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Neruda, Pablo

(Encyclopedia)Neruda, Pablo päˈblō nāro͞oˈᵺä [key], 1904–73, Chilean poet, diplomat, and Communist leader. He changed his original name, Ricardo Eliecer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto, so that his railroad-work...

Polish language

(Encyclopedia)Polish language, member of the West Slavic group of the Slavic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Slavic languages). Polish is spoken as a first language by about 38 million peopl...

Delmedigo, Elijah ben Moses Abba

(Encyclopedia)Delmedigo, Elijah ben Moses Abba dālmĕˈdēgō [key], c.1460–1497, Jewish philosopher and Talmudist, b. Crete, known also as Elijah Cretensis. He emigrated to Italy as a young man. He studied the ...

Amalric I

(Encyclopedia)Amalric I əmôˈrē, Fr. ämōrēˈ [key], c.1137–1174, Latin king of Jerusalem (1162–74); brother and successor of Baldwin III. He spent his reign in attempts to gain and hold the suzerainty of ...

Nennius

(Encyclopedia)Nennius nĕnˈēəs [key], fl. 796, Welsh writer, to whom is ascribed the Historia Britonum. He lived on the borders of Mercia and probably was a pupil of Elbod, bishop of Bangor. The Historia is a co...

Golden Legend, The

(Encyclopedia)Golden Legend, The, collection of saints' lives written in the 13th cent. by Jacobus da Varagine. Originally entitled Legenda sanctorum [readings in the lives of the saints], it soon came to be called...

Apuleius, Lucius

(Encyclopedia)Apuleius, Lucius ăˌpyo͝olēˈəs [key], c.124–c.170, Latin writer, satirist, rhetorician, b. Hippo (now Bône, Algeria). His narrative romance The Golden Ass or Metamorphoses is the only Latin wo...

Passion play

(Encyclopedia)Passion play, genre of the miracle play that has survived from the Middle Ages into modern times. Its subject is the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Passion plays were first given in Lati...

Carpentier, Alejo

(Encyclopedia)Carpentier, Alejo älāˈhō kärpĕntyārˈ [key], 1904–80, Cuban novelist and musicologist. As a political exile in Paris between 1928 and 1939, Carpentier was strongly influenced by Antonin Artau...

William of Tyre

(Encyclopedia)William of Tyre tīˈər [key], b. c.1130, d. before 1185, historian and churchman. Born in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem and possibly of French extraction, he received his education at Antioch and i...