Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Cressy, Hugh Paulinus

(Encyclopedia)Cressy, Hugh Paulinus krĕˈsē [key], 1605–74, English Benedictine monk. He was educated at Oxford and converted to Roman Catholicism in Rome in 1646. His Exomologesis (1647) is an apologia for his...

Skinner, Otis

(Encyclopedia)Skinner, Otis, 1858–1942, American actor, b. Cambridge, Mass. Skinner made his New York debut in 1879. After years as supporting player to Booth and Barrett, he toured with Augustin Daly and later w...

Langlade, Charles Michel de

(Encyclopedia)Langlade, Charles Michel de shärl mēshĕlˈ də [key], 1729–1800, pioneer in present-day Wisconsin and soldier, b. Mackinac region, now in Mich.; son of a trader, Augustin Langlade, who establishe...

Henri

(Encyclopedia)Henri, 1955–, grand duke of Luxembourg (2000–), the oldest son of Jean, grand duke of Luxembourg, and Joséphine Charlotte, princess of Belgium. In 1981 Henri married María Teresa Mestre y Batist...

libretto

(Encyclopedia)libretto ləbrĕtˈō [key] [Ital.,=little book], the text of an opera or an oratorio. Although a play usually emphasizes an integrated plot, a libretto is most often a loose plot connecting a series ...

Drew, John

(Encyclopedia)Drew, John, 1827–62, American actor, b. Dublin. After establishing a reputation as a comedian in the 1840s, he devoted his energies to the Arch Street Theatre, Philadelphia, where he maintained a fa...

Charlotte, grand duchess of Luxembourg

(Encyclopedia)Charlotte, 1896–1985, grand duchess of Luxembourg (1919–64). The second daughter of Duke William of Nassau-Weilburg and a Portuguese princess, Marie Anne of Braganza, she succeeded her sister, Mar...

lighthouse

(Encyclopedia)lighthouse, towerlike structure erected to give guidance and warning to ships and aircraft by either visible or radioelectrical means. Lighthouses were long built to conform in structure to their geog...

Mandeville, Sir John

(Encyclopedia)Mandeville, Sir John, 14th-century English author of The Travels of Sir John Mandeville. Originally written in Norman French, the work became enormously popular and was translated into English, Latin,...

French literature

(Encyclopedia)French literature, writings in medieval French dialects and standard modern French. Writings in Provençal and Breton are considered separately, as are works in French produced abroad (as at Canadian ...