The edition of L. Lalanne has great merit, being the first to indicate the Spanish, Italian and French sources on which Brantôme drew, but it did not utilize all the existing MSS. It was only after Lalanne’s death that the earliest were obtained for the Bibliothèque Nationale. At Paris and at Chantilly (Musée Condé) all Brantôme’s original MSS., as revised by him several times, are now collected (see the Bibliothèque de l’école des Chartes, 1904), and a new and definitive edition has therefore become possible. Brantôme’s poems (which amount to more than 2200 verses) were first published in 1881; see Lalanne’s edition.
BRANTÔME, a town of south-western France, in the department of Dordogne, 20 m. N. by W. of Périgueux by steam-tramway. Pop. (1906) 1230. The town is built, in great part, on an island in the river Dronne. It is well known for the remains of an abbey founded by Charlemagne about 770 and afterwards destroyed by the Normans. The oldest existing portion is a square tower dating from the 11th century, built upon a rock beside the church which it overlooks. It communicates by a staircase with the church, a rectangular building partly Romanesque, partly Gothic, to the west of which are the remains of a cloister. The abbey buildings date from the 18th century, and now serve as hôtel-de-ville, magistrature and schools. Caves in the neighbouring rocks were inhabited by the monks before the building of the abbey; one of them, used as an oratory, contains curious carvings, representing the Last Judgment and the Crucifixion. In the middle of the 16th century Pierre de Bourdeille came into possession of the abbey, from which he took the name of Brantôme.
Brantôme has some old houses and a church of the 15th century, which was once fortified and is now used as a market. Truffles are the chief article of commerce; and there are quarries of freestone in the neighbourhood. The dolmen which is known as Pierre-Levée, to the east of the town, is the most remarkable in Périgord.
BRANXHOLM, or Branksome, a feudal castle, now modernized, and an ancient seat of the Buccleuchs, on the Teviot, 3 m. S.W. of Hawick, Roxburgh, Scotland. It was at Branksome Hall that Sir Walter Scott laid the scene of The Lay of the Last Minstrel.
BRANXTON, or Brankston, a village of Northumberland, England, 10½ m. E. by N. of Kelso, and 2 m. E.S.E. of Coldstream, and 10 m. N.W. of Wooler. It was on Branxton Hill, immediately south of the village, that the battle of Flodden (q.v.) was fought between the English and the Scots on the 9th of September 1513. During the fight the Scots centre pushed as far as Branxton church, but “the King’s Stone,” which lies N.W. of the church and is popularly supposed to mark the spot where James IV. fell, is some three-quarters of a mile from the scene of the battle; it is believed in reality to mark the sepulchre of a chieftain, whose name had already perished in the 16th century. Branxton church, dedicated to St Paul, was rebuilt in 1849 in Norman style. Of the older building nothing remains save the chancel arch.
BRAOSE, WILLIAM DE (d. 1211), lord of Brecknock, Radnor and Limerick, spent the early part of his life fighting the Welsh in Radnorshire. He was high in King John’s favour, received a large number of honours, and was even given the custody of Prince Arthur. But John and he quarrelled, probably over money (1207). In 1208 John began to suspect the fidelity of the whole family, and William had to fly to Ireland. After a number of attempted reconciliations, he was outlawed (1210) and died at Corbeil (1211). It is said that his wife and son were starved to death by John.