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Middle English literature

(Encyclopedia)Middle English literature, English literature of the medieval period, c.1100 to c.1500. See also English literature and Anglo-Saxon literature. The 15th cent. is not distinguished in English let...

Adams, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Adams, Henry, 1838–1918, American writer and historian, b. Boston; son of Charles Francis Adams (1807–86). He was secretary (1861–68) to his father, then U.S. minister to Great Britain. Upon his...

Olsztyn

(Encyclopedia)Olsztyn ôlˈshtĭn [key], Ger. Allenstein, city (1993 est. pop. 165,600), capital of Warmińsko-Mazurskie prov., N Poland. It is a trade, manufacturing, and railroad center, as well as a popular heal...

Mandeville, Sir John

(Encyclopedia)Mandeville, Sir John, 14th-century English author of The Travels of Sir John Mandeville. Originally written in Norman French, the work became enormously popular and was translated into English, Latin,...

Cabell, Branch

(Encyclopedia)Cabell, Branch (James Branch Cabell) kăˈbəl [key], 1879–1958, American novelist, b. Richmond, Va., grad. William and Mary, 1898. After various experiences as a journalist and a coal miner he bega...

interlude

(Encyclopedia)interlude, development in the late 15th cent. of the English medieval morality play. Played between the acts of a long play, the interlude, treating intellectual rather than moral topics, often contai...

Freemasonry

(Encyclopedia)Freemasonry, teachings and practices of the secret fraternal order officially known as the Free and Accepted Masons, or Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. Because of its identification with 19th-cent...

Peipus, Lake

(Encyclopedia)Peipus, Lake pīˈpəs [key], Estonian Peipsi Järv, Rus. Chudskoye Ozero, c.1,390 sq mi (3,600 sq km), dividing Estonia from the W Pskov region, Russia. Its southern section is known as Lake Pskov. L...

Pennsylvania, University of

(Encyclopedia)Pennsylvania, University of, in Philadelphia; private with some state support; coeducational. It dates to 1740 and plans for a charity school, and the first predecessor opened in 1751 as an academy, l...

linden, in botany

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Linden, Tilia americana linden, common name for the Tiliaceae, a family of chiefly woody shrubs and trees. Most genera are tropical, but the genus Tilia, commonly called linden, or lime tree, ...