce,
vvlio caused the ground in front of his position
to be undermined in all directions. The English
cavalry blundered into the hidden pits, were
rendered helpless themselves, and threw the rest
of the arm}- into confusion. The English are said
to have lost 30,000, and the Scotch 8000, men.
The 'bore-stone' on which Bruce is said to have
fixed his standard on that day is still to be seen
on an eminence near the scene of the fight. On
the southeast of the field of Bannockl)urn, at
Sauc'hie Bum, James III. was defeated June 11.
1488, b}^ his rebellious subjects, and assassinated
after the battle in a mill where he had taken
refuge. See Scotland.
BANNS (earlier also hamips. really plural of
Inn) OF MARRIAGE. The prelim'inary public announcement or proclamation, constituting a part of the religious ceremonial of marriage. It was made compulsory throughout Christendom by a decree of Innocent III. at the fovirth Lateran Council of I"21.5, and is still employed both in
England and in most Roman (.'atholic countries
as an essential part of the religious celebration
of matrimony. It is not necessary to the valid-
ity of marriage, however, which, in England and
the United States, at least, could always be
«ft'ected by a civil contract without ceremony.
The object of this publication was to give noto-
riety to the act, so that all who had objections to
the marriage might l)e enabled to state them in
lime. By the English Book of Common Prayer
the announcement is required to be made in the
terms of the rubric prefixed to the marriage
service, on three Sundays preceding the cere-
mony. If any objections are offered, it is the
<luty of the clergynuiu to ))roceed no farther with
the marriage; if, notwithstanding, he marries
the jiarties, he will be liable to severe penalties
by the ecclesiastical law, though not to an indict-
ment. According to the old English Canon Law,
the publication of banns might be made on holy-
<)ays; but a change was made to Sunday by the
first important English Marriage Act, the 26
deo. II., c. 33 ; and although that act was after-
wards superseded by the 4 Geo. IV., c. 76, the
regulation as to Sunday is still in force.
The custom was continued in the early history
of the English Colonies in America, and of the
States formed from them. It is now practically
obsolete in the United States, except in the
Roman Catholic (.Huirch, although it is still rec-
ognized in the statutes of some of the States
(Stimson's American statute Laif, Sec. 6120).
See M.VREIAGE, and consult the authorities there
referred to.
BANQUETTE, ban-kef (Fr. dimiu. of bunc,
bench). A projection or raised ledge forming a
platform on the inner side of the parapet of a
rampart, and designed to accommodate and pro-
tect the ritle fire of the defenders. Its dimen-
sions vary according to circumstances. See
FOKTIFICATIOX.
BANQUO, baij'kwo. According to Holinshed,
who probably drew his information from Boece,
a Scotch warrior of the Eleventh Century, and
the progenitor of the royal house of Stuart. In
1066 he is said to have joined JIacbcth in a
conspiracy against King Duncan, and to have
lieen treacherously slain by his confederate.
Shakespeare does not mention him as a conspira-
tor, but only as Macbeth's victim. Boswell-Stone
{Shakespe'ire's Holinshed, New York, 1896)
says: "Banquo and Fleance were, I suppose,
creatures of Bocce's imagination."
BAN'SHEE, or BEN'SHEE (Gicl. Iwn-sith;
from ban, woman + sitli. Ir. sir/he. fairy). An
imaginary being in Irish folk-lore. The ban- ;
shee is a female, who is called the wife of the
fairies, and she makes herself known by wailings '
and shrieks, and thus gives warning of a death ;
in the family, over which she is presumed to ,
exercise a kind of guardianship.
BANSWARA, ban-swii'ra. A Native State of
Rajputana, India, in the west of Malwa, bordering on Gujerat (ilap: India, B 4). It extends
from latitude 23° 10' to 23° 48' N., and from
iongitiule 74° '2' to 74° 41' E. Area, 1500
square miles. Population, in 1891, 181,000; in
1901, 1(;.-.,300.
BANTAM, ban-t;im' or ban'tam. A seaport
town in the western part of Java, situated in
the residency of the same name (Map: East
Indies, 6). It was formerly the capital of
the kingdom of Bantam, and attained consider-
able commercial importance during the Sixteenth
and Seventeenth centuries. At present it is in
a state of decline.
BAN'TAM FOWL. See Fowl.
BANTAYAN, ban-tii'yan. A town of the
i>land of the same name, belonging to the Prov-
ince of Cebu, Philippine Islands, situated 62
miles north of Cebu. Population, 10,000.
BAN'TENG (native Malay name) . An East Indian ox {Bos sondaiciis) , which inhabits the Malay Peninsula and Archipelago, except perhaps Sumatra, and is by scnue considered only a local race of the gaur of India. It is smaller and of lighter build than the gaur, with a longer and sharper head, and the horns more slender and rounded: there is less of a dorsal ridge, and the cow is peculiar in being bright dun in color, while the bulls more nearly resemble gaurs. This wild ox inhabits the jungle and is exceedingly wary and ])ugnacions. "Xo more bellicose and dangerous inhabitant of the [Javan] forest," says Forbes, "than a wounded bull need a hunter care to encounter." Yet it has been tamed from time to time, and interbred with the zebu and other domestic cattle, yielding a serviceable hybrid, of which large herds are kept by the Jialays of Java and Bali. Consult Wallace,
