den, on the left bank of the Rhine, standing on a basalt rock 250 ft.
above the river, 10 m. W. of Freiburg-im-Breisgau, and on the railway
connecting that city with Colmar. Pop. (1900) 3537. It has a fine
minster, partly Romanesque, partly Gothic, dating from the 10th to the
15th centuries; of its two principal towers one is 13th century Gothic,
the other Romanesque. The interior is remarkable for its rich
decorations, especially the wood-carving of the high altar, and for many
interesting tombs and pictures. There is little industry, but a
considerable trade is done in wines and other agricultural produce. On
the opposite bank of the Rhine, here crossed by a railway bridge, lies
the little town of Neubreisach and the fort Mortier.

Breisach (_Brisiacum_), formerly an imperial city and until the middle
of the 18th century one of the chief fortresses of the Empire, is of
great antiquity. A stronghold of the _Sequani_ (a Gallic tribe, which
occupied the country of the Doubs and Burgundy), it was captured in the
time of Julius Caesar by Ariovistus and became known as the _Mons
Brisiacus_. Fortified by the emperor Valentian in 369 to defend the
Rhine against the Germans, it retained its position throughout the
middle ages as one of the chief bulwarks of Germany and was called the
"cushion and key (_Kissen und Schlussel_) of the German empire." Its
importance was such that it gave its name to the district Breisgau, in
which it is situated. In 939 it was taken by the emperor Otto I., and
after remaining in the exclusive possession of the emperors for two
centuries, was strengthened and shared for a while between them and the
bishops of Basel. In 1254 and 1262 the bishops obtained full control
over it; but in 1275 it was made an imperial city by King Rudolph I.,
and at the beginning of the 14th century his son brought it definitively
into the possession of the Habsburg monarchs, leaving the bishops but
few privileges. In the Thirty Years' War Breisach successfully resisted
the Swedes, but after a memorable siege and a defence by General von
Reisach, one of the most famous in military annals, it was forced to
capitulate to Duke Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar on the 18th of December 1638.
The endeavours of the emperor Ferdinand III. to retake it were
fruitless, and by the peace of Westphalia (1648) Breisach was annexed to
France. By the peace of Ryswick (1697) it was restored to Austria, when
Louis XIV. built the town and fortress of N