language hat on 24 Mar 2010  •  Link

The stress is on the second syllable: bre-DAH.

Terry Foreman on 7 Jul 2012  •  Link

Breda is a city in the southern part of the Netherlands. The name Breda derived from brede Aa ('wide Aa') and refers to the confluence of the rivers Mark and Aa. As a fortified city, the city was of strategic military and political significance. Although a direct Fiefdom of the Holy Roman Emperor, the city obtained a municipal charter; the acquisition of Breda, through marriage, by the house of Nassau ensured that Breda would be at the center of political and social life in the Low Countries.

The acquisition of the city by the House of Orange-Nassau marked its emergence as a residenzstadt (residence city). The presence of the Orange-Nassau family attracted other nobles, who built palatial residences in the old quarters of the city.

In 1581, during the Eighty Years' War Breda was captured by surprise by Spanish troops. After a ten-month siege in 1624–25, the city surrendered to the Spaniards under Spinola; the event was immortalized by Diego Velázquez. In 1637 Breda was recaptured by Frederick Henry of Orange after a four-month siege, and in 1648 it was finally ceded to the Dutch Republic by the Treaty of Westphalia.

The exiled Stuart pretender Charles II of England resided in Breda during most of his exile during the Cromwellian Commonwealth and Protectorate, thanks to the proximity of Charles's sister Mary, Princess Royal, the widow of Prince William II of Orange.

Based mostly on suggestions by Parliamentarian General George Monck, Charles II's Declaration of Breda (1660) made known the conditions of his acceptance of the crown of England which he was to accept/resume later in the same year.

The Treaty of Breda was signed in the city, July 31, 1667, bringing to an end the Second Anglo-Dutch War in which the Dutch faced the same Charles II who had been their guest. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breda