Page:EB1911 - Volume 03.djvu/433

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416
BARNSLEY—BARNSTAPLE
  

death in 1344. A long and intermittent struggle with the representatives of the emperor Louis IV., who had invested his own son Louis with the mark of Brandenburg, enabled him to gain military experience and distinction. A victory gained by him in August 1332 was mainly instrumental in freeing Pomerania for a time from the vexatious claim of Brandenburg to supremacy over the duchy, which moreover he extended by conquest. Barnim assisted the emperor Charles IV. in his struggle with the family of Wittelsbach. He died on the 24th of August 1368.

Barnim XI. (1501–1573), son of Bogislaus X., duke of Pomerania, became duke on his father’s death in 1523. He ruled for a time in common with his elder brother George; and after George’s death in 1531 he shared the duchy with his nephew Philip I., retaining for himself the duchy of Pomerania-Stettin. The earlier years of his rule were troubled by a quarrel with the margrave of Brandenburg, who wished to annex Pomerania. In 1529, however, a treaty was made which freed Pomerania from the supremacy of Brandenburg on condition that if the ducal family became extinct the duchy should revert to Brandenburg. Barnim adopted the doctrines of Martin Luther, and joined the league of Schmalkalden, but took no part in the subsequent war. But as this attitude left him without supporters he was obliged to submit to the emperor Charles V., to pay a heavy fine, and to accept the Interim, issued from Augsburg in May 1548. In 1569 Barnim handed over his duchy to his grand-nephew, John Frederick, and died at Stettin on the 2nd of June 1573.


BARNSLEY (Black, or properly Bleak Barnsley), a market town and municipal borough in the Barnsley parliamentary division of the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, 15 m. N. of Sheffield. Pop. (1891) 35,427; (1901) 41,086. It is served by the Midland, Great Central, Lancashire & Yorkshire, Great Northern, and Hull & Barnsley railways. It is in the parish of Silkstone, which gives name to important collieries. It is situated on rising ground west of the river Dearne, and, though it loses in attraction owing to its numerous factories, its neighbourhood has considerable natural beauty. Among the principal buildings and institutions are several churches, of which the oldest, the parish church of St Mary, was built in 1821 on an early site; court house, public hall, institute and free library. Among several educational institutions, the free grammar school dates from 1665; and a philosophical society was founded in 1828. A monument was erected in 1905 to prominent members of the Yorkshire Miners’ Association. The park was presented in 1862 by the widow of Joseph Locke, M.P. The manufacture of iron and steel, and the weaving of linen and other cloth, are the two principal industries; but there are also bleachfields, printfields, dyeworks, sawmills, cornmills and malt-houses; and the manufacture of glass, needles and wire is carried on. There are large coalfields in the neighbourhood, which, indeed, extend under the town. Coal and coke are largely exported to London and Hull. In the vicinity, Monk Bretton Priory, a Cluniac foundation of 1157, retains a Perpendicular gatehouse, some Decorated domestic remains, and fragments of the church. Wentworth Castle, built in 1730 by Thomas, earl of Strafford, stands in a singularly beautiful park, and contains a fine collection of portraits of historical interest. Besides the communications afforded by railway, Barnsley has the advantage of connexion with the Aire and Calder Navigation system of canals. The borough is under a mayor, six aldermen and eighteen councillors. Area, 2385 acres.

At the time of the Domesday survey Ilbert de Lacy held Barnsley by gift of William the Conqueror as part of the honour of Pontefract, and the overlordship remained in his family until the reign of Stephen, when it was granted by Henry de Lacy to the monks of Pontefract. Henry III. in 1249 granted the prior and convent of Pontefract a market every Wednesday at Barnsley, and a fair on the vigil and feast of St Michael and two following days, and Henry VIII. in 1512 granted them a new fair on the day of the Conversion of St Paul and two following days. The monastery evidently also held another fair there called St Ellen’s fair, for in 1583 Queen Elizabeth granted this fair and St Paul’s fair and the market “lately belonging to the dissolved monastery of Pontefract” to one Henry Burdett, and Ralph and Henry his sons for their lives. Besides these charters and others granting land in Barnsley to the monks of Pontefract there is very little history of the town, since it was not until after the introduction of the linen manufacture in 1744 that it became really important. Before that time the chief industry had been wire-drawing, but this trade began to decrease about the end of the 18th century, just as the linen trade was becoming important. In 1869 Barnsley was incorporated.

See Rowland Jackson, The History of the Town and Township of Barnsley (1858); Victoria County History—Yorkshire.


BARNSTABLE, a seaport township and the county-seat of the county of the same name, in Massachusetts, U.S.A. Pop. (1900) 4364, of whom 391 were foreign-born; (1910, U.S. census) 4676. Barnstable is served by the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railway. It is situated between Cape Cod Bay on the N. and Nantucket Sound on the S., extending across Cape Cod. The soil of the township, unlike that of other parts of the county, is well adapted to agriculture, and the principal industry is the growing of vegetables and the supplying of milk and poultry for its several villages, nearly all of which are summer resorts. At Hyannis is a state normal school (1897; co-educational). Cranberries are raised in large quantities, and there are oyster and other shell fisheries. In the 17th century the mackerel and whale fisheries were the basis of economic life; the latter gave way later to the cod and other fisheries, but the fishing industry is now relatively unimportant. Much of the county is a region of sands, salt-marshes, beach-grass and scattered woods. From 1865 to 1895 the county diminished 20.1% in population. Barnstable was settled and incorporated in 1639 (county created 1685), and includes among its natives James Otis and Lemuel Shaw.

See F. Freeman, The History of Cape Cod: the Annals of Barnstable County (2 vols., Boston, 1858, 1862; and other impressions 1860 to 1869).


BARNSTAPLE, a seaport, market town and municipal borough, in the Barnstaple parliamentary division of Devonshire, England, on the river Taw, near the north coast. Pop. (1901) 14,137. It is served by the London & South-Western, the Great Western, and the Lynton & Barnstaple railways. The Taw is here crossed by a stone bridge of sixteen arches, said to have been built in the 12th or 13th century. The town manufactures lace, gloves, sail-cloth and fishing-nets, and has extensive potteries, tanneries, sawmills and foundries, while shipbuilding is also carried on. The harbour admits only small coasting vessels. The public buildings and institutions include a guildhall (1826), a free grammar school and a large market-place. The poet John Gay was born in the vicinity, and received his education at the grammar school, which at an earlier period had numbered Bishop Jewel among its pupils. It was founded in the 14th century, in connexion with a chantry. There are also some curious Jacobean almshouses. The borough is under a mayor, six aldermen and eighteen councillors. Area, 2236 acres.

Barnstaple (Berdestaple, Barnstapol, Barstaple, also Barum) ranks among the most ancient of royal boroughs. As early as Domesday, where it is several times mentioned, there were forty burgesses within the town and nine without, who rendered 40s. Tradition claims that King Athelstan threw up defensive earthworks here, but the existing castle is attributed to Joel of Totnes, who held the manor during the reign of William the Conqueror, and also founded a Cluniac priory, dedicated to St Mary Magdalene. From this date the borough and priory grew up side by side, but each preserving its independent privileges and rights of government until the dissolution of the latter in 1535. In Edward II.’s reign the burgesses petitioned for the restoration of rights bestowed by a pretended charter from Athelstan. The existence of this charter was denied, but the desired privileges were conceded, including the right to elect a mayor. The earliest authenticated charter is that of Henry I., which was confirmed in a charter of Henry II. The later charter states that the burgesses should have customs similar to those granted to London, and further charters confirmed the same right. A charter of Queen Mary in 1556 added some new privileges, and specified that the common council should consist of a mayor, two aldermen