Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/685

Rh and important, the cotton manufactory alone employing 2000 looms ; while bleaching, dyeing, printing, tile-making, and sugar-refining are all extensively carried on. There is an old castle in the village belonging to Count Sandreczky. Population in 1871, 13,070.  BIELAYA TSERKOV (i.e., White Church), a township of Russia, in the government of Kieff, 32 miles S.S.W. of Vasilko, on the main road from Kieff to the Crimea, in 49 47 N. lat. and 30 7 E. long. First mentioned in 1155, Bielaya Tserkov was destroyed during the Mongolian in vasion, but afterwards recovered its prosperity. In 1550 a castle was built in the town by Prince Prunsky, waiwode of Keiff, and various immunities were bestowed on the inhabitants. A Polish army occupied tho place in 1651, and from that time it was alternately subject to Poland and to independent hetmans. In 1774 it received a charter from Stanislas Augustus, and in 1793 was united to Russia. The principal buildings of Bielaya Tserkov include two Greek churches, one Roman Catholic church, two syna gogues, a hospital, and a gymnasium (founded in 1846). In commercial activity the town only yields to Kieff, Berdicheff, and Uman the chief articles of trade being cattle and grain. There are eleven annual fairs, three of which last for ten days each. The sales at these fairs amount to up wards of 28,000. Population in 1860, 12,075, of whom 7349 are Jews.  BIELEFELD, a town in the Prussian province of Westphalia, the capital of a circle in the government of Minden. It is situated at the foot of the Osning, and consists of two portions, separated by the River Lutter, which were first united into one town in 1520. Among its public buildings and institutions are the old town church, with a curious carved altar piece, the town-house, the gymnasium, and the provincial industrial school. On the height above the town is the old castle of Sparrenberg, for a long time employed as a prison. It was founded about the 12th century, and originally bore the name of Lb wenberg. Bielefeld is the centre of the Westphalian linen trade, and contains exten sive factories and bleachfields. The Ravensberg factory has upwards of 24,000 spindles, and the Vorwarts, 10,700. Tobacco, glass, cement, cast-iron, leather, tiles, ttc., are also manufactured in the town. Bielefeld is mentioned as early as the 9th century, as Belanvelde, and rose into importance iu the llth or 12th as the capital of the couutship of Ravensburg. It joined the Hanseatic league in 1270, and about the same time began to engage in the linen manufacture, which was greatly extended during the 16th and 17th centuries by a number of refugees from the Netherlands. In 1666 the town passed with the count- ship to the duchy of Brandenburg. Population in 1871, 21,834.  BIELEFF, a town of Russia, in the government of Tula, and 82 miles from that city, on the left bank of the Oka, in 53 48 N. lat. and 35 9 E. long. It is first mentioned in 1147 ; it belonged to Lithuania in the end of the 14th century ; and in 1468 it was raised to the rank of a princi pality, dependent on that country, by Basil Romanovitch, who had come thither from Odoefi. In the end of the 15th century this principality began to separate from Lithuania and attach itself to the Grand Duchy of Moscow; and by the peaceful treaty of Ivan III. with Alexander the Lithuanian Bieleff was ultimately united to Russia. In the 16th century it suffered greatly from the Tatars, especially in the years 1507, 1512, 1530, 1536, and 1544. In 1538 Ivan the Terrible exiled Prince John of Bieleff to Vologda, and in 1565 declared the lordship his own property. In 1607 Nikivitch Romanoff, general of the Emperor Basil Ivanovitch, gained a complete victory in the neighbourhood against the rebellious Prince Mosalsky. Transferred in 1 708 from the Smolensk to the Kievan government, Bieleff passed in 1719 to the Bielgorod district of Orloff, and in 1777 was made a departmental town of the government of Tula. In 1826 the Empress Elizabeth Alexievna died in Bieleff on her way from Taganrog to St Petersburg. The buildings of the town include nineteen churches and two monasteries, a hospital, a widow s asylum, a foundling institution, an almshouse, a prison, and a theatre. A public library was founded in 1858 in memory of Basil Zhukovsky, who was born in a neighbouring village. The industrial establish ments comprise tallow-boiling premises, oil manufactories, a tannery, a sugar-refinery, a distillery, &c. In extent of trade Bieleff ranks next in the government to Tula the most important articles being grain, hemp, oil, and tallow. A great fair is held from the 28th of August to the 10th of September. The population in 1860 was 8063, by far the greater proportion belonging to the Greek Church.  BIELGOROD (i.e., White Town), a town of Russia, in the government of Kursk, 87 miles S.S.W. from that city, in 50 36 N. lat. and 36 37 E. long., on the right bank of the North Donetz, near the confluence of the Yizelka. It occupies a high chalk hill, from which are annually quarried about 112 tons. The date of the founding of Bielgorod is uncertain, because it has been confounded with two other places of the same name. In Karamsin s History it is mentioned that the Grand Duke Theodore Ivanovitch in 1593 sent to found Bielgorod on the ruins of Siever; and it is certain that ancient remains are still to be seen in this city. In the 1 7th century Bielgorod suffered ceaselessly from Tatar incursions, against which, by command of the Emperor Michael Theodorovitch, there was built (from 1633 to 1740) an earthen wall, with twelve forts, extending upwards of 200 miles from the Vorskla to the Don. These defences were called the Bielgorod line, along which, in the reign of Alexias Michaelovitch, there were settled emigrants from Cherkas, Zimbar, Corsun, and elsewhere. In 1666 an episcopal see was established in the town, and the archbishops lived there till 1833, when they were trans ferred to Kursk. In 1779 Bielgorod was made the chief town of a circle in the Kursk government. There are two cathedral churches in the place, Trinity and Assumption, both built in the 16th century, as well as fifteen other churches, two monasteries, a theological seminary, an alms- house, and a hospital. In 1862 a bank was established with a capital of between 10,000 and 15,000. Only a few of the houses are built of stone. Wax-candles, tallow- candles, leather, soap, and bricks are manufactured, and a considerable trade is carried on in grain and cattle. There are three annual fairs on the 10th Friday after Easter, the 29th June, and 15th August respectively. Population in 1860, 11,722, almost all belonging to the Greek Church.  BIELITZ, a town of Austrian Silesia, in the circle of Teschen, on the Biala River, a sub-tributary of the Vistula, and opposite the Galician town of Biala, with which it is connected by a bridge. It is the seat of the superin tendent of all the Protestants in Moravia, and the residence of the Sulkowsky family, in favour of whom the lordship of Bielitz was raised to a duchy in 1754. The castle is a fine building of some antiquity, surrounded by a beautiful park. The principal industries of the town are the spin ning of flax and the printing and dyeing of cloth, the last especially being carried on with great success. A valuable traffic is maintained not only in the produce of the factories but also in Hungarian wine and Galician salt. The town was founded in the 13th century, and in the 15th and 16th was a fortified place. It is connected by means of a branch line with the Kaiser- Ferdinand Northern Railway. Population in 1869, 10,721.  BIELLA, a town of Italy, in the province of Novara, 38 miles N.E. of Turin, with which it is connected by rail. It is built partly on the slope of a hill and partly on the 