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Saint Peter's Church

(Encyclopedia)Saint Peter's Church, Vatican City, principal and one of the largest churches of the Christian world. The present structure was built mainly between 1506 and 1626 on the original site of the Vatican c...

Ferrara-Florence, Council of

(Encyclopedia)Ferrara-Florence, Council of, 1438–45, second part of the 17th ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church; the first part was the Council of Basel, canonically convened but after 1437 schismati...

Aubusson, Pierre d'

(Encyclopedia)Aubusson, Pierre d' pyĕr dōbüsôNˈ [key], 1423–1503, French soldier, a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, and grand master of the Knights Hospitalers (1476–1503). In 1480 he valiantly defe...

Bardsey Island

(Encyclopedia)Bardsey Island bärdˈsē [key], Welsh Ynys Enlli, 0.7 sq mi (1.8 sq km), Gwynedd, Wales, off the SW tip of the Lleyn Peninsula. The small island, which rises to 548 ft (167 m), is separated from the ...

chronicle plays

(Encyclopedia)chronicle plays, dramas based upon 16th-century chronicles in English, particularly those of Edward Hall and Raphael Holinshed. These plays became very popular late in the reign of Elizabeth I, when, ...

Cleves, duchy of

(Encyclopedia)Cleves, duchy of, former state, W Germany, on both sides of the lower Rhine, bordering on the Netherlands. Cleves was the capital. A county from late Carolingian times, it acquired (late 14th cent.) t...

Daddi, Bernardo

(Encyclopedia)Daddi, Bernardo bārnärˈdō dädˈdē [key], fl. 1312–48, Italian painter of the Florentine school. First influenced by his contemporary Giotto, he soon adopted the delicate line and lyrical expre...

Field of the Cloth of Gold

(Encyclopedia)Field of the Cloth of Gold, locality between Guines and Ardres, not far from Calais, in France, where in 1520 Henry VIII of England and Francis I of France met for the purpose of arranging an alliance...

Velay

(Encyclopedia)Velay vəlāˈ [key], region, E central France, in the Massif Central and partly in Haute-Loire dept. Partly volcanic in origin, the region has many high arid plateaus, some of startling beauty. Le Pu...

Jacopone da Todi

(Encyclopedia)Jacopone da Todi yäkōpôˈnā dä tôˈdē [key], 1230?–1306, Italian religious poet, whose name was originally Jacopo Benedetti. After the sudden death of his wife, he renounced (c.1268) his care...