Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Giottino

(Encyclopedia)Giottino jōt-tēˈnō [key], early Florentine painter of the school of Giotto. He is supposed to have lived in the first half of the 14th cent. and has been variously identified as Giotto di Stefano,...

Fools, Feast of

(Encyclopedia)Fools, Feast of, burlesque religious festival of the Middle Ages. It occurred during the Christmas and New Year's revels, on or near New Year's Day. In many places a Lord of Misrule ruled over the rev...

Forbes, Malcolm

(Encyclopedia)Forbes, Malcolm, 1919–90, American publisher, b. Englewood, N.J. The third son of a Scottish immigrant who founded Forbes magazine in 1917, he graduated from Princeton (1941), and became publisher o...

Galt, John

(Encyclopedia)Galt, John, 1779–1839, Scottish novelist. He went to Canada as secretary for the Canada Company, founding there in 1827 the town of Guelph and encouraging Canadian immigration. He wrote poems, blank...

Gamelyn, The Tale of

(Encyclopedia)Gamelyn, The Tale of gămˈəlĭn [key], a romance in verse, written c.1350, containing about 900 lines. It tells of the tribulations of a young man abused by his older brothers. The tale survives in ...

Jean de Meun

(Encyclopedia)Jean de Meun zhäN də möN [key], d. 1305, French poet, also known as Jean Chopinel (or Clopinel) of Meung-sur-Loire. He wrote the second part of the Roman de la Rose and made translations from Latin...

Mulock, Sir William

(Encyclopedia)Mulock, Sir William, 1844–1944, Canadian statesman and jurist, b. Ontario. A lawyer, he served (1882–1905) as a Liberal in the House of Commons. As postmaster general (1896–1905) in Wilfrid Laur...

morality play

(Encyclopedia)morality play, form of medieval drama that developed in the late 14th cent. and flourished through the 16th cent. The characters in the morality were personifications of good and evil usually involved...

Astor, William Backhouse, 1829–92, American financier and sportsman

(Encyclopedia)Astor, William Backhouse, 1829–92, American financier and sportsman, b. New York City. The son of William Backhouse Astor (1792–1875), he was a retiring man, notable principally for his wealth and...

occultism

(Encyclopedia)occultism əkŭlˈtĭzəm [key], belief in supernatural sciences or powers, such as magic, astrology, alchemy, theosophy, and spiritism, either for the purpose of enlarging man's powers, of protecting...