Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

122 results found

Æthelred, king of England

(Encyclopedia)Æthelred, 965?–1016, king of England (978–1016), called Æthelred the Unready [Old Eng. unrœd=without counsel]. He was the son of Edgar and the half-brother of Edward the Martyr, whom he succeed...

Crèvecoeur, J. Hector St. John

(Encyclopedia)Crèvecoeur, J. Hector St. John krĕvkörˈ [key], 1735–1813, American author and agriculturist, b. France as Michel Guillaume Jean de Crèvecoeur. It is believed that he served under Montcalm in Ca...

Partch, Harry

(Encyclopedia)Partch, Harry, 1901–74, American composer, b. Oakland, Calif. Highly individualistic and largely self-taught, Partch rejected many of the traditions of Western music. He developed a theory of “cor...

Maine, region and former province, France

(Encyclopedia)Maine mĕn [key], region and former province, NW France, S of Normandy and E of Brittany. It now comprises the departments of Mayenne and Sarthe and parts of Loire-et-Cher, Eure-et-Loir, and Orne. Le ...

Knolles, Sir Robert

(Encyclopedia)Knolles or Knollys, Sir Robert both: nōlz [key], d. 1407, English military commander in the Hundred Years War. He became a leader of a company of mercenaries, fought against Bertrand Du Guesclin, who...

Edward the Confessor

(Encyclopedia)Edward the Confessor, d. 1066, king of the English (1042–66), son of Æthelred the Unready and his Norman wife, Emma. After the Danish conquest (1013–16) of England, Edward grew up at the Norman c...

Harold

(Encyclopedia)Harold, 1022?–1066, king of England (1066). The son of Godwin, earl of Wessex, he belonged to the most powerful noble family of England in the reign of Edward the Confessor. Through Godwin's influen...

amphibious warfare

(Encyclopedia)amphibious warfare ămfĭbˈēəs [key], employment of a combination of land and sea forces to take or defend a military objective. The general strategy is very ancient and was extensively employed by...

Norsemen

(Encyclopedia)Norsemen, name given to the Scandinavian Vikings who raided and settled on the coasts of the European continent in the 9th and 10th cent. They are also referred to as Northmen or Normans. Recent resea...

Browse by Subject