BAN, a word taken from the root of a verb common to many Teutonic languages and meaning originally "to proclaim" or "to announce." The Late Lat. form of the word is _bannum_.
In the laws of the Franks and kindred tribes the word had three main uses: first in the general sense of a proclamation, secondly, for the fine incurred for disobeying such proclamation, and thirdly for the district over which proclamations were issued.
It was the frequent use of proclamations or bans, commanding or forbidding certain actions under a threat of punishment, which caused the second of these uses to arise out of the first, as the idea of wrong-doing became associated with the proclamation or ban. This _bannum dominicum_, as it was called, was employed by all feudal lords, from the king downwards, against offenders, and played an important part in the administration of justice in feudal times. It usually took the form of an order to make some amend for wrong-doing, which, if not complied with, was followed by the withdrawal of all protection from the offender, _i.e._ by outlawry.
After the break-up of the Carolingian empire another use of the word arose in France. "Ban" had occasionally been used in a restricted sense referring only to the summons calling out the host; and as France became separated from the Empire, French law and custom seized upon this use, and soon the men liable to military service were known as "the ban." A variant form of this word was _heriban_ or _ariban_, and it is possible that some confusion between the early syllables of this word and the word _arriere_ led to a distinction between the _ban_ and the _arriere-ban_ or _retro-bannum_. At all events this distinction arose; the _ban_ referring to the vassals called out by the king, and the _arriere-ban_ to the sub-vassals called upon by the vassals in their turn. As in England, the liability to military service was often commuted for a monetary payment, and there were various exemptions. In the 17th and 18th centuries the ban and arriere-ban were lacking in discipline when called out, and were last summoned in 1758.
Local levies, however, called out between this date and the Revolution were sometimes referred to by these names.
In the medieval Empire and in Germany the word "ban" retained the special sense of punishment. The German equivalent of ban is _Acht_, and the sentence soon became practically one of outlawry. Connected possibly with the power enjoyed in earlier times by the assemblies of freemen of outlawing an offender, it was frequently used by the emperor, or German king, and the phrase "under the ban" is very common in medieval history.
The execution of this sentence of placing an offender under the imperial ban, or _Reichsacht_, was usually entrusted to some prince or noble, who was often rewarded with a portion of the outlaw's lands. It was, however, only a serious punishment when the king or his supporters were strong enough to enforce its execution. Employed not only against individuals but also against towns and districts, it was sometimes divided into the _Acht_ and the _Oberacht_, _i.e._ partial or complete outlawry. Documents of the time show that the person placed under the imperial ban drew down absolute destitution upon his relatives and frequently death upon himself. At first this sentence was the act of the [v.03 p.0305] emperor or king himself, but as the Empire became more German, and its administration less personal, it was entrusted to the imperial aulic council (_Reichshofrat_), and to the imperial court of justice or imperial chamber (_Reichskammergericht_).
These courts were deprived of this power in 1711, retaining only the right of suggesting its use. The imperial ban had, however, been used for the last time in 1706, when Maximilian Emanuel, elector of Bavaria, was placed under it.
There are many other uses of the word in the sense of a prohibition. In earlier French law the ban of wine or _bannum vini_, was the exclusive right of a lord to sell wine during a stated number of days, and the ban of March and April forbade the pasturing of cattle in certain fields during these months. There were also other similar uses dating from feudal times.
In modern French law the phrase _rupture de ban_ described, previous to 1885, the departure without notice of any released criminal living under the special surveillance of the police. The French government still retains the rights of appointing an obligatory place of residence for any criminal, and any escape from this place is a _rupture de ban_. A Scandinavian use of the word gives it the sense of a curse. This usage mingling with the use which spiritual lords shared with temporal lords of issuing the ban over their dependents, has become in a special sense ecclesiastical, and the sentence of excommunication is frequently referred to as "under the papal ban." The word is also used in this way by Shakespeare and Milton. The modern English use of the phrase "under the ban" refers to any line of conduct condemned by custom or public opinion. In its earlier and general sense as a proclamation, the ban may be said to have been suspended by the writ. The word, however, survives in the sense of a proclamation in the "banns of marriage" (_q.v._).
The Persian word _ban_, meaning lord or master, was brought into Europe by the Avars. It was long used in many parts of south-eastern Europe, especially in southern Hungary, to denote the governors of military districts called _banats_, and is almost equivalent to the German _margrave_. After enjoying very extensive powers the bans were gradually reduced, both in numbers and importance. Since 1868, however, the governor of Croatia and Slavonia has been known as the ban of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia, but his duties are civil and not military. He is appointed by the emperor of Austria, as king of Hungary, and has a seat in the upper house of the Hungarian parliament.
See Du Cange, _Glossarium_, tome i. (Niort, 1883); H. Brunner, _Grundzuge der deutschen Rechtsgeschichte_ (Leipzig, 1901); E. P. Boutaric, _Institutions militaires de la France_ (Paris, 1863); Pere G. Daniel, _Histoire de la milice francaise_ (Paris, 1721).
BANANA, a gigantic herbaceous plant belonging to the genus _Musa_ (nat.
ord. Musaceae). It is perennial, sending up from an underground root-stock an apparent stem 15 or 20 ft. high, consisting of the closely-enveloped leaf-sheaths, the corresponding blades, each sometimes 10 ft. in length, forming a spreading crown. A true stem develops at the flowering period; it grows up through the hollow tube formed by the sheaths, emerges above and bears a large number of inconspicuous tubular flowers closely crowded in the axils of large, often brightly-coloured, protecting bracts. The fruits form dense clusters.
[Illustration: Banana (_Musa sapientum_).]
The genus _Musa_ contains about 40 species, widely distributed throughout the tropics of the Old World, and in some cases introduced into the New World. In many parts of the tropics they are as important to the inhabitants as are the grain plants to those living in cooler regions. They are most successfully cultivated in a hot, damp, tropical climate. The northern limit of their cultivation (usually _Musa Cavendishii_) is reached in Florida, south of 29 lat., the Canary Islands, Egypt and south Japan, the southern limit in Natal and south Brazil. There has been considerable discussion as to whether the banana was growing in America before the discovery of the New World. It has been suggested that it may have been carried by ocean currents or in some earlier intercourse between the Old and New Worlds. The evidence, however, of its existence in America at the time of the discovery of the new continent is not very definite. The unripe fruit is rich in starch, which in ripening changes into sugar. The most generally used fruits are derived from _Musa paradisiaca_, of which an enormous number of varieties and forms exist in cultivation. The sub-species _sapientum_ (formerly regarded as a distinct species _M.
sapientum_) is the source of the fruits generally known in England as bananas, and eaten raw, while the name plantain is given to forms of the species itself _M. paradisiaca_, which require cooking. The species is probably a native of India and southern Asia. Other species which are used as fruits are _M. acuminata_ in the Malay Archipelago, _M. Fehi_ in Tahiti, and _M. Cavendishii_, the so-called Chinese banana, in cooler countries; the fruit of the last-named has a thinner rind and a delicate, fragrant flesh. The species, the fruits of which require cooking, are of much greater importance as an article of food. These often reach a considerable size; forms are known in East Africa which attain nearly 2 ft. in length with the thickness of a man's arm. A form of _M. corniculata_, from Cochin China and the Malay Archipelago, produces only a single fruit, which, however, affords an adequate meal for three men. The hardly-ripe fruit is stewed whole or cut in slices and roasted or baked.
Banana-meal is an important food-stuff; the fruit is peeled and cut in strips, which are then dried and pounded in a mortar. In East Africa and elsewhere, an intoxicating drink is prepared from the fruit. The root-stock which bears the leaves is, just before the flowering period, soft and full of starch, and is sometimes used as food, as in the case of the Abyssinian species, _M. Ensete_.
The leaves cut in strips are plaited to form mats and bags; they are also largely used for packing and the finer ones for cigarette papers. Several species yield a valuable fibre, the best of which is "Manila hemp" (_q.v._) from _M. textilis_.
The following is the composition of the flour, according to Hutchison: water, 13%; proteid, 4%; fat, 0.5%; carbohydrates, 80%; salts, 2.5%. It would require about eighty bananas of average size to yield the amount of energy required daily, and about double that number to yield the necessary amount of proteid. Hence the undue abdominal development of those who live mainly on this article of diet (Hutchison). In recent years the cultivation of the banana in Jamaica for the American and also for the English market has been greatly developed.
BANAS, or BUNAS, the name of three rivers of India. (1) A river of Rajputana, which rises in the Aravalli range in Udaipur, drains the Udaipur valley, and after a course of 300 m. flows into the Chambal. (2) A river of the Shahabad district of Bengal, which forms the drainage channel between the Arrah canal and the Sone canals system, and finally falls into the Gangi nadi. (3) A river of Chota Nagpur in Bengal, which rises in the state of Chang Bhakar and falls into the Sone near Rampur.
BANAT (Hungarian Bansag), a district in the south-east of Hungary, consisting of the counties of Torontal, Temes and Krasso-Szoreny. The term, in Hungarian, means generally a frontier province governed by a _ban_ and is equivalent to the German term _Mark_. There were in Hungary several banats, which disappeared during the Turkish wars, as the banat of Dalmatia, of Slavonia, of Bosnia and of Croatia. But when the word is used without any other qualification, it indicates the Temesvar banat, which strangely acquired this title after the peace of Passarowitz (1718), though it was never governed by a _ban_. The Banat is bounded E. by the Transylvanian Alps, S. by the Danube, W. by the Theiss and N. by the Maros, and has an [v.03 p.0306] area of 11,260 sq. m. It is mountainous in the south and south-east, while in the north, west and south-west it is flat and in some places marshy. The climate, except in the marshy parts, is generally healthy. It is well-watered, and forms one of the most fertile districts of Hungary. Wheat, barley, oats, rye, maize, flax, hemp and tobacco are grown in large quantities, and the products of the vineyards are of a good quality. Game is plentiful and the rivers swarm with fish.
The mineral wealth is great, including copper, tin, lead, zinc, iron and especially coal. Amongst its numerous mineral springs, the most important are those of Mehadia, with sulphurous waters, which were already known in the Roman period as the _Thermae Herculis_. The Banat had in 1900 a population of 1,431,329 inhabitants. According to nationality there were 578,789 Rumanians, 362,487 Germans, 251,938 Servians and 170,124 Magyars.
The chief town is Temesvar (pop. 53,033), and other places of importance are Versecz (25,199), Lugos (16,126), Nagybecskerek (26,407), Nagykikinda (24,843) and Pancsova (19,044).
The Banat was conquered by the Turks in 1552, and remained a Turkish sanjak (province) till 1716, when Prince Eugene of Savoy liberated it from the Turkish yoke. It received the title of Banat after the peace of Passarowitz (1718), and remained under a military administration until 1751, when Maria Theresa introduced a civil administration. During the Turkish occupation the district was nearly depopulated, and allowed to lie almost desolate in marsh and heath and forest. Count Claudius Mercy (1666-1734), who was appointed governor of Temesvar in 1720, took numerous measures for the regeneration of the Banat. The marshes near the Danube and Theiss were cleared, roads and canals were built at great expense of labour, German artisans and other settlers were attracted to colonize the district, and agriculture and trade encouraged. Maria Theresa also took a great interest in the Banat, colonized the land belonging to the crown with German peasants, founded many villages, encouraged the exploitation of the mineral wealth of the country, and generally developed the measures introduced by Mercy. In 1779 the Banat was again incorporated with Hungary. After the revolution of 1848-1849, the Banat together with another county (Bacs) was separated from Hungary, and created into a distinctive Austrian crown land, but in 1860 it was definitely incorporated with Hungary.
See Leonhard Bohm, _Geschichte des Temeser Banats_ (2 vols., Leipzig, 1861); Johann Heinrich Schwicker, _Geschichte des Temeser Banats_ (Pest, 1872).
BANATE (a corruption of Panaiti, their real name), or BANNOCK, as they are now usually called, a tribe of North American Indians of Shoshonean stock.
They were sometimes known as "Robber Indians." Their former range was southern Idaho and eastern Oregon. They are now divided between the Fort Hall and Lemhi reservations, Idaho. They were generally friendly with the whites, but in 1866 and in 1877-78 there were serious outbreaks. They number about 500.
BANBRIDGE, a town of Co. Down, Ireland, in the west parliamentary division, on the Bann, 23 m. S.W. of Belfast on a branch of the Great Northern railway, standing on an eminence. Pop. of urban district (1901) 5006. To mitigate a steep ascent, a central carriage-way, 200 yds, long, is cut along the main street to a depth of 15 ft., the opposite terraces being connected by a bridge. Banbridge is an entirely modern town. It is the principal seat of the linen trade in the county, and has extensive cloth and thread factories, bleachfields and chemical works. A memorial in Church Square commemorates the Franklin expedition to the discovery of the North-West Passage, and in particular Captain Francis Crozier, who was born at Banbridge in 1796 and served on the expedition.
BANBURY, a market-town and municipal borough in the Banbury parliamentary division of Oxfordshire, England, on the river Cherwell and the Oxford canal, 86 m. N.W. of London by the northern line of the Great Western railway. Pop. (1901) 12,968. The canal communicates northward with the Grand Junction and Warwick canals, and there are branch lines of the Great Central railway to the main line at Woodford, and of the London & North-Western railway to Bletchley. The town is the centre of a rich agricultural district, and there is a large manufacture of agricultural implements; while other industries include rope and leather works and brewing. Banbury cakes, consisting of a case of pastry containing a mixture of currants, have a reputation of three centuries' standing. A magnificent Gothic parish church was destroyed by fire and gunpowder in 1790 to make way for a building of little merit in Italian style. The ancient Banbury Cross, celebrated in a familiar nursery rhyme, was destroyed by Puritans in 1610. During the 17th century the inhabitants of Banbury seem to have been zealous Puritans, and are frequently satirized by contemporary dramatists.
At a somewhat earlier period the grammar school, now extinct, was of such repute as to be chosen as the model for the constitution of the school of St Paul's. A school of science was erected in 1861, and there is a municipal secondary and technical school. Some fine old timbered houses remain in the streets. Of the castle built in 1125 there are only the barest traces. Wroxton Abbey, 2 m. N.W., shows slight remains of the original Augustinian priory; but the present beautiful gabled building, picturesquely situated, dates mainly from 1618. Broughton Castle, 2 m.
S.W., is the most noteworthy house in the county. The oblong block of buildings, fronted by lawns, is surrounded by a moat and protected by a gate-house, part of which dates from 1301, at which date the chapel and a part of the house were also built. There is also work of the 15th century and the Elizabethan period. The house is the seat of Lord Saye and Sele, having been in the Fiennes family since the reign of Henry VII.
(1485-1509). Here Pym and Hampden and other leaders of the Parliamentarians were wont to meet in 1640. Without the gate is a fine Decorated church.
Banbury is governed by a mayor, 6 aldermen and 18 councillors. Area, 4633 acres.
In the year 556 Banbury (Beranbyrig, Banesberie) was the scene of a battle between Cynric and Ceawlin and Britons. It was assessed at 50 hides in the Domesday survey and was then held by the bishop of Lincoln. Allusions to the market occur as early as 1138, and Henry II. by charter confirmed a market on Thursday and granted a fair at Whitsun. The first charter of incorporation was granted by Queen Mary in 1553, and instituted a common council consisting of a bailiff, 12 aldermen and 12 chief burgesses; a court of record, one justice of the peace, a Thursday market and two annual fairs. James I. confirmed this charter in 1608. with some additions, including a weekly wool-market, a horse-market and two additional annual fairs. Both these charters were surrendered in 1683 in favour of a new charter, but were resumed in 1688. In 1718 George I. granted a new charter, which held until the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835. From the date of Queen Mary's charter until the Redistribution of Seats Act of 1885 the borough was represented by one member in parliament.
See Alfred Beesley, _History of Banbury_ (London, 1841).
BANCHIERI, ADRIANO (_c._ 1557-1634), Bolognese composer for church and stage, organist, writer on music and poet. He founded the Accademia Florida of Bologna. Like Orazio Vecchi he was interested in converting the madrigal to dramatic purposes. He disapproved of the monodists with all their revolutionary harmonic tendencies, about which he expressed himself vigorously in his _Moderna Practica Musicale_ (Venice, 1613), while systematizing the legitimate use of the monodic art of thorough-bass.
BANCROFT, GEORGE (1800-1891), American historian and statesman, was born in Worcester, Mass., on the 3rd of October 1800. His family had been in America since 1632, and his father, Aaron Bancroft, was distinguished as a revolutionary soldier, clergyman and author. The son was educated at Phillips Academy, Exeter, at Harvard University, at Heidelberg, Gottingen and Berlin. At Gottingen he studied Plato with Heeren, New Testament Greek with Eichhorn and natural science with Blumenbach. His heart was in the work of Heeren, easily the greatest of historical critics then living, and the forerunner of the modern school; it was from this master that Bancroft caught his enthusiasm for minute pains-taking erudition. He concluded his years of preparation by a European tour, in the [v.03 p.0307] course of which he received kind attention from almost every distinguished man in the world of letters, science and art; among others, from Goethe, Humboldt, Schleiermacher, Hegel, Byron, Niebuhr, Bunsen, Savigny, Cousin, Constant and Manzoni. Bancroft's father was a Unitarian, and he had devoted his son to the work of the ministry; but the young man's first experiments at preaching, shortly after his return from Europe in 1822, were unsatisfactory, the theological teaching of the time having substituted criticism and literature for faith. His first position was that of tutor in Harvard. Instinctively a humanist, he had little patience with the narrow curriculum of Harvard in his day and the rather pedantic spirit with which classical studies were there pursued. Moreover, he had brought from Europe a new manner, full of the affections of ardent youth, and this he wore without ease in a society highly satisfied with itself; the young knight-errant was therefore subjected to considerable ridicule. A little volume of poetry, translations and original pieces, published in 1823 gave its author no fame. As time passed, and custom created familiarity, his style, personal and literary, was seen to be the outward symbol of a firm resolve to preserve a philosophic calm, and of an enormous underlying energy which spent itself in labour, "ohne Hast, aber auch ohne Rast." He found the conventional atmosphere of Cambridge uncongenial, and with a friend he established the Round Hill school at Northampton, Mass. This was the first serious effort made in the United States to elevate secondary education to the plane on which it belonged.
Although born into a Whig family, yet Bancroft's studies carried him irresistibly into the Democratic party. While a teacher in his own school he was elected to the state legislature as a Democrat, but under pressure from the family of his first wife, who were ardent Whigs, he refused to serve. In 1831 he likewise declined the nomination of the Massachusetts Democrats for secretary of state. By this time he was influential in the councils of his party, and President Van Buren appointed him collector of the port of Boston, a position which he filled with success. Two of his appointees were Orestes Brownson and Nathaniel Hawthorne. In 1844 he was the Democratic candidate for the governorship, but he was defeated. In 1845 he entered Polk's cabinet as secretary of the navy, serving until 1846, when for a month he was acting secretary of war. During this short period in the cabinet he established the naval academy at Annapolis, gave the orders which led to the occupation of California, and sent Zachary Taylor into the debatable land between Texas and Mexico. He also continued his pleadings for the annexation of Texas, as extending "the area of freedom,"
and though a Democrat, took high moral ground as to slavery; he likewise made himself the authority on the North-Western Boundary question. In 1846 he was sent as minister to London, where he lived in constant companionship with Macaulay and Hallam. On his return in 1849 he withdrew from public life, residing in New York. In 1866 he was chosen by Congress to deliver the special eulogy on Lincoln; and in 1867 he was appointed minister to Berlin, where he remained until his resignation in 1874. Thenceforward he lived in Washington and Newport, dying at Washington on the 17th of January 1891. His latest official achievements were the greatest. In the San Juan arbitration he displayed great versatility and skill, winning his case before the emperor with brilliant ease. The naturalization treaties which he negotiated successively with Prussia and the other north German states were the first international recognition of the right of expatriation, a principle since incorporated in the law of nations.
In spite of the exacting and severe routine of the Round Hill school, Bancroft contributed frequently to the _North American Review_ and to Walsh's _American Quarterly_; he also made a translation of Heeren's work on _The Politics of Ancient Greece_. In 1834 appeared the first volume of the _History of the United States_. The second followed in 1837, and others as the exigencies of public life permitted. Supplementary to the first volume was an article published by him in the _North American Review_ for 1835 on "The Documentary History of the Revolution." This article not merely brought the new method to the notice of the reading public, but revealed to it the wealth of material available. The nature and extent of his studies, the solidity of his work, and the philosophic spirit which animates both, explain the enthusiasm with which the earlier volumes of Bancroft were received. Their sale at home was very large; they were reprinted in England and translated immediately into Danish, Italian, German and French. The latest volumes were considered by all competent judges quite as important as their predecessors. When the author was preparing to return from Berlin, the Royal Academy made him their guest at a public dinner, an unprecedented honour; and the universities of Berlin, Heidelberg and Munich united in a testimonial of regard. At Washington he was the confidential advisor of statesmen to the end of his life and the unofficial dean of the best society.
Bancroft's historical creed is best set forth in the address he delivered on the semi-centennial of the New York Historical Society in 1854. In philosophy he found the basis for positing a collective human will, revealing in its activities the materials for determining ethical laws.
Since there must be the same conservation of energy in morals as elsewhere, the eternal reason is the divine Logos. History, therefore, is God working in examples. It must be a unit, its forces constant and its totality an organic whole. Within this the individual moves and acts with liberty and responsibility; for each, in will, affection and intellect is consubstantial with the rest. Truth, morals and justice are subject to no evolution; but the collective man evolves better forms of knowledge and behaviour. The organization of society, therefore, produces successive states, in each of which the principle of freedom is better established than in the antecedent. Permanency in republican government is, therefore, based upon corresponding experience and culture, and its possibilities grow ever stronger. The relation of American democracy to the systems which have preceded it forms the latest proof of these contentions. As Heeren's pupil, he laid enormous stress on the importance of original authorities. In dealing with documentary evidence he sought to apply very stringent rules:--(1) Carefully distinguish between original authority and historical memorials or aids; for example, between a fact recorded at first- or second-hand knowledge, and a decision of principle by authority. (2) Represent every man from his own standpoint; judge him from your own. His collections of original materials were vast; beginning with his residence in England, he brought together at enormous pains and expense the authenticated copies of archives, family papers, and personal journals written by historic personages, which now constitute an invaluable treasure in the New York public library. They are from every land and from every people with which American origins are connected. His use of this material was not always according to accepted standards. To avoid dryness and prolixity he condensed quotations, and occasionally employed the Thucydidean method of abridgment or representation in place of fact catalogues. During his long life enormous strides were made by others in collecting the materials of American history, and while in the main he kept pace with them by ruthless revision, yet even the latest edition of his work disregards some minor facts which others knew for the insertion of much which the author alone knew.
Bancroft's imagination and enthusiasm were alike exuberant. His pages abound in fine and acute insight. His generalizations are vivid and enlightening. He spared no pains to acquire true style, frequently rewriting his chapters, and sometimes testing passages of philosophy and description in eight different forms. Yet to a certain extent he lacked the representative power and often failed to conceal his art, many pages ringing with artificial tones. But, after making all allowances, it remains true that he had a perfect sense of proportion, sound maxims and thorough common-sense. He was of that greatest human type: a man of the present, valuing justly the past and no dreamer. In the nature and extent of his studies, in the solidity of his work, and in the philosophic spirit which animated his life he ranks as the foremost historian of the United States, and as an American historian second to none of his European contemporaries in [v.03 p.0308] the same line. He displayed the heroic, epic value of American history, its unity with the great central stream, and dispelled for ever the extravagant conceptions of a sentimental world just emerging from the visionary philosophy of the 18th century.
See M. A. de Wolfe Howe, _The Life and Letters of George Bancroft_ (New York, 1908).
(W. M. S.)
BANCROFT, HUBERT HOWE (1832- ), American historical writer, was born at Granville, Ohio, on the 5th of May 1832. From 1852 to 1868 he was a bookseller in San Francisco. During this period he accumulated a great library of historical material, and at last gave up business in order to devote himself to the publication of his _Native Races of the Pacific States_ (5 vols. 1874-1876), _History of the Pacific States of North America_ (21 vols. 1882-1890), and other works. For the collection of data he necessarily relied upon the labours of a corps of assistants, and the publications named represent, properly speaking, an encyclopaedia rather than a unified history; but as a storehouse of material their value is great and is likely to be enduring. In 1905 Bancroft's vast collection was acquired by the university of California. An account of his methods of work is given in his _Literary Industries_ (1890).
BANCROFT, RICHARD (1544-1610), archbishop of Canterbury, was born at Farnworth in Lancashire in 1544. He was educated at Cambridge, first at Christ's College and afterwards at Jesus College. He took his degree of B.A. in 1567 and that of M.A. in 1570. Ordained about that time, he was named chaplain to Richard Cox, then bishop of Ely, and in 1575 was presented to the rectory of Teversham in Cambridgeshire. The next year he was one of the preachers to the university, and in 1584 was presented to the rectory of St Andrew's, Holborn. His abilities, and his zeal as a champion of the church, secured him rapid promotion. He graduated B.D. in 1580 and D.D. five years later. In 1585 he was appointed treasurer of St Paul's cathedral, London, and in 1586 was made a member of the ecclesiastical commission. On the 9th of February 1589 he preached at Paul's Cross a sermon on 1 John iv. 1, the substance of which was a passionate attack on the Puritans. He described their speeches and proceedings, caricatured their motives, denounced the exercise of the right of private judgment, and set forth the divine right of bishops in such strong language that one of the queen's councillors held it to amount to a threat against the supremacy of the crown. In the following year Bancroft was made a prebendary of St Paul's; he had been canon of Westminster since 1587. He was chaplain successively to Lord Chancellor Hatton and Archbishop Whitgift. In June 1597 he was consecrated bishop of London; and from this time, in consequence of the age and incapacity for business of Archbishop Whitgift, he was virtually invested with the power of primate, and had the sole management of ecclesiastical affairs. Among the more noteworthy cases which fell under his direction were the proceedings against "Martin Mar-Prelate," Thomas Cartwright and his friends, and John Penry, whose "seditious writings" he caused to be intercepted and given up to the lord keeper. In 1600 he was sent on an embassy, with others, to Embden, for the purpose of settling certain matters in dispute between the English and the Danes. This mission, however, failed. Bancroft was present at the death of Queen Elizabeth. He took a prominent and truculent part in the famous conference of prelates and Presbyterian divines held at Hampton Court in 1604. By the king's desire he undertook the vindication of the practices of confirmation, absolution, private baptism and lay excommunication; he urged, but in vain, the reinforcement of an ancient canon, "that schismatics are not to be heard against bishops"; and in opposition to the Puritans' demand for certain alterations in doctrine and discipline, he besought the king that care might be taken for a _praying clergy_; and that, till men of learning and sufficiency could be found, godly homilies might be read and their number increased. In March 1604 Bancroft, on Whitgift's death, was appointed by royal writ president of convocation then assembled; and he there presented a book of canons collected by himself. It was adopted and received the royal approval, but was strongly opposed and set aside by parliament two months afterwards. In the following November he was elected successor to Whitgift in the see of Canterbury. He continued to show the same zeal and severity as before, and with so much success that Lord Clarendon, writing in his praise, expressed the opinion that "if Bancroft had lived, he would quickly have extinguished all that fire in England which had been kindled at Geneva." He was as lenient with the offences of the orthodox as he was rigid in suppressing heresy and schism.
In 1605 he was sworn a member of the privy council. The same year he engaged in a contest with the judges, and exhibited articles of complaint against them before the lords of the council; but these complaints were overruled. His aim was really to make the ecclesiastical courts independent of the law by speciously magnifying the royal authority over them. He enforced discipline and exact conformity within the church with an iron hand; and over 200 clergymen were deprived of their livings for disobedience to the _ex animo_ form of subscription. In 1608 he was chosen chancellor of the university of Oxford. One of his latest public acts was a proposal laid before parliament for improving the revenues of the church, and a project for a college of controversial divinity at Chelsea. In the last few months of his life he took part in the discussion about the consecration of certain Scottish bishops, and it was in pursuance of his advice that they were consecrated by several bishops of the English church.
By this act were laid the foundations of the Scottish Episcopal church.
Bancroft was "the chief overseer" of the authorized version of the Bible.
He died at Lambeth Palace on the 2nd of November 1610. His literary remains are not extensive, but show him to have been an able writer.
BANCROFT, SIR SQUIRE (1841- ), English actor and manager, was born near London on the 14th of May 1841. His first appearance on the stage was in 1861 at Birmingham, and he played in the provinces with success for several years. His first London appearance was in 1865 in Wooler's _A Winning Hazard_ at the Prince of Wales's theatre off Tottenham Court Road, then under the management of Effie Marie Wilton (b. 1840), whom he married in 1868. Mr and Mrs Bancroft were associated in the production of all the Robertson comedies:--_Society_ (1865), _Ours_ (1866), _Caste_ (1867), _Play_ (1868), _School_ (1869) and _M.P._ (1870), and, after Robertson's death, in revivals of the old comedies, for which they surrounded themselves with an admirable company. Lytton's _Money_ (1872), Boucicault's _London Assurance_ (1877), and _Diplomacy_--an adaptation of Sardou's _Dora_--were among their _premieres_, which helped to make the little playhouse famous. The Bancroft management at the Prince of Wales's constituted a new era in the development of the English stage, and had the effect of reviving the London interest in modern drama. In 1879 they moved to the Haymarket, where Sardou's _Odette_ (for which they engaged Madame Modjeska) and _Fedora_, W. S. Gilbert's _Sweethearts_ and Pinero's _Lords and Commons_, with revivals of previous successes, were among their productions. Having made a considerable fortune, they retired in 1885, but Mr Bancroft (who was knighted in 1897) joined Sir Henry Irving in 1889 to play the abbe Latour in a revival of Watts Phillips's _Dead Heart_.
See _Mr and Mrs Bancroft, on and off the Stage_ (1888), and _The Bancrofts: Recollections of Sixty Years_ (1909), by themselves.
BAND, something which "binds" or fastens one thing to another, hence a cord, rope or tie, _e.g._ the straps fastening the sheets to the back in book-binding. The word is a variant of "bond," and is from the stem of the Teutonic _bindan_, to bind. From the same source comes "bend," properly to fasten the string to the bow, so as to constrain and curve it, hence to make into the shape of a "bent" bow, to curve. In the sense of "strap," a flat strip of material, properly for fastening anything, the word is ultimately of the same origin but comes directly into English from the French _bande_. In architecture the term is applied to a sort of flat frieze or fascia running horizontally round a tower or other parts of a building, particularly the base tables in perpendicular work, commonly used with the long shafts characteristic of the 13th century. It generally has a bold, projecting moulding above and below, and is carved [v.03 p.0309]
sometimes with foliages, but in general with cusped circles or quatrefoils, in which frequently are shields of arms.
The two small strips of linen, worn at the neck as part of legal, clerical and academic dress, are known as "bands"; they are the survival of the falling collar of the 17th century. These bands are usually of white linen, but the secular clergy of the Roman Church wear black bands edged with white. The light cardboard or chip boxes now used to carry millinery were formerly made to carry the neck-bands, whence the name of "band-box."
In the sense of company or troop, "band" is probably also connected with _bindan_, to bind. It came into English from the French. The meaning seems to have originated in Romanic, cf. Italian, Spanish and Portuguese _banda_, and thence came into Teutonic. It has usually been taken (see Ducange, _Gloss._ s.v. _banda_) to be due to the "band" or sash of a particular colour worn as a distinctive mark by a troop of soldiers. Others refer it to the medieval Latin _bandum_, banner, a strip or "band" of cloth fastened to a pole. In this sense the chief application is to a company of musicians (see ORCHESTRA), particularly when used in armies or navies, a military band.
_Military Bands._--In all countries bands are organized and maintained in each infantry regiment or battalion if the latter is the unit. The strength of these bands and the number and nature of their instruments vary considerably, as also do the rank and status of the bandmaster. The buglers and drummers belonging to the companies are generally massed under the sergeant-drummer and on the march play alternately with the band. In action the British custom is to use the bandsmen as stretcher-bearers, but on the continent of Europe the bands are as far as possible kept in hand under the regimental commanders and play the troops into action; and in all countries the available bands, drums and bugles are ordered to play during the final assault. The training of bandmasters for the British service is carried out at Kneller Hall, Hounslow, an institution founded in 1857 and placed under direct control of the war office in 1867. The average strength of the various classes of instrument in the band of a British line regiment has been stated as--twenty flutes, oboes, clarinets and bassoons, four horns, eight saxhorns, six trumpets and cornets, three trombones, two drums. The buglers and drummers are in the proportion of one of each per company. The saxophone, which is the characteristic instrument of military bands in other countries, has not found favour with the British authorities. Another specially military instrument, universal in the Russian army and more or less common to others, is the so-called "Jingling Johnny," a frame of small bells that is sharply shaken in the accented parts of the music. The "glockenspiel" is also fairly common. The peculiar instrument of Scottish regiments is the bagpipes. Cavalry, and more rarely artillery corps in the various armies, have small bands. The mounted arms, however, have little need of music as compared with the infantry, the order and ease of whose marching powers are immensely enhanced by the music of a good regimental band. In the navies of various countries bands are maintained on board flag-ships and sometimes on board other large ships.
BANDA, a town and district of British India, in the Allahabad division of the United Provinces. The town is near the right bank of the river Ken, 95 m. S.W. of Allahabad. The population in 1901 was 22,565. The town possesses 65 mosques and 168 Hindu temples. It was formerly, but is no longer, a military cantonment.