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Waldenses

(Encyclopedia)Waldenses wôldĕnˈsēz [key] or Waldensians, Protestant religious group of medieval origin, called in French Vaudois. They originated in the late 12th cent. as the Poor Men of Lyons, a band organize...

Bergen, city, Norway

(Encyclopedia)Bergen bĕrˈgən [key], city, capital of Hordaland co., SW Norway, situated on inlets of the...

Speyer

(Encyclopedia)Speyer shpīˈər [key], city (1994 pop. 49,310), Rhineland-Palatinate, SW Germany, on the Rhine River. The city, sometimes called Spires in English, is a river port and industrial center; manufacture...

Danish literature

(Encyclopedia)Danish literature, the literature of Denmark. By 1900 a lyrical reaction was being led by the poet J. J. Jørgensen; impressionistic themes became important, but were never the sole fruit of Danish ...

Icelandic literature

(Encyclopedia)Icelandic literature, the literature of Iceland. For the earliest literature of Iceland, see Old Norse literature. The 20th cent. saw the rise of a more introspective writing, influenced by Nietzsch...

diet, parliamentary body

(Encyclopedia)diet, parliamentary bodies in Japan, Poland, Hungary, Bohemia, the Scandinavian nations, and Germany have been called diets. In German history, the diet originated as a meeting of landholders and burg...

Mendelssohn, Felix

(Encyclopedia)Mendelssohn, Felix (Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn) mĕnˈdəlsən, Ger. yäˈkôp lo͝otˈvĭkh fāˈlĭks mĕnˈdəls-zōnˌ [key], 1809–47, German composer; grandson of the Jewish philosopher Mos...

Magdeburg

(Encyclopedia)Magdeburg mäkˈdəbo͝orkh [key], city (1994 pop. 270,546), capital of Saxony-Anhalt, central Germany, on the Elbe River. It is a large inland port, an industrial center, and a rail and road junction...

Cambridge, University of

(Encyclopedia)Cambridge, University of, at Cambridge, England, one of the oldest English-language universities in the world. Originating in the early 12th cent. (legend places its origin even earlier than that of t...

celibacy

(Encyclopedia)celibacy sĕlˈĭbəsē [key], voluntary refusal to enter the married state, with abstinence from sexual activity. It is one of the typically Christian forms of asceticism. In ancient Rome the vestal ...