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Althing

(Encyclopedia)Althing älˈthĭng [key] [Icel.,=general diet], parliament of Iceland. This assembly, the oldest in Europe, was convened at Thingvellir, SW Iceland, in 930. It was dissolved in 1800, was revived as a...

Rendsburg

(Encyclopedia)Rendsburg rĕntsˈbo͝orkh [key], city (1994 pop. 31,376), Schleswig-Holstein, N central Germany, a port on the Eider River and the Kiel Canal. The city's manufactures include textiles, fertilizer, an...

Oehlenschläger, Adam Gottlob

(Encyclopedia)Oehlenschläger, Adam Gottlob äˈdäm gŏtˈlŏb öˈlənshlāgər [key], 1779–1850, Danish romantic poet and dramatist. Oehlenschläger turned for themes to the sagas and to Scandinavian history; ...

Ohthere

(Encyclopedia)Ohthere ōthērˈə [key], fl. 880, Norse explorer. His account of his voyage around the North Cape, along Lapland, and into the White Sea was incorporated by Alfred the Great in the introduction to h...

Bernstorff, Andreas Peter

(Encyclopedia)Bernstorff, Andreas Peter ändrāˈäs pāˈtər bĕrnsˈtôrf [key], 1735–97, Danish politician; nephew of Johann Hartwig Ernst Bernstorff. Made (1773) foreign minister after Struensee's fall from ...

Oldenburg, former state, Germany

(Encyclopedia)Oldenburg ôlˈdənbo͝orkh [key], former state, NW Germany. It is now included in the state of Lower Saxony. The city of Oldenburg was the capital. The former state consisted of three widely separate...

Holstein

(Encyclopedia)Holstein, former duchy, N central Germany, the part of Schleswig-Holstein S of the Eider River. Kiel and Rendsburg were the chief cities. For a description of Holstein and for its history after 1814, ...

Fyn

(Encyclopedia)Fyn fün [key], Ger. Fünen, island, c.1,340 sq mi (3,471 sq km), Fyn co., S central Denmark....

Harpestreng, Henrik

(Encyclopedia)Harpestreng, Henrik, or Henricus Dacus, d. 1244, Danish herbalist and medical writer. He probably studied at the medical school in Salerno, and was a canon at Roskilde Cathedral, then Denmark's eccles...

Dreyer, Carl Theodor

(Encyclopedia)Dreyer, Carl Theodor kärl tāˈōdôrˌ drīˈər [key], 1889–1968, Danish motion picture director. He began making films in Denmark in 1919. His Passion of Joan of Arc (1928), widely regarded as a...