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Verdun, battle of

(Encyclopedia)Verdun, battle of, the longest and one of the bloodiest engagements of World War I. Two million men were engaged. It began on Feb. 21, 1916, when the Germans, commanded by Crown Prince Frederick Willi...

Amadis of Gaul

(Encyclopedia)Amadis of Gaul ämädēsˈ də gōl [key], famous prose romance of chivalry, first composed in Spain or Portugal and probably based on French sources. Entirely fictional, it dates from the 13th or 14t...

Moncton, University of

(Encyclopedia)Moncton, University of, at Moncton, N.B., Canada; French language; founded 1864 as St. Joseph's Univ. Its name was changed in 1963. It has faculties of arts, sciences and engineering, business adminis...

rotation of crops

(Encyclopedia)rotation of crops, agricultural practice of varying the crops on a piece of land in a planned series, to save or increase the mineral or organic content of the soil, to increase crop yields, and to er...

Glasgow, University of

(Encyclopedia)Glasgow, University of, at Glasgow, Scotland; founded 1451. Its charter provided for studies in theology, canon and civil law, arts, and “any other lawful faculty.” Today it has faculties of arts,...

Gowrie, Carse of

(Encyclopedia)Gowrie, Carse of kärs, kĕrs, gouˈrē [key], alluvial lowland, c.15 mi (24 km) long, Perth and Kinross, central Scotland, along the northern shore of the Firth of Tay, between Perth and Dundee. A fa...

Apollonius of Perga

(Encyclopedia)Apollonius of Perga, fl. 247–205 b.c., Greek mathematician of the Alexandrian school. He produced a treatise on conic sections that included, as well as his own work, much of the work of his predece...

Joseph of Exeter

(Encyclopedia)Joseph of Exeter, fl. c.1190, English poet who wrote in Latin. He is best known for De Bello Trojano (c.1184), an epic poem in six books, written in the style of Vergil. His adventures in the Third Cr...

Concordat of 1801

(Encyclopedia)Concordat of 1801, agreement between Napoleon Bonaparte and Pope Pius VII that reestablished the Roman Catholic Church in France. Napoleon took the initiative in negotiating this agreement; he recogni...

Clement of Alexandria

(Encyclopedia)Clement of Alexandria (Titus Flavius Clemens), d. c.215, Greek theologian. Born in Athens, he traveled widely and was converted to Christianity. He studied and taught at the catechetical school in Ale...