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investiture

(Encyclopedia)investiture, in feudalism, ceremony by which an overlord transferred a fief to a vassal or by which, in ecclesiastical law, an elected cleric received the pastoral ring and staff (the symbols of spiri...

Halle, town, Belgium

(Encyclopedia)Halle hälˈə [key], Fr. Hal, commune, Flemish Brabant prov., central Belgium, on the Charle...

Gustavo A. Madero

(Encyclopedia)Gustavo A. Madero go͞ostäˈvō ä mädāˈrō [key], city, Federal District, S cent...

Cobre, El

(Encyclopedia)Cobre, El ĕl kōˈbrā [key], town, Santiago de Cuba prov., SE Cuba, in a high valley of the Sierra Maestra. Once famous for rich copper mines (hence the name El Cobre), it is chiefly noted for a shr...

Lubitsch, Ernst

(Encyclopedia)Lubitsch, Ernst lo͞oˈbĭch [key], 1892–1947, German-American film director, b. Berlin. He studied acting in his native city and in 1911 joined Max Reinhardt's theatre company. Lubitsch turned to d...

iconoclasm

(Encyclopedia)iconoclasm īkŏnˈōklăzəm [key] [Gr.,=image breaking], opposition to the religious use of images. Veneration of pictures and statues symbolizing sacred figures, Christian doctrine, and biblical ev...

plainsong

(Encyclopedia)plainsong or plainchant, the unharmonized chant of the medieval Christian liturgies in Europe and the Middle East; usually synonymous with Gregorian chant, the liturgical music of the Roman Catholic C...

Catherine of Siena, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Catherine of Siena, Saint sēĕnˈə [key], 1347–80, Italian mystic and diplomat, a member of the third order of the Dominicans, Doctor of the Church. The daughter of Giacomo Benincasa, a Sienese dy...

Lackawanna, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Lackawanna lăkəwäˈnə [key], city (1990 pop. 20,585), Erie co., W N.Y., on Lake Erie; inc. 1909. Formerly a major steel-making center, Lackawanna experienced the rapid and total decline of its for...

Lillie, Beatrice

(Encyclopedia)Lillie, Beatrice (Lady Peel), 1898–1989, British comedienne, b. Toronto, Ont. as Constance Munston. Lillie first performed in London in 1914 and in New York in 1924. She won an international reputat...