BERNE. See Bern.

BERNERS, Juliana, prioress of Sopewell nunnery, near St Albans, was the daughter of Sir James Berners, who was beheaded in the reign of Richard II. She was celebrated for her beauty, her spirit, and her passion for field sports. To her is attributed the Treatyse perteynynge to Hawkynge, Huntynge, and Fysshynge with an Angle; also a right noble Treatyse on the Lygnage of Cot Armours, endynge with a Treatyse which speeyfyeth of Blasynge oj Armys, printed in folio by Wynkyn de Worde in 1496. The first and rarest edition, printed at St Albans in 1486, does not contain the treatise on fishing. Haslewood, who published an edition of the work (in fac-simile of that of Wynkyn de Worde) in 1811, folio, London, has examined with the greatest care the author’s claims to figure as the earliest female writer in the English language. His preliminary dissertations contain all the scanty information that is to be had concerning her.