Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Isabel of Bavaria

(Encyclopedia)Isabel of Bavaria, 1371–1435, French queen, consort of Charles VI, daughter of the duke of Bavaria. After her marriage (1385) she was several times regent for her demented husband. Sympathizing with...

Knights of Labor

(Encyclopedia)Knights of Labor, American labor organization, started by Philadelphia tailors in 1869, led by Uriah S. Stephens. It became a body of national scope and importance in 1878 and grew more rapidly after ...

Reginald of Châtillon

(Encyclopedia)Reginald of Châtillon shätēyôNˈ [key], d. 1187, Crusader, lord of Krak and Montreal in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. He came to the Holy Land in the Second Crusade and married (1153) Constance,...

Council of Europe

(Encyclopedia)Council of Europe, international organization founded in 1949 to promote greater unity within Europe and to safeguard its political and cultural heritage by promoting human rights and democracy. The c...

Ephesus, Council of

(Encyclopedia)Ephesus, Council of, 431, 3d ecumenical council, convened by Theodosius II, emperor of the East, and Valentinian III, emperor of the West, to deal with the controversy over Nestorianism. Adherents of ...

sphere of influence

(Encyclopedia)sphere of influence, term formerly applied to an area over which an outside power claims hegemony with the intention of subsequently gaining more definite control, as in colonization, or with the inte...

England, Church of

(Encyclopedia)England, Church of, the established church of England and the mother church of the Anglican Communion. In the first half of the 19th cent., the Catholic and apostolic character of the Church of Engl...

Melk

(Encyclopedia)Melk mĕlk [key], town (1991 pop. 3,601), Lower Austria province, N central Austria, on the Danube River. A noted tourist spot, it was one of the earliest residences of the Austrian rulers. The large ...

Hawarden

(Encyclopedia)Hawarden hôrˈdən, härˈ– [key], town, Flintshire, NE Wales. There are ruins of a 13th-century castle on the grounds of Hawarden Castle (built 1752), which was the home of William Gladstone until...

Wellesley College

(Encyclopedia)Wellesley College, at Wellesley, Mass.; for women; chartered 1870, opened 1875. Long a leader in women's education, it was the first woman's college to have scientific laboratories. With Lake Waban an...