Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

296 results found

Perth, town, Scotland

(Encyclopedia)Perth, town (1991 pop. 41,916), Perth and Kinross, central Scotland, on the Tay River. It was called St. Johnstoun until the 17th cent. Perth is famous for its dye works and cattle markets. Other indu...

Pinkerton, Allan

(Encyclopedia)Pinkerton, Allan, 1819–84, American detective, founder of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, b. Glasgow, Scotland. A cooper by trade, he emigrated to the United States in 1842 and opened in We...

Bourbon, Antoine de

(Encyclopedia)Bourbon, Antoine de bo͞orbôNˈ [key], 1518–62, duc de Vendôme, king of Navarre through his marriage to Jeanne d'Albret; father of Henry IV of France. He converted to Protestantism after his marr...

siege

(Encyclopedia)siege, assault against a city or fortress with the purpose of capturing it. The history of siegecraft parallels the development of fortification and, later, artillery. In early times battering rams an...

Sung

(Encyclopedia)Sung so͝ong [key], dynasty of China that ruled 960–1279. It was divided into two periods: Northern Sung (907–1126) with its capital at Kaifeng and Southern Sung (1127–1279) with its capital at ...

Moreau, Jean Victor

(Encyclopedia)Moreau, Jean Victor môrōˈ [key], 1763–1813, French general in the French Revolutionary Wars. Despite his successes on the Rhine and in Germany (1796–97), he was dismissed for withholding compr...

Knausgård, Karl Ove

(Encyclopedia)Knausgård or Knausgaard, Karl Ove, 1968–, Norwegian writer, b. Oslo grad. Univ. of Bergen. He is best known for his six-volume autobiographical work, Min Kamp (2009–11, tr. My Struggle, 2012–18...

Sidney, Algernon

(Encyclopedia)Sidney or Sydney, Algernon, 1622–83, English politician; son of Robert Sidney, earl of Leicester. He served in the parliamentary forces during the English civil war and was a member (1652–53) of t...

Amboise, conspiracy of

(Encyclopedia)Amboise, conspiracy of, 1560, plot of the Huguenots (French Protestants) and the house of Bourbon to usurp the power of the Guise family, which virtually ruled France during the reign of the young Fra...

Gaddis, William

(Encyclopedia)Gaddis, William, 1922–98, American novelist, b. New York City. An erudite master of satire and black comedy, he was both praised and criticized for his avant-garde techniques—repetitions, multiple...