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Veles

(Encyclopedia)Veles vĕlˈĕs [key], town (1994 pop. 56,751), North Macedonia, on the Vardar River. It is a road and rail junction and the market center for a fruit- and vegetable-producing region. An ancient town,...

Babrius

(Encyclopedia)Babrius bāˈbrēəs [key], fl. 2d cent.?, Greek fabulist, versifier of the fables of Aesop. Many of the medieval prose collections of Aesop were based on Babrius. He may have been a Hellenized Roman....

Amersfoort

(Encyclopedia)Amersfoort äˈmərsfōrt [key], city, Utrecht prov., central Netherlands. It is a transportation and manufacturing center. Points of interest include a 14th-century water...

pillar

(Encyclopedia)pillar, freestanding columnar supporting member. It is a general term, little used as an exact architectural definition except as applied to an upright support in the medieval styles, consisting of an...

Vehmgericht

(Encyclopedia)Vehmgericht fāˈmĭk [key], in medieval Germany, a type of criminal tribunal. The inability of the Holy Roman emperors to exercise effective central control over their lands and the extensive feudal ...

scutage

(Encyclopedia)scutage skyo͞oˈtĭj [key], feudal payment, usually in cash, given in lieu of actual military service due from a vassal to an overlord. It applied especially to the vassals of the king. Scutage colle...

Haymarket Square riot

(Encyclopedia)Haymarket Square riot, outbreak of violence in Chicago on May 4, 1886. Demands for an eight-hour working day became increasingly widespread among American laborers in the 1880s. A demonstration, large...

Casimir III

(Encyclopedia)Casimir III, 1310–70, king of Poland (1333–70), son of Ladislaus I and last of the Piast dynasty. Called Casimir the Great, he brought comparative peace to Poland. By the Congress of Visegrad (133...

Mena, Juan de

(Encyclopedia)Mena, Juan de hwän dā māˈnä [key], 1411–56, Spanish poet and scholar. Influenced by the Italian school, he modeled his chief work Laberinto de Fortuna (1444) upon Dante. This 300-stanza allegor...

Mansfield, city and district, England

(Encyclopedia)Mansfield, city (71,325) and district, Nottinghamshire, central England, on the western border of Sherwood Forest. The city lies in a coal district, with manufactures of hosiery, shoes, and metal prod...