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Orcagna

(Encyclopedia)Orcagna ärkäˈnyōlō [key], c.1308–1368, Florentine painter, sculptor, and architect, whose original name was Andrea di Cione. He was one of the leading artists of his day. According to Vasari, w...

Carter, Angela

(Encyclopedia)Carter, Angela, 1940–92, English writer. She was a newspaper reporter before studying at the Univ. of Bristol (B.A., 1965), where she explored medieval literature, Freud, surrealism, and feminism, a...

Swithin, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Swithin or Swithun, Saint both: swĭᵺˈən [key], fl. 860, English bishop of Winchester. He was buried, according to his wishes, outside his church, but his relics were later removed to the new cath...

Hinduism

(Encyclopedia)Hinduism hinˈdo͞oĭzəm [key], Western term for the religious beliefs and practices of the vast majority of the people of India. One of the oldest living religions in the world, Hinduism is unique a...

Ash Wednesday

(Encyclopedia)Ash Wednesday, in the Western Church, the first day of Lent, being the seventh Wednesday before Easter. On this day ashes are placed on the foreheads of the faithful to remind them of death, of the so...

Larkin, Philip

(Encyclopedia)Larkin, Philip, 1922–85, English poet. He graduated from St. John's College, Oxford (B.A., 1943; M.A., 1947) and was for many years librarian at the Univ. of Hull. With an eye for the ordinary and a...

midnight sun

(Encyclopedia)midnight sun, phenomenon in which the sun remains visible in the sky continuously for 24 hr or longer, occurring only in the polar regions. The midnight sun is due to the fact that the plane of the ea...

Miltiades

(Encyclopedia)Miltiades mĭltīˈədēz [key], d. 489 b.c., Athenian general who commanded at Marathon. He succeeded his uncle as ruler (c.524 b.c.) of an Athenian dependency in the Gallipoli Peninsula. He accompan...

Lerdo de Tejada, Miguel

(Encyclopedia)Lerdo de Tejada, Miguel mēgĕlˈ lĕrˈᵺō dā tāhäˈᵺä [key], d. 1861, Mexican liberal statesman, a leader of the Revolution of Ayutla, cabinet member under Juan Álvarez. As minister under C...

Gary, Romain

(Encyclopedia)Gary, Romain rōmăNˈ gĕrēˈ [key], 1914–80, French novelist, b. Vilna (now Vilnius), of Russian parentage, as Romain Kacew. In France after 1928, he fought in World War II and later entered the ...