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Luxeuil

(Encyclopedia)Luxeuil lüksöˈyə [key], former abbey, E France, at the present-day town of Luxeuil-les-Bains. It was founded c.590 by St. Columban on the site of the Roman town Luxovium, destroyed (451) by Attila...

Melun

(Encyclopedia)Melun məlöNˈ [key], town (1990 pop. 36,489), capital of Seine-et-Marne dept., N central France, SE of Paris. It is an important industrial center where automobile bodies, airplane engines, leather ...

Kyrie eleison

(Encyclopedia)Kyrie eleison kĭrˈēāˌ əlāˈēsŏnˌ, –sən [key] [Gr.,=Lord, have mercy], in the Roman Catholic Church, prayer of the Mass coming after the introit, the only ordinary part of the traditional ...

tonsure

(Encyclopedia)tonsure tŏnˈshər [key] [Lat.,=to shave], formerly, practice in some Christian churches of cutting some of the hair from the scalp of clerics. In the West the tonsure consisted of a circular patch o...

Confederation of the Rhine

(Encyclopedia)Confederation of the Rhine, league of German states formed by Emperor Napoleon I in 1806 after his defeat of the Austrians at Austerlitz. Among its members were the newly created kingdoms of Bavaria a...

Fustel de Coulanges, Numa Denis

(Encyclopedia)Fustel de Coulanges, Numa Denis nümäˈ dənēˈ füstĕlˈ də ko͞oläNzhˈ [key], 1830–89, French historian. His masterly study, La Cité antique (1864, tr. The Ancient City, 1874), stressed the...

Ituraea

(Encyclopedia)Ituraea ĭtyo͝orēˈə [key], ancient country on the northern border of Palestine. According to tradition, Jetur, the son of Ishmael, was its founder. Ancient geographers are not agreed as to the exa...

Steno, Nicolaus

(Encyclopedia)Steno, Nicolaus nēls stānˈsən [key], 1638–86, Danish anatomist, geologist, and Roman Catholic prelate. He lived principally in Copenhagen, Paris, and Florence. He investigated the heart, brain, ...

Persius

(Encyclopedia)Persius or Aulus Persius Flaccus pûrˈshēəs; ôlˈəs, flăkˈəs [key], a.d. 34–a.d. 62, Roman satirical poet, b. Etruria. A member of a distinguished family, he went to Rome in boyhood, was edu...

Wilfrid, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Wilfrid, Saint, 634–709?, English churchman, b. Northumbria, of noble parentage. He was educated at Lindisfarne and Canterbury. With Benedict Biscop he traveled to Lyons and Rome in 654; Wilfrid rem...