BRIDGE-BUILDING BROTHERHOODS (Fr. Flires pontifes; Lat. Fratres pontifices) were religious societies that originated in the s. of France in the latter half of the 12th century. Their purpose was th establish hospices at the most frequented fords of large rivers, to keep up ferries, and to build bridges. The church during the middle ages regarded the making of streets and bridges as meritorious religious service. Whether or not the herdsman Benezet, subsequently canonized, was the founder or only a mem ber of this fraternity, is as uncertain as the tradition which attributes to him the com pletion of the bridge over the Rhone at Avignon in 1180. The fraternity was sanctioned by pope Clemens III. in 1189; its internal organization was similar to Ghat of the knightly orders, and the members wore as their badge or insignia a pick-hammer on the breast. In France, they labored very actively, but were gradually absorbed into the order of St.
John. Similar associations sprang up in other lands, but under different names.
or TI:TE-nu-PoNT, in military engineering, is a fortified post intended to defend the passage of a river over a bridge. It is a fieldwork, open at the gorge or in the rear, and having its two flanks on the banks of the river. The most favorable position is at a re-entering sinuosity of the river, where the guns can work better with the supporting batteries-opposite. Bridge-heads are usually temporary works, hastily constructed. Their most frequent use is to aid a retiring army to cross the river in good order, and to check an enemy pressing upon it. Openings are left to allow the retiring army, with guns and carriages, to file through without confusion; and parapets are so disposed as to flank and defend these openings.