BÊRLAD, the capital of the department of Tutova, Rumania, on the river Bêrlad, which waters the high plains of Eastern Moldavia. Pop. (1900) 24,484, about one-fourth of whom are Jews. At Bêrlad the railway from Jassy diverges, one branch skirting the river Sereth, the other skirting the Pruth; both reunite at Galatz. Among a maze of narrow and winding streets Bêrlad possesses a few good modern buildings, including a fine hospital, administered by the St Spiridion Foundation of Jassy. Bêrlad has manufactures of soap and candles, and some trade in timber and farm-produce, while the annual horse-fairs are visited by dealers from all parts of the country. In the vicinity are traces of a Roman camp.
BERLICHINGEN, GOETZ or Gottfried VON (1480-1562), German knight, was born at the castle of Jagsthausen now in Württemberg. In 1497 he entered the service of Frederick IV., margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, and in 1498 fought for the emperor Maximilian I. in Burgundy, Lorraine and Brabant, and next year in Switzerland. About 1500 he raised a company of freelances, and at their head took part in various private wars. In 1505, whilst assisting Albert IV., duke of Bavaria, at the siege of Landshut, his right hand was shot away, and an iron one was substituted which is still shown at Jagsthausen. In spite of this “Goetz with the iron hand” continued his feuds, their motive being mainly booty and ransom. In 1512 an attack near Forchheim on some merchants returning from the great fair at Leipzig, caused him to be put under the ban of the empire by Maximilian, and he was only released from this in 1514 upon a promise to pay 14,000 gulden. In 1516 he made a raid into Hesse and captured Philip IV., count of Waldeck, whom he compelled to pay a ransom of 8400 gold gulden, and in 1518 was again placed under the ban. He fought for Ulrich I., duke of Württemberg, when he was attacked by the Swabian League in 1519, and after a spirited resistance was compelled, through want of ammunition and provisions, to surrender the town of Möckmuhl. In violation of the terms of the capitulation he was held prisoner, and handed over to the citizens of Heilbronn, but owing to the efforts of Sickingen and Georg von Frundsberg was released in 1522, upon paying 2000 gulden, and swearing not to take vengeance on the League. When the Peasants’ War broke out in 1525 Goetz was compelled by the rebels of the Odenwald district to act as their leader. He accepted the position, according to his own account, partly because he had no choice, partly in the hope of curbing the excesses of the insurgents; but, finding himself in this respect powerless, after a month of nominal leadership, he took the first opportunity of escaping to his castle. For his part in the rebellion he was called to account before the diet of Speier, and on the 17th of October 1526 was acquitted by the imperial chamber. In spite of this the Swabian League seized the opportunity of paying off old scores against him. Lured to Augsburg, under promise of safe conduct, to clear himself of the charges made against him on behalf of the League, he was there treacherously seized on the 28th of November 1528, and kept a close prisoner for two years. In 1530 he was liberated on repeating his oath of 1522, and undertaking not to leave the neighbourhood of his castle of Hornberg on the Neckar. He appears to have remained there quietly until 1540 when the emperor Charles V. released him from his oath. In 1542 he fought against the Turks in Hungary, and in 1544 accompanied Charles when he invaded France. He returned to Hornberg, where he passed his time until his death on the 23rd of July 1562. He was twice married and left three daughters and seven sons. The counts von Berlichingen-Rossach, of Helmstadt near Heidelberg, one of the two surviving branches of the family, are his descendants. The other branch, that of the Freiherrn von Berlichingen-Jagsthausen, is descended from Goetz’s brother Hans. “Goetz von Berlichingen” is the title of Goethe’s play, which, published in 1773, marked an epoch in the history of German drama (see [Goethe]).
See R. Pallmann, Der historische Goetz von Berlichingen (Berlin, 1894); F.W.G. Graf von Berlichingen-Rossach, Geschichte des Ritters Goetz von Berlichingen und seiner Familie (Leipzig, 1861). Goetz’s Autobiography, valuable as a record of his times, was first published by Pistorius at Nuremberg (1731), and again at Halle (1886).
BERLIN, ISAIAH (1725-1799), an eminent rabbi of Breslau; he was the author of acute notes on the Talmud which had their influence in advancing the critical study of that work.
BERLIN, the largest city of the German empire, the capital of the kingdom of Prussia. It is the principal residence of the German emperor and king of Prussia, the seat of the imperial parliament (Reichstag) and the Prussian diet (Landtag) and of the state offices of the empire, except of the supreme court of justice (Reichsgericht), which is fixed at Leipzig. It lies in a flat, sandy plain, 110 ft. above sea-level, on both banks of the navigable Spree, which intersects it from S.E. to N.W. The highest elevation in the immediate neighbourhood is the Kreuzberg (200 ft.), a hill in the southern suburb of Schöneberg, which commands a fine view of the city. The situation of Berlin, midway between the Elbe and the Oder, with which rivers it is connected by a web of waterways, at the crossing of the main roads from Silesia and Poland to the North Sea ports and from Saxony, Bohemia and Thuringia to the Baltic, made it in medieval days a place of considerable commercial importance. In modern times the great network of railways, of which it is the centre and which mainly follow the lines of the old roads, further established its position. Almost equidistant from the remotest frontiers of Prussia, from north to south, and from east to west, 180 m. from Hamburg and 84 from Stettin, its situation, so far from being prejudicial to its growth and prosperity, as was formerly often asserted, has been, in fact, the principal determining factor in its rapid rise to the position of the greatest industrial and commercial city on the continent of Europe. In point of wealth and population it ranks immediately after London and Paris.
The boundaries of the city have not been essentially extended since 1860, and though large and important suburbs have crept up and practically merged with it, its administrative area remains unchanged. It occupies about 29 sq. m., and has a length from E. to W. of 6 and a breadth from N. to S. of 5½ m., contains nearly 1000 streets, has 87 squares and open spaces, 73 bridges and a population (1905) of 2,033,900 (including a garrison of about 22,000). If, however, the outer police district, known as “Greater Berlin,” embracing an area of about 10 m. radius from the centre, be included, the population amounts to about 3¼ millions.
Berlin is essentially a modern city, the quaint two-storied houses, which formerly characterized it, having given place to palatial business blocks, which somewhat dwarf the streets and squares, which once had an air of stately spaciousness. The bustle of the modern commercial city has superseded the austere dignity of the old Prussian capital. Thus the stranger entering it for the first time will find little to remind him of its past history. The oldest part of Berlin, the city and Alt-Kölln, built along the arms of the Spree, is, together with that portion of the town lying immediately west, the centre of business activity. The west end and the south-west are the residential quarters, the north-west is largely occupied by academic, scientific and military institutions, the north is the seat of machinery works, the north-east of the woollen manufactures, the east and south-east of the dyeing, furniture and metal industries, while in the south are great barracks and railway works.