Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Merchants of the Staple

(Encyclopedia)Merchants of the Staple or Merchant Staplers, English trading company that controlled the export of English raw wool. The first wool staple (i.e., a place designated by royal ordinance as a special ce...

Lady of the Lake

(Encyclopedia)Lady of the Lake, in Arthurian legend, a misty, supernatural figure endowed with magic powers, who gave the sword Excalibur to King Arthur. She inhabited a castle in an underwater kingdom. According t...

law of the sea

(Encyclopedia)law of the sea: see maritime law; sea, law of the; seas, freedom of the. ...

Ardennes, Battle of the

(Encyclopedia)Ardennes, Battle of the: see Battle of the Bulge. ...

Knights of the Sword

(Encyclopedia)Knights of the Sword: see Livonian Brothers of the Sword. ...

Lake of the Woods

(Encyclopedia)Lake of the Woods, 1,485 sq mi (3,846 sq km), c.70 mi (110 km) long, on the U.S.-Canada border in the pine forest region of N Minn., SE Man., and SW Ont. More than two thirds of the lake is in Canada....

U , letter of the alphabet

(Encyclopedia)U, 21st letter of the alphabet, corresponding to the Greek upsilon [Gr.,=u without the aspirate]. Until the late Middle Ages the capital was V, the minuscule u, no distinction being made between the c...

Yeomen of the Guard

(Encyclopedia)Yeomen of the Guard, bodyguard, now ceremonial in function, of the sovereign of England. When the guard was originated by Henry VII in 1485, its members had numerous duties as defenders of the king's ...

Book of the Dead

(Encyclopedia)Book of the Dead, term used to describe Egyptian funerary literature. The texts consist of charms, spells, and formulas for use by the deceased in the afterworld and contain many of the basic ideas of...

Bosporus, University of the

(Encyclopedia)Bosporus, University of the, at İstanbul, Turkey; opened 1863 as Robert College, with funds contributed by Christopher R. Robert and other Americans for the higher education of Turkish men. Its name ...