Bruno, founder of the order of Carthusians, was born at Cologne about 1040, of rich parents. In 1073 he became chancellor of the Church at Rheims and professor of divinity, having direction of the studies in all the great schools of the diocese. Among his pupils
BRUNO
903
BUCER
was'Odo, afterward Urban II. About 1077 he joined in an accusation against Manasses, the simoniaeal archbishop of Rheims, who deprived him of his canon- ry. Disgusted with the corruptions of the clergy and of the times, Bruno retired into solitude and built a hermitage, which afterward became the celebrated monastery of the Chartreuse. Bruno lived but six years at the Chartreuse ; at the end of that period he was called to Rome by Urban II ; and, having re- fused the bishopric of Reggio, retired, in 1095, into Calabria, where he died, Oct. 6, 1101, at La Torre. He was canonized by Pope Leo X in 1514, and his fes- tival is kept on the 6th of October. The works at- tributed to him were published at Paris in 1524, and again at Cologne (1011, 3 vols, fol.).— Hook, Eccl. Biog. iii, 185 ; Mosheim, Ch. Hist, ii, 178 note ; Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generate, vii, 030. See Carthusians.
Bruno, Giordano, a philosopher of great bold- ness and genius, was born at Nola about 1550. Hav- ing entered the Dominican order, he soon began to doubt the Romish theology, and had to quit his con- vent. He fled to Geneva in 1580, where he lived two years. The rigor of Calvin did not, however, suit his sceptical temper, and he departed for Paris. Here he gave lectures on philosophy, in which he openly at- tacked the Aristotelians. Having made himself many enemies among the professors, as well as among the clergy, he went to England in 1583, where he gained the protection of Sir Philip Sidney, to whom he dedi- cated his Spaccio della bestia trionfante, an allegorical work against the court of Rome, with the Cena delte Ceneri, or " Evening Conversations on Ash- Wednes- day," a dialogue between four interlocutors. He also wrote Bella causa, principio ed uno, and DelV infinito universo e mondi, in which he developed his ideas both on natural philosophy and metaphysics. His system is a form of pantheism : he asserted that the universe is infinite, and that each of the worlds contained in it is animated by the universal soul, etc. Spinoza bor- rowed some of his theories from Bruno. Buhle {His- tory of Modem Philosophy') gives an exposition of Bru- no's system ; see also Jacobi's Preface to the Letters on the Doctiine of Spinoza. In his next work, Cabala del carnl Pegaseo con Vaggiunta deW asino Cillenico, he con- tends that ignorance is the mother of happiness, and that " he who promotes science increases the sources of grief." Bruno's language is symbolic and obscure ; he talks much about the constellations, and his style is harsh and inelegant. After remaining about two years in England, during which he visited Oxford, and held disputations with the doctors, he passed over to Paris, and thence to Wittemberg, and lectured there and in Frankfort till 1592, when he returned to Padua, and thence to Venice. The Inquisition arrested him, and retained him in prison for six years, vainly at- tempting to reduce him to recantation. On the 9th of February, 1G00, he was excommunicated, and deliv- ered to the secular magistrate. He was burnt Feb. 10, 1600. Bruno wrote very largely. His Italian writ- ings were collected and published at Leipzig in 2 vols. 8vo, in 1830 ; the Latin writings at Stuttgardt, under the title Jordani Bruni Scripta qu<v. Lot. red. omnia (1834, 8vo). The best works on the life and the writ- ings of Bruno are by Bartholmess (Par. 1846, 2 vols.), and by Clemens (Bonn. 1847). — Tennemann, Man. Hist. Phil. § 300 ; Eclectic Magazine, xvii, 307 ; Saisset, in Revue des Deux Mondes, June, 1847 ; Cousin, in the same, Dec. 1843; Dallam, Literature of Europe, vol. ii, ch. 3 ; Fleson, G. Bruno (Hamburg, 1846, 8vo).
Brunswick, a German duchy, with an area of 72 German square miles, and a population, in 1864, of 292,708 souls. In the city the Reformation was in- troduced as early as 1526, but in the country districts not until 1568, after the deatli of duke Henry, one of the most violent opposers of Luther. The Reformed Church has 3 churches and 2 other meeting-places,
with (in 1861) 993 souls. They form a synod con- jointly with several congregations of Hanover and Lippc-Schaumburgh. The Roman Catholics have 3 churches, with 2633 souls (in 1861) ; they belong to the diocese of Hildeshcim, Hanover. The Jews count about 1000 souls, and have 4 synagogues. The rest are Lutherans. The Supreme Ecclesiastical Board of the Lutherans is the Consistory of Wolfenbuttel, con- sisting of one president, one clerical director, four cler- ical councillors, one assessor, and two councillors. Sub- ordinate to the consistory are 7 superintendents gen- eral, 30 superintendents, 253 clergymen. The number of congregations is 224, besides which there are 260 chapels. The Preachers' Seminary at Wolfenbuttel was reorganized in 1836, and vestries established in all congregations in 1851. See Ilerzog; Schem, Ec- cles. Year-book for 1859, p. 115 sq. See Germany.
Brusson, Claude. See Brousson.
Bruys, Peter de. See Petrourussians.