Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Benedetti, Vincent

(Encyclopedia)Benedetti, Vincent bānādĕtˈtē [key], 1817–1900, French diplomat, b. Corsica, made a count by Napoleon III. He was ambassador to Prussia from 1864 to 1870. In an interview (1870) at Ems with Ki...

Talma, François Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Talma, François Joseph fräNswäˈ zhôzĕfˈ tälmäˈ [key], 1763–1826, French actor. The greatest tragedian of his time, he broke with tradition and foreshadowed the romanticists. He continued L...

Taurage

(Encyclopedia)Taurage tourägāˈ [key], Ger. Tauroggen, town, W Lithuania, on the Yura River. Dating from the 13th cent., Taurage belonged to Prussia from 1691 to 1793, when it passed to Russia. It was incorporate...

Louis XVIII, king of France

(Encyclopedia)Louis XVIII, 1755–1824, king of France (1814–24), brother of King Louis XVI. Known as the comte de Provence, he fled (1791) to Koblenz from the French Revolution and intrigued to bring about forei...

Saint Helena

(Encyclopedia)Saint Helena həlēˈnə [key], island, 47 sq mi (122 sq km), in the S Atlantic Ocean, 1,200 mi (1,931 km) W of Africa. Together with the islands of Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, it comprises the Br...

Papal States

(Encyclopedia)Papal States, Ital. Lo Stato della Chiesa, from 754 to 1870 an independent territory under the temporal rule of the popes, also called the States of the Church and the Pontifical States. The territory...

Arish, Al

(Encyclopedia)Arish, Al äl ärēshˈ [key], town (1986 pop. 67,337), NE Egypt, in the Sinai peninsula, on the Mediterranean Sea. It is a fishing port and a military and administrative center; since the 1980s it ha...

Monti, Vincenzo

(Encyclopedia)Monti, Vincenzo vēnchānˈtsō mōnˈtē [key], 1754–1828, Italian poet and dramatist. Under French rule he became official historiographer of the Italian kingdom and later accommodated himself to ...

Arndt, Ernst Moritz

(Encyclopedia)Arndt, Ernst Moritz ĕrnst mōˈrĭts ärnt [key], 1769–1860, German poet and historian. An ardent nationalist and opponent of Napoleon I, he was forced to flee to Sweden and Russia because of his p...

lettre de cachet

(Encyclopedia)lettre de cachet lĕˈtrə də käshāˈ [key], formerly in French law, private, sealed document, issued as a communication from the king. Such a letter could order imprisonment or exile for an indivi...