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carol

(Encyclopedia)carol, popular hymn, of joyful nature, in celebration of an occasion such as May Day, Easter, or Christmas. The earliest English carols date from the 15th cent. The carol is characterized by simplicit...

Bracton, Henry de

(Encyclopedia)Bracton, Henry de, d. 1268, English writer on law. He was the author of De legibus et consuetudinibus Angliae [on the laws and customs of England], a broad, philosophic treatise that is often called t...

Owen Glendower

(Encyclopedia)Owen Glendower glĕnˈdouˌər, glĕndouˈər [key], Welsh Owain Glyndwr, 1359?–1416?, Welsh national leader. A scion of the princes of Powys, he was also claimant through his mother to the lands of...

Head, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Head, Richard, c.1637–c.1686, English writer. His best-known work is The English Rogue (1665), a collection of crude picaresque stories. Sequels to this work were written by Francis Kirkman. Among h...

Crashaw, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Crashaw, Richard krăshˈô [key], 1612?–1649, one of the English metaphysical poets. He was graduated from Cambridge in 1634 and remained there as a fellow at Peterhouse until the Puritan uprising,...

Hakluyt, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Hakluyt, Richard hăkˈlo͞ot, hăkˈəlwĭt [key], 1552?–1616, English geographer. He graduated in 1574 from Oxford, where he later lectured on geography. A passionate interest in the history of di...

Persons, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Persons or Parsons, Robert both: pärˈsənz [key], 1546–1610, English Jesuit missionary. He left a fellowship at Balliol College, Oxford, and went to the Continent to be received (1575) into the Ro...

Betjeman, Sir John

(Encyclopedia)Betjeman, Sir John bĕtˈjəmən [key], 1906–84, English poet, b. London. Traditional in rhyme and meter, his verse combined a witty appraisal of the English present with nostalgia for England's pas...

Ancren Riwle

(Encyclopedia)Ancren Riwle ängˈkrĕnə wĭsˈə [key] [Mid. Eng.,=anchoresses' rule], English tract written c.1200 by an anonymous English churchman for the instruction of three young ladies about to become relig...

Fleetwood, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Fleetwood, Charles, 1618?–1692, English parliamentary general. He fought under Oliver Cromwell in many battles of the English civil war and later (1650) in Scotland. He became (1651) a member of the...