was strenuously opposed, and at this moment the decisive stroke of the battle was delivered by the Swedish right wing, which, having disposed of Pappenheim, swung round and occupied the ground originally held by the Imperial infantry, seized Tilly’s guns, and with them enfiladed the enemy’s new line. This put an end to the attack of the Imperial foot, and before sunset Tilly was in full retreat, hotly pursued and losing heavily in prisoners. His losses on the field have been estimated at 7000 killed and wounded and almost as many prisoners; the Swedes lost about 2000 and the Saxons over 4000 men.
The village of Breitenfeld also gives its name to another great battle in the Thirty Years’ War (November 2, 1642), in which the Swedes under Torstensson defeated the Imperialists under the archduke Leopold and Prince Piccolomini, who were seeking to relieve Leipzig. The Swedish cavalry decided the day on this occasion also.
BREMEN, a free state in the German empire, bearing the title Freie Hansestadt Bremen. It falls into three distinct parts: (1) the largest portion, with the city of Bremen, lying on both banks, but chiefly on the right, of the lower course of the Weser, surrounded by the Prussian province of Hanover and the grand-duchy of Oldenburg, and consisting in the main of lowland country intersected by canals and dykes; (2) the town and district of Vegesack, lying separate from, but immediately north of the main portion, on the right bank of the river; (3) the port of Bremerhaven, 46 m. down the Weser, at its mouth. Of the whole territory, which has an area of 99 sq. m., about one-half is meadow and grazing land, one-quarter under tillage, and the remainder occupied by a little woodland, some unprofitable sandy wastes, the bed of the Weser and the towns. Market gardening, the rearing of cattle, for which the district is widely famed, and fishing, form the chief occupations of the rural population. The climate is mild, but the rainfall (26.9 in. annually on the average) is relatively considerable. The population is shown as follows:—
| 1900. | 1905. | |
| Bremen, city | 186,822 | 214,953 |
| Vegesack | 3,943 | 4,130 |
| Bremerhaven | 20,315 | 24,159 |
| Rural districts | 37,327 | 20,431 |
| Total | 248,407 | 263,673 |
Of the inhabitants, who belong to the Lower Saxon (Nieder-Sachsen) race and in daily intercourse mostly speak the Low German (Plattdeutsch) dialect, about two-thirds are natives of the state and one-third immigrants from other parts of Germany, chiefly from Hanover and Oldenburg. About 93% are Protestants, 6% Roman Catholics, and only 12% Jews. The form of government is that of a republic, under a constitution proclaimed on the 8th of March 1849, revised on the 21st of February 1854, the 17th of November 1875, and the 1st of January 1894. The sovereignty resides jointly in the senate and the Bürgerschaft, or Convent of Burgesses. The senate, which is the executive power, is composed of sixteen life members, elected by the convent, on presentation by the senate. Of these ten at least must be lawyers and three merchants. Two of the number are nominated by their colleagues as burgomasters, who preside in succession for a year at a time and hold office four years, one retiring every two years. The Bürgerschaft consists of 150 (formerly 300) representatives, chosen by the citizens for six years, and forms the legislative body. Fourteen members are elected by such citizens of Bremen (city) as have enjoyed a university education, forty by the merchants, twenty by the manufacturers and artisans, and forty-eight by the other citizens. Of the remaining representatives, twelve are furnished by Bremerhaven and Vegesack and sixteen by the rural districts. As a member of the German empire, the state of Bremen has one voice in the Bundesrat and returns one member to the Imperial diet (Reichstag). Formerly Bremen was a free port, but from the 1st of October 1888 the whole of the state, with the exception of two small free districts in Bremen and Bremerhaven respectively, joined the German customs union. The state has two Amtsgerichte (courts of first instance) at Bremen and Bremerhaven respectively, and a superior court, Landgericht, at Bremen, whence appeals lie to the Oberlandesgericht for the Hanseatic towns in Hamburg. The judges of the Bremen courts are appointed by a committee of members of the senate, the Bürgerschaft and the bench of judges. By the convention with Prussia of the 27th of June 1867, the free state surrendered its right to furnish its own contingent to the army, the recruits being after that time drafted into the Hanseatic infantry regiment, forming a portion of the Prussian IX. army corps.
BREMEN, a city of Germany, capital of the free state of Bremen, and one of the Hanseatic towns. It lies on a sandy plain on both banks of the Weser, 46 m. from the North Sea and 71 m. S.W. from Hamburg by rail, on the mainline to Cologne. Pop. (1905) 214,953. It has also direct railway communication with Berlin via Uelzen, Hanover and Bremerhaven. The city consists of four quarters,—the old town (Altstadt) and its suburban extensions (Vorstadt) being on the right bank of the river, and the new town (Neustadt) with its southern suburb (Südervorstadt) on the left bank. The river is crossed by three bridges, the old, the new (1872–1875) Kaiserbrücke, and the railway bridge, with a gangway for foot passengers. The ramparts of the old town have long been converted into beautiful promenades and gardens, the moats forming a chain of lakes.
The romantic old town, with its winding streets and lanes, flanked by massive gabled houses, dates from the medieval days of Hanseatic prosperity. On the market square stands the fine town hall (Rathaus), dating from the 15th century, with a handsome Renaissance façade of a somewhat later date, and before it a stone statue of Roland, the emblem of civic power. Its celebrated underground wine cellar has been immortalized by Wilhelm Hauff in his Phantasien im Bremer Ratskeller. The town hall is internally richly embellished and has a gallery of interesting paintings. In an upper hall a model of an old Hanseatic frigate, with the device Navigare necesse est, vivere non est necesse, hangs from the ceiling. Among other ancient buildings, situated chiefly in the old town, are the following:—the cathedral of St Peter (formerly the archiepiscopal and now the Lutheran parish church), erected in the 12th century on the site of Charlemagne’s wooden church, and famous for its Bleikeller, or lead vault, in which bodies can be preserved for a long time without suffering decomposition; the church of St Ansgarius, built about 1243, with a spire 400 ft. high; the church of Our Lady, dating from the 12th and 13th centuries; the 12th century Romanesque church of St Stephen; the Schütting, or merchants’ hall, originally built in 1619 for the cloth-traders’ gild; the Stadthaus (town house), formerly the archiepiscopal palace, and converted to its present uses only in 1819. The most important and imposing among the more modern architectural additions to the city are the handsome Gothic exchange, completed in 1867, the municipal theatre, the municipal library, the post office (1878), the law courts (1891–1895), the wool exchange, the German bank, the municipal museum for natural science, ethnology and commerce, and the fine railway station (1888). The principal memorials embrace, besides the Roland, the Willehad fountain (1883), the monument of the Franco-German War (erected 1875), the centaur fountain (1891), an equestrian statue of the emperor William I. (1893), and a statue of the poet Theodor Körner. A beautiful park, Bürgerpark, has been laid out in the Bürgerweide, or meadows, lying beyond the railway station to the north-east of the city. It is a peculiarity of the domestic accommodation of Bremen that the majority of the houses, unlike the custom in most other German towns, where flats prevail, are occupied by a single family only.
The industries and manufactures of Bremen are of considerable variety and extent, but are more particularly developed in such branches as are closely allied to navigation, such as shipbuilding, founding, engine-building and rope-making. Next in importance come those of tobacco, snuff, cigars, the making of cigar boxes, jute-spinning, distilling, sugar refining and the shelling of rice. Bremen owes its fame almost exclusively to its transmaritime
