Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Constable, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Constable, Henry kŏnˈstəbəl [key], 1562–1613, English poet. After graduating from Cambridge in 1580 he went to Paris, where the atmosphere was more congenial for one of Roman Catholic faith. The...

Alfonso VII, Spanish king of Castile and León

(Encyclopedia)Alfonso VII (Alfonso the Emperor), 1104–57, Spanish king of Castile and León (1126–57), son and successor of Urraca. He recovered the places in Castile that his stepfather, Alfonso I of Aragón, ...

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...

John II, Spanish king of Castile and León

(Encyclopedia)John II, 1405–54, Spanish king of Castile and León (1406–54), son and successor of Henry III. He was little interested in government, which he entrusted to his favorite Alvaro de Luna. Literature...

Conrad the Red

(Encyclopedia)Conrad the Red, d. 955, duke of Lotharingia (Lorraine; 944–53). A Franconian adherent of the German king Otto I (later Holy Roman emperor), he was made duke of Lotharingia and married Otto's daughte...

Bartlett, William Henry

(Encyclopedia)Bartlett, William Henry, 1800–1854, English painter and illustrator. After four visits to the United States, Bartlett illustrated a book, American Scenery (1840), with panoramic vistas of the Americ...

Bradshaw, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Bradshaw, Henry, 1831–86, English librarian and antiquarian at Cambridge. He discovered, organized, and made known the university's treasures of manuscripts and incunabula, especially those in Gaeli...

Sol, in Roman religion

(Encyclopedia)Sol sŏl [key], in Roman religion, sun god. An ancient god of Mesopotamian origin, he was introduced (c.220) into Roman religion as Sol Invictus by emperor Heliogabalus. His worship remained an import...

Roman law

(Encyclopedia)Roman law, the legal system of Rome from the supposed founding of the city in 753 b.c. to the fall of the Byzantine Empire in a.d. 1453; it was later adopted as the basis of modern civil law. Most aut...

Beaufort, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Beaufort, Henry bōˈfərt [key], 1377?–1447, English prelate and statesman. The son of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, and his mistress (later wife) Catherine Swynford, he was half-brother to Hen...

Browse by Subject