BRA, a town of Italy in the province of Cuneo and district of Alba, on the River Stura, 25 miles N.E. of Cuneo. It has three parish churches, a gymnasium, a hospital, manufactures of silk and linen goods, and a considerable trade in corn, cattle, wine, and silk. Population, 12,946.

BRA.GANÇA, a town of Portugal, the capital of the province of Tras-os-Montes on the Fervenza, 26 miles N.W. of Miranda. It consists of an upper and lower town; the former surrounded with walls, is the seat of the bishop of Bragança and Miranda, and has a citadel, a college, a hospital, and a poor-house, and some manufactures of silk and velvet. The reigning houses of Portugal and Brazil are descendants of the old dukes of Bragança. Population, 4503.

BRABANT, an extensive district in the Netherlands, which formerly constituted a separate duchy, but is now divided between Belgium and Holland. The Belgian portion includes the provinces of Brabant and Antwerp, while the whole of the Dutch portion is still known by its ancient name. Godfrey the Bearded, count of Louvain, who lived in the beginning of the 12th century, was the first to assume the title of count of Brabant, which his great-grandson, Henry I. the Warrior (1190-1235) exchanged for that of duke. The duchy passed in regular succession to Henry II. the Magnanimous (1235-1248), and Henry III. the Debonnair (d. 1261); but on the death of the latter the natural heir was supplanted by his younger brother John I. the Victorious, who added the district of Limburg to his possessions by the battle of Woeringen in 1288, in which he killed his competitor Henry of Luxembourg with his own hand. The next duke, John II., is memorable for the privileges he bestowed on his subjects by the statute of the Common Weal and the charter of Cortemberg. His successor, John III. the Triumphant, had to contend against a rebellion of Brussels and Louvain, and an offensive alliance of his neighbours, but managed to make himself not only secure but formidable. His three sons having died before him without issue, he was succeeded by his daughter, who had married Wenceslas of Luxembourg. The count of Flanders laid claim to the duchy, and, after a considerable struggle, was only bought off by the surrender of Antwerp. In 1404 the whole of Brabant was handed over to the countess of Flanders, and in 1406 her son took the title of duke. On his death at the battle of Agincourt, in which he fought on the side of the French, he was succeeded by John IV., whose marriage and divorce created much ...

BRACCIOLINI, Francesco, an Italian poet, born at Pistoia, of a noble family, in 1566. On his removing to Florence he was admitted into the academy there, and devoted himself to literature. At Rome he entered the service of Cardinal Maffeo Barberini, with w hom he afterwards went to France. After the death of Clement VIII. he returned to his own country; and when his patron Barberini was elected pope, under the name of Urban VIII., Bracciolini repaired to Rome, and was made secretary to the Pope’s brother, Cardinal Antonio. He had also the honour conferred on him of taking a surname from the arms of the Barberini family, which were bees; whence he was afterwards known by the name of Bracciolini dell ’ Api. During Urban’s pontificate the poet lived at Rome-in considerable reputation, though at the same time he was censured for his sordid avarice. On the death of the pontiff he returned to Pistoia, where he died in 1645. There is scarcely any species of poetry, epic, dramatic, pastoral, lyric, or burlesque, which Bracciolini did not attempt; but he is principally noted for his mock-heroic poem Lo Scherno degli Dei, published in 1618, similar but confessedly inferior to the contemporary work of Tassoni, Secchia Rapita. Of his serious heroic poems the most celebrated is La Croce Racquistata.

BRACCIOLINI, Poggio. See Poggio.

BRACELET, or Armlet, a personal ornament, made of different materials, according to the fashion of the age and the rank of the wearer. The word is the French bracelet, which Ménage derives from braceletum, a diminutive of bracüe, all formed from the Latin brachium, the arm, on which it was usually worn. By the Romans it was called armilia, brachiale, occabus; and in the Middle Ages boga, bauga, armispatha....

A bracelet is commonly worn by the oriental princes, as a badge of power and authority. When the calif Cayem Bemrillah granted the investiture of certain dominions to an eastern prince, he sent him letters patent, a crown, a chain, and bracelets. This was probably the reason that the Amalekite brought the bracelet which he found on Saul’s arm, along with his crown, to David, 2 Sam. i, 10. It was a royal ornament, and belonged to the regalia of the kingdom. The bracelet, it must be acknowledged, was worn both by men and women of different ranks; but the original word, in the second book of Samuel, occurs only in two other places, and is quite different from the term which is employed to express the more common ornament known by that name. And beside, this ornament was worn by kings and princes in a different manner from their subjects. It was fastened above the elbow; and was commonly of great value.