Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Mena, Juan de

(Encyclopedia)Mena, Juan de hwän dā māˈnä [key], 1411–56, Spanish poet and scholar. Influenced by the Italian school, he modeled his chief work Laberinto de Fortuna (1444) upon Dante. This 300-stanza allegor...

Bernardo del Carpio

(Encyclopedia)Bernardo del Carpio bĕrnärˈdō dĕl kärˈpyō [key], hero of medieval Spanish legend. He was supposedly the nephew of Alfonso II of Asturias, against whom he strove to secure his father's release ...

Sarasate, Pablo de

(Encyclopedia)Sarasate, Pablo de päˈblō ᵺā säräsäˈtā [key], 1844–1908, Spanish violin virtuoso. He made difficult arrangements that displayed his brilliant technique and wrote violin pieces that effect...

Aix-la-Chapelle, Treaty of

(Encyclopedia)Aix-la-Chapelle, Treaty of ĕks-lä-shäpĕlˈ [key]. 1 Compact of May 2, 1668, that ended the French invasion of the Spanish Netherlands (see Devolution, War of). France kept most of its conquests in...

Vallejo, César

(Encyclopedia)Vallejo, César sāˈsär väyāˈhō [key], 1895–1938, Peruvian poet. Vallejo was one of the most influential yet least imitated figures of modern Spanish-American letters. He identified himself wi...

Popol Vuh

(Encyclopedia)Popol Vuh pōpōlˈ vo͞oˈ [key] [Quiché,=collection of the council], sacred book of the Quiché. The most important document of the cosmogony, religion, mythology, migratory traditions, and history...

Perpignan

(Encyclopedia)Perpignan pĕrpēnyäNˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 108,049), capital of Pyrénées-Orientales dept., S France, near the Spanish border and the Mediterranean. It is a farm trade center, handling wine, fru...

Riego y Nuñez, Rafael del

(Encyclopedia)Riego y Nuñez, Rafael del räfäĕlˈ dĕl rēāˈgō ē no͞oˈnyāth [key], 1785–1823, Spanish general and revolutionary. Taken captive (1808) by the French during Napoleon's Spanish campaign, he...

Elvas

(Encyclopedia)Elvas ĕlˈvəsh [key], town, E central Portugal, in Altro Alentejo, near the Spanish border....

Cruz, Ramón de la

(Encyclopedia)Cruz, Ramón de la rämōnˈ dā lä kro͞oth [key], 1731–94, Spanish dramatist. He wrote tragedies and adapted French and Italian plays, but he owes his fame to his sainetes, some 450 masterly one-...