Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

nocturne

(Encyclopedia)nocturne nŏkˈtûrn [key] [Fr.,=night piece], in music, romantic instrumental piece, free in form and usually reflective or languid in character. John Field wrote the first nocturnes, influencing Cho...

Lowell, John, American jurist

(Encyclopedia)Lowell, John, 1743–1802, American jurist, b. Newburyport, Mass. He became (1762) a lawyer and later served in the provincial assembly (1776, 1778), in the state constitutional convention (1779–80)...

Pressburg, Treaty of

(Encyclopedia)Pressburg, Treaty of, 1805, peace treaty between Napoleon I of France and Holy Roman Emperor Francis II (also emperor of Austria), signed at Pressburg (now Bratislava, Slovakia). Defeated at Austerlit...

Bad Ischl

(Encyclopedia)Bad Ischl bät ĭshˈəl [key] or Ischl, city, in Upper Austria prov., W Austria, in the cent...

Buckland, William

(Encyclopedia)Buckland, William, 1784–1856, English geologist. He was dean of Westminster from 1845. First to note in England the action of glacial ice on rocks, he did much to bring physical and natural science ...

Bradley, Andrew Cecil

(Encyclopedia)Bradley, Andrew Cecil, 1851–1935, English scholar and critic, b. Cheltenham; brother of Francis Herbert Bradley. He taught at Oxford for many years and was professor of poetry there (1901–6). Brad...

Tarkenton, Fran

(Encyclopedia)Tarkenton, Fran (Francis Asbury Tarkenton), 1940–, American football player, b. Richmond. One of football's greatest passing quarterbacks, he established lifetime records (all surpassed by Dan Marin...

Bacon, Nathaniel

(Encyclopedia)Bacon, Nathaniel, 1647–76, leader of Bacon's Rebellion in colonial Virginia. An aristocrat (he was kin to Francis Bacon, had been educated at Cambridge and Gray's Inn, and was a member of the govern...

Valois, royal house of France

(Encyclopedia)Valois välwäˈ [key], royal house of France that ruled from 1328 to 1589. At the death of Charles IV, the last of the direct Capetians, the Valois dynasty came to the throne in the person of Philip ...

Adams, Charles Francis, 1835–1915, American economist and historian

(Encyclopedia)Adams, Charles Francis, 1835–1915, American economist and historian, b. Boston; son of Charles Francis Adams (1807–86). In the Civil War he fought at Antietam and Gettysburg and was brevetted brig...