BRIXEN, a town of Austria in Tyrol, situated in the Pusterthal at the confluence of the Eisack and Rientz, in 40° 40' N. lat. and 11° 37' E. long., 104 miles from Vienna by rail. It is the scat of a bishop, and has a cathedral built in the 18th century, a theological seminary, a gymnasium, and several monasteries. There are iron and steel factories in the neighbourhood, and the baths of Maria-Louisa are supplied with water from a chalybeate spring. About nine miles from the town is the great fort of Franzensfeste, built in 1838, at the junction of the roads from Botzen, Innsbruck, and Pusterthal. Brixen (in Italian Brcssanone) is mentioned at least as early as 901. In 1025 it became the seat of a bishop, and in 1038 was surrounded with walls. In 1174, 1234, and 1445 it was destroyed by fire; in 1519 it was stormed by the French under Gaston de Foix ; and in 1525 it suffered from the rebellion of the peasants. Population in 1869, 4349.