Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/554

BANNOCK. parts of Scotland, but now less so than formerly. It is usually composed of pease-meal or pease and barley-meal mixed; prepared without any leaven, it is baked on a circular plate of iron called a girdle. When made of mixed meal it is tailed a mashlum bannock. 'Bannocks of barley- meal' form the theme of a popular Scottish song. The bannock is doulitless of great antiquity, be- ing, in fact, the primitive cake, only varied in material, of every country.

BAN'NOCKBUBN (Gal., the stream of the white knoll ; hum, AS. buriia. a small stream; cf. Ger. Brunnen, well). A village in Scotland, .'i miles southeast of Stirling, on the Bannock Rivulet, the scene of a great battle, fought on June 24, 1314, in which Roliert Bruce, with 30,000 Scotch, gained a signal victory over Edward 11.- with 100,000 English, and secured his throne and the independ'ence of Scotland. The victory was due in great measure to the clever device of Bruce, vvlio caused the ground in front of his position to be undermined in all directions. The English cavalry blundered into the hidden pits, were rendered helpless themselves, and threw the rest of the arm}- into confusion. The English are said to have lost 30,000, and the Scotch 8000, men. The 'bore-stone' on which Bruce is said to have fixed his standard on that day is still to be seen on an eminence near the scene of the fight. On the southeast of the field of Bannockl)urn, at Sauc'hie Bum, James III. was defeated June 11. 1488, b}^ his rebellious subjects, and assassinated after the battle in a mill where he had taken refuge. See Scotland.

BANNS (earlier also hamips. really plural of Inn) OF MARRIAGE. The prelim'inary public announcement or proclamation, constituting a part of the religious ceremonial of marriage. It was made compulsory throughout Christendom by a decree of Innocent III. at the fovirth Lateran Council of I"21.5, and is still employed both in England and in most Roman (.'atholic countries as an essential part of the religious celebration of matrimony. It is not necessary to the valid- ity of marriage, however, which, in England and the United States, at least, could always be «ft'ected by a civil contract without ceremony. The object of this publication was to give noto- riety to the act, so that all who had objections to the marriage might l)e enabled to state them in lime. By the English Book of Common Prayer the announcement is required to be made in the terms of the rubric prefixed to the marriage service, on three Sundays preceding the cere- mony. If any objections are offered, it is the <luty of the clergynuiu to ))roceed no farther with the marriage; if, notwithstanding, he marries the jiarties, he will be liable to severe penalties by the ecclesiastical law, though not to an indict- ment. According to the old English Canon Law, the publication of banns might be made on holy- <)ays; but a change was made to Sunday by the first important English Marriage Act, the 26 deo. II., c. 33 ; and although that act was after- wards superseded by the 4 Geo. IV., c. 76, the regulation as to Sunday is still in force. The custom was continued in the early history of the English Colonies in America, and of the States formed from them. It is now practically obsolete in the United States, except in the Roman Catholic (.Huirch, although it is still rec- ognized in the statutes of some of the States (Stimson's American statute Laif, Sec. 6120). See M.VREIAGE, and consult the authorities there referred to.

BANQUETTE, ban-kef (Fr. dimiu. of bunc, bench). A projection or raised ledge forming a platform on the inner side of the parapet of a rampart, and designed to accommodate and pro- tect the ritle fire of the defenders. Its dimen- sions vary according to circumstances. See FOKTIFICATIOX.

BANQUO, baij'kwo. According to Holinshed, who probably drew his information from Boece, a Scotch warrior of the Eleventh Century, and the progenitor of the royal house of Stuart. In 1066 he is said to have joined JIacbcth in a conspiracy against King Duncan, and to have lieen treacherously slain by his confederate. Shakespeare does not mention him as a conspira- tor, but only as Macbeth's victim. Boswell-Stone {Shakespe'ire's Holinshed, New York, 1896) says: "Banquo and Fleance were, I suppose, creatures of Bocce's imagination."

BAN'SHEE, or BEN'SHEE (Gicl. Iwn-sith; from ban, woman + sitli. Ir. sir/he. fairy). An imaginary being in Irish folk-lore. The ban- ; shee is a female, who is called the wife of the fairies, and she makes herself known by wailings ' and shrieks, and thus gives warning of a death ; in the family, over which she is presumed to , exercise a kind of guardianship.

BANSWARA, ban-swii'ra. A Native State of Rajputana, India, in the west of Malwa, bordering on Gujerat (ilap: India, B 4). It extends from latitude 23° 10' to 23° 48' N., and from iongitiule 74° '2' to 74° 41' E. Area, 1500 square miles. Population, in 1891, 181,000; in 1901, 1(.-.,300.

BANTAM, ban-t;im' or ban'tam. A seaport town in the western part of Java, situated in the residency of the same name (Map: East Indies, 6). It was formerly the capital of the kingdom of Bantam, and attained consider- able commercial importance during the Sixteenth and Seventeenth centuries. At present it is in a state of decline.

BAN'TAM FOWL. See Fowl.

BANTAYAN, ban-tii'yan. A town of the i>land of the same name, belonging to the Prov- ince of Cebu, Philippine Islands, situated 62 miles north of Cebu. Population, 10,000.

BAN'TENG (native Malay name). An East Indian ox {Bos sondaiciis), which inhabits the Malay Peninsula and Archipelago, except perhaps Sumatra, and is by scnue considered only a local race of the gaur of India. It is smaller and of lighter build than the gaur, with a longer and sharper head, and the horns more slender and rounded: there is less of a dorsal ridge, and the cow is peculiar in being bright dun in color, while the bulls more nearly resemble gaurs. This wild ox inhabits the jungle and is exceedingly wary and ])ugnacions. "Xo more bellicose and dangerous inhabitant of the [Javan] forest," says Forbes, "than a wounded bull need a hunter care to encounter." Yet it has been tamed from time to time, and interbred with the zebu and other domestic cattle, yielding a serviceable hybrid, of which large herds are kept by the Jialays of Java and Bali. Consult Wallace,