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Burckhardt, Jacob Christoph

(Encyclopedia)Burckhardt, Jacob or Jakob Christoph yäˈkôp krĭsˈtôf bo͝orkˈhärt [key], 1818–97, Swiss historian, one of the founders of the cultural interpretation of history. He studied under Ranke at th...

Odenwald

(Encyclopedia)Odenwald ōˈdənvält [key], hilly, forested region, S central Germany, bordering on the Neckar and Main rivers and the Rhine plain. Its highest point (2,055 ft/626 m) is the Katzenbuckel. Fruit and ...

Aubry de Montdidier

(Encyclopedia)Aubry de Montdidier ōbrēˈ də môNdēdyāˈ [key], in French legend, a French courtier of King Charles V, murdered c.1371 near Montargis by one Macaire. The animosity of Aubry's dog toward Macaire ...

Renart, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Renart, Jean zhäN rənärˈ [key], fl. 1212, French poet. He is believed to be the author of two charming romans courtois, or metrical romances—Guillaume de Dole and L'Escoufle [the hawk] as well a...

Ciudad Real

(Encyclopedia)Ciudad Real thyo͞oᵺäᵺˈ rāälˈ [key], city, capital of Ciudad Real prov., cen...

facade

(Encyclopedia)facade fəsädˈ [key], exterior face or wall of a building. The term implies ordered placement of its openings and other features and thus seems inapplicable to a wall without design. Any freestandin...

gargoyle

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Gargoyle gargoyle gärˈgoil [key], waterspout used in medieval Europe to draw rainwater from church and cathedral roofs. Gargoyles were fashioned imaginatively in the form of human grotesques...

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...

Vargas Llosa, Mario

(Encyclopedia)Vargas Llosa, Mario märˈyō värˈgäs yōˈsä [key], 1936–, Peruvian novelist and politician, b. Arequipa. Although his works contain much external realism, emphasizing the ugly and grotesque, h...

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