Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Waldemar IV

(Encyclopedia)Waldemar IV (Valdemar Atterdag), c.1320–1375, king of Denmark (1340–75). He became king of a land completely dismembered by foreign rulers, but his ambition, unscrupulousness, and military ability...

Anacreon

(Encyclopedia)Anacreon ənăkˈrēən, –ŏn [key], c.570–c.485 b.c., Greek lyric poet, b. Teos in Ionia. He lived at Samos and at Athens, where his patron was Hipparchus. His poetry, graceful and elegant, celeb...

Jaques-Dalcroze, Émile

(Encyclopedia)Jaques-Dalcroze, Émile āmēlˈ zhäk-dälkrōzˈ [key], 1865–1950, Swiss educator and composer, b. Vienna, studied at the Geneva Conservatory, at the Paris Conservatory with Léo Delibes, and in V...

Bembo, Pietro

(Encyclopedia)Bembo, Pietro pyāˈtrō bĕmˈbō [key], 1470–1547, Italian humanist, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. A favorite of the Medici, he was secretary to Pope Leo X and was made a cardinal by Paul...

Henry of Flanders

(Encyclopedia)Henry of Flanders, c.1174–1216, Latin emperor of Constantinople (1206–16), brother and successor of Emperor Baldwin I. The ablest and most respected of the Latin emperors, he fought successfully a...

Corpus Juris Civilis

(Encyclopedia)Corpus Juris Civilis kôrˈpəs jo͝oˈrĭs sĭvīˈlĭs [key], most comprehensive code of Roman law and the basic document of all modern civil law. Compiled by order of Byzantine Emperor Justinian I,...

Marlowe, Christopher

(Encyclopedia)Marlowe, Christopher, 1564–93, English dramatist and poet, b. Canterbury. Probably the greatest English dramatist before Shakespeare, Marlowe, a shoemaker's son, was educated at Cambridge and he wen...

Ducas

(Encyclopedia)Ducas dyo͞oˈkəs [key], Greek family and dynasty of Constantinople. Some of its members were Byzantine emperors—Constantine X, Michael VII, Alexius V, and John III. ...

Alaşehir

(Encyclopedia)Alaşehir äläˈshĕhērˌ [key], town, W Turkey, at the foot of the Tmolus Mts. (Boz Dağ). It is the trade center for a region where tobacco, fruit, and mineral water a...

Eudocia Macrembolitissa

(Encyclopedia)Eudocia Macrembolitissa măkˌrəmbŏlˌĭtĭsˈə [key], fl. 11th cent., Byzantine empress. At the death of her husband, Constantine X, she married Romanus IV. ...