BRIGANDINE

brigandine, a french word meaning the armour for the _brigandi_ or _brigantes_, light-armed foot soldiers; part of the armour of a foot soldier in the middle ages, consisting of a padded tunic of canvas, leather, &c., and lined with closely sewn scales or rings of iron. brigantes (celtic for "mountaineers" or "free, privileged"), a people of northern britain, who inhabited the country from the mouth of the abus (humber) on the east and the belisama (mersey; according to others, ribble) on the west as far northwards as the wall of antoninus. their territory thus included most of yorkshire, the whole of lancashire, durham, westmorland, cumberland and part of northumberland. their chief town was eburacum (or eboracum; york). they first came into contact with the romans during the reign of claudius, when they were defeated by publius ostorius scapula. under vespasian they submitted to petillius cerealis, but were not finally subdued till the time of antoninus pius (tac. _agricola_, 17; pausan. viii. 43. 4). the name of their eponymous goddess brigantia is found on inscriptions (_corp. inscr. lat._ vii. 200, 875, 1062; f. haverfield in _archaeological journal_, xlix., 1892), and also that of a god bergans = brigans (_ephemeris epigraphica_, vii. no. 920). a branch of the brigantes also settled in the south-east corner of ireland, near the river birgus (barrow). see a. holder, _altceltischer sprachschatz_, i. (1896), for ancient authorities; j. rhys, _celtic britain_ (3rd ed., 1904); pauly-wissowa, _realencyclopadie_, iii. pt. i. (1897). brigg (properly glanford briggs or glamford bridge), a market town in the north lindsey or brigg parliamentary division of lincolnshire, england, situated on the river ancholme, which affords water communication with the humber. pop. of urban district (1901) 3137. it is 23 m. by road north of lincoln, and is served by the grimsby line of the great central railway. trade is principally agricultural. in 1885 a remarkable boat, assigned to early british workmanship, was unearthed near the river; it is hollowed out of the trunk of an oak, and measures 48 ft. 6 in. by about 5 ft. other prehistoric relics have also been discovered.