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Modica

(Encyclopedia)Modica môˈdēkä [key], city (1991 pop. 50,529), SE Sicily, Italy. It is the center of an agricultural region where livestock is raised. Known in ancient times as Motyca, it was a feudal county in t...

Carcassonne

(Encyclopedia)Carcassonne kärkäsônˈ [key], city, capital of Aude dept., S France, in Languedoc. The old city, ...

Montmorency, Mathieu II, baron de

(Encyclopedia)Montmorency, Mathieu II, baron de môNmôräNsēˈ [key], d. 1230, constable of France (1218–30), called the Great Constable. He fought under Philip II at Château Gaillard (1203–4) and Bouvines ...

crypt

(Encyclopedia)crypt krĭpt [key] [Gr.,=hidden], vault or chamber beneath the main level of a church, used as a meeting place or burial place. It undoubtedly developed from the catacombs used by early Christians as ...

Olomouc

(Encyclopedia)Olomouc ôˈlômōts [key], Ger. Olmütz, city (1991 pop. 105,537), E central Czech Republic, in Moravia, on the Morava River. Olomouc is an industrial city, with factories producing machinery, applia...

Berekhiah ben Natronai ha-Nakdan

(Encyclopedia)Berekhiah ben Natronai ha-Nakdan bĕrəkīˈə bĕn nätrōnīˈ hä-näkˈdän [key], fl. 12th or 13th cent., French Jewish fabulist, biblical commentator, philosopher, grammarian, and translator. Hi...

Decorated style

(Encyclopedia)Decorated style, name applied to the second period of English Gothic architecture from the late 13th to the mid-14th cent. The basic structural elements developed during the Early English style (late ...

Thomas, John Charles

(Encyclopedia)Thomas, John Charles, 1891–1960, American baritone, b. Meyersdale, Pa., studied at the Peabody Conservatory, Baltimore. After a successful career in musical comedy he made his operatic debut in Wash...

Habsburg, castle, Switzerland

(Encyclopedia)Habsburg häpsˈbo͝orkh [key], castle, Aargau canton, N Switzerland, near the Aare River. Built c.1030, it served during the 12th and 13th cent. as the seat of the counts of Habsburg or Hapsburg, who...

Ossory

(Encyclopedia)Ossory, ancient kingdom of Ireland, the borders of which are now largely traced by those of the Roman Catholic episcopal see of Ossory, including Kilkenny and parts of Co. Offaly and Co. Laoighis. An ...