Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Swiss Guards

(Encyclopedia)Swiss Guards, Swiss mercenaries who fought in various European armies from the 15th cent. until the 19th cent. These mercenaries, who were not volunteers, were put at the disposal of foreign powers by...

Cellini, Benvenuto

(Encyclopedia)Cellini, Benvenuto chĕlēˈnē, Ital. bānvāno͞oˈtō chāl-lēˈnē [key], 1500–1571, Italian sculptor, metalsmith, and author. His remarkable autobiography (written 1558–62), which reads like...

Holy Roman Empire

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Holy Roman Empire (c.1100) CE5 Holy Roman Empire, designation for the political entity that originated at the coronation as emperor (962) of the German king Otto I and endured until the renu...

Hapsburg

(Encyclopedia)Hapsburg or Habsburg both: hăpsˈbûrg, Ger. häpsˈbo͝ork [key], ruling house of Austria (1282–1918). In the 19th cent. the Hapsburg position was challenged in Germany by Prussia, in Italy b...

crèche

(Encyclopedia)crèche krĕsh, krāsh [key], representation of the Infant Jesus in the manger, usually surrounded by figures of Mary, Joseph, shepherds, animals, and the Wise Men; also called Christmas Crib. The cr�...

Fowler, Henry Watson

(Encyclopedia)Fowler, Henry Watson, 1858–1933, English lexicographer, b. Devon, educated at Oxford. Both he and his brother, Francis G. Fowler (1870–1918), had been teachers before they began their literary col...

Pardo Bazán, Emilia, condesa de

(Encyclopedia)Pardo Bazán, Emilia, condesa de āmēˈlyä kōndāˈsä dā pärˈᵺō bäthänˈ [key], 1852–1921, Spanish novelist and critic. Her biography of St. Francis of Assisi appeared the same year as h...

Boreman, Arthur Ingram

(Encyclopedia)Boreman, Arthur Ingram, 1823–96, first governor of West Virginia (1863–69), b. Waynesburg, Pa. A member (1855–61) of the Virginia house of delegates, Boreman opposed secession and presided over ...

Bayard, James Asheton, 1799–1880, U.S. Senator from Delaware

(Encyclopedia)Bayard, James Asheton, 1799–1880, U.S. senator from Delaware (1851–64, 1867–69), b. Wilmington, Del.; son of James Asheton Bayard (1767–1815). His Unionist sentiments led him into the new Repu...

Saint François

(Encyclopedia)Saint François săN fräNswäˈ [key] or Saint Francis. 1 River, 165 mi (266 km) long, rising in Lac St. François, SE Que., Canada, and flowing SW through Lac Aylmer to Sherbrooke, then NW past Drum...