Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Tolkien, J. R. R.

(Encyclopedia)Tolkien, J. R. R. (John Ronald Reuel Tolkien) tälˈkēn, tōlˈ– [key], 1892–1973, British novelist, b. South Africa. A fantasy writer and Oxford don, Tolkien wrote The Hobbit (1937), adapted fro...

Traherne, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Traherne, Thomas trəhûrnˈ [key], 1636?–1674, English poet and prose writer, one of the metaphysical poets. He was schooled at Brasenose College, Oxford, and was chaplain to the Lord Keeper from 1...

Campbell, Colin

(Encyclopedia)Campbell, Colin, d. 1729, Scottish architect, who, in England, became one of the initiators of the Neo-Palladian movement. Campbell's most important contribution to this revival of classicizing archit...

Carrington, Peter Carington, 6th Baron

(Encyclopedia)Carrington, Peter Carington, 6th Baron, 1919–2018, British politician. Educated at Eton and Sandhurst, he succeeded to the peerage in 1938. After serving with distinction in World War II, he took hi...

Cary, Joyce

(Encyclopedia)Cary, Joyce (Arthur Joyce Lunel Cary), 1888–1957, English author. From 1910 to 1920 he served as an administrator and soldier in Nigeria. Several of his early works, including Mister Johnson (1939),...

Pacific scandal

(Encyclopedia)Pacific scandal, 1873, a major event in Canadian political history. Charges were made in Parliament that the Conservative administration of Sir John A. Macdonald had accepted campaign funds from Sir H...

Brook Farm

(Encyclopedia)Brook Farm, 1841–47, an experimental farm at West Roxbury, Mass., based on cooperative living. Founded by George Ripley, a Unitarian minister, the farm was initially financed by a joint-stock compan...

Derby, James Stanley, 7th earl of

(Encyclopedia)Derby, James Stanley, 7th earl of därˈbē [key], 1607–51, English nobleman. He sat in the House of Commons (1625–28), took his seat in the House of Lords as Baron Strange (succeeding his father ...

Conrad, Latin king of Jerusalem

(Encyclopedia)Conrad, d. 1192, Latin king of Jerusalem (1192), marquis of Montferrat, a leading figure in the Third Crusade (see Crusades). He saved Tyre from the Saracens and became (1187) its lord. In 1189 he joi...

Browse by Subject