Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Trinity Sunday

(Encyclopedia)Trinity Sunday, first Sunday after Pentecost, observed as a feast of the Trinity. It was an innovation in medieval England and spread through the Western Church in the 14th cent. The Sundays until Adv...

Covilhã

(Encyclopedia)Covilhã ko͝ovēlyəNˈ [key], town, E central Portugal, in Beira Baixa. It had a famous fair in ...

Calchas

(Encyclopedia)Calchas kălˈkăs [key], in Greek legend, seer whose prophecies aided the Greeks in the Trojan War. In medieval romances, he is the father of Cressida. ...

Cockaigne, Land of

(Encyclopedia)Cockaigne or Cockayne, Land of both: kŏkānˈ [key], legendary country described in medieval tales, where delicacies of food and drink were to be had for the taking. The Land of Cockaygne is a 13th-c...

Cincinnati Art Museum

(Encyclopedia)Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1877 by the Women's Art Museum Association, the museum opened in 1886. Its collections contain examples spanning 3,000 years of artistic production....

griffin, legendary creature

(Encyclopedia)griffin, in ancient and medieval legend, creature with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion. Its name also appears as griffon and gryphon. The griffin originated in ancient Middle Eas...

Saracens

(Encyclopedia)Saracens sârˈəsənz [key], term commonly used by medieval Europeans to designate the Arabs and, by extension, the Muslims in general, whether they were Arabs, Moors, or Seljuk Turks. ...

saga, in Old Norse Literature

(Encyclopedia)saga, in Old Norse literature, especially Icelandic and Norwegian, narrative in prose or verse, centering on a legendary or historical figure or family. Sagas may be divided into sagas of the kings, m...

Bartholomew de Glanville

(Encyclopedia)Bartholomew de Glanville or Bartholomaeus Anglicus bärthŏlˌəmēˈəs ăngˈglĭkəs [key], fl. c.1250, English Friar Minor. He taught theology at Paris, and he was the author of De proprietatibus ...

Fårön

(Encyclopedia)Fårön fôrˈən [key], island, 40 sq mi (104 sq km), Gotland co., E Sweden, separated from Gotland Island by the Fårösund, an arm of the Baltic Sea. It has a lighthouse, fine beaches, and prehisto...