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bourgeoisie

(Encyclopedia)bourgeoisie bo͝orzhwäzēˈ [key], originally the name for the inhabitants of walled towns in medieval France; as artisans and craftsmen, the bourgeoisie occupied a socioeconomic position between the...

Metropolitan Museum of Art

(Encyclopedia)Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, founded in 1870. The Metropolitan Museum is the foremost repository of art in the United States and one of the world's great museums. It opened in 1880 on it...

Vondel, Joost van den

(Encyclopedia)Vondel, Joost van den yōst vän dĕn vônˈdəl [key], 1587–1679, Dutch poet and dramatist, b. Cologne. He is generally considered the greatest Dutch writer. During the emergence of the Dutch natio...

interlude

(Encyclopedia)interlude, development in the late 15th cent. of the English medieval morality play. Played between the acts of a long play, the interlude, treating intellectual rather than moral topics, often contai...

Cloisters, the

(Encyclopedia)Cloisters, the, museum of medieval European art, in Fort Tryon Park, New York City, overlooking the Hudson River. A branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, it was opened to the public in May, 1938. ...

tenor

(Encyclopedia)tenor, highest natural male voice. In medieval polyphony, tenor was the name given to the voice that had the cantus firmus, a preexisting melody, often a fragment of plainsong, to which other voices i...

Boece, Hector

(Encyclopedia)Boece or Boethius, Hector bōēsˈ, bois, bōēˈthēəs [key], 1465?–1536?, Scottish historian. He studied at the Univ. of Paris, where he knew Erasmus, and in 1498 he went to Aberdeen as the first...

Pennsylvania, University of

(Encyclopedia)Pennsylvania, University of, in Philadelphia; private with some state support; coeducational. It dates to 1740 and plans for a charity school, and the first predecessor opened in 1751 as an academy, l...

Hawes, Stephen

(Encyclopedia)Hawes, Stephen, c.1475–1530, English poet. His best-known works, the two allegories Example of Virtue (1504?) and Pastime of Pleasure (1505?), use typically medieval conventions, but they differ fro...

Taylor, Henry Osborn

(Encyclopedia)Taylor, Henry Osborn, 1856–1941, American historian and legal scholar, b. New York City. His lifework was the study of ancient and medieval civilizations. Among his books are Ancient Ideals (1896); ...