Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) O'Brien, William Smith, 1803–64, Irish revolutionary. He entered Parliament from Ireland in 1828 and worked for Catholic Emancipation, Irish poor relief, and state support of the Irish Catholic cler...

(Encyclopedia) mandamus măndāˈməs [key] [Lat.,=we order], in law, writ directing the performance of ministerial acts. A ministerial act is one that a person or body is obliged by law to perform under given circu...

(Encyclopedia) New Hampshire Grants, early name (1749–77) for Vermont, given because most of the early settlers came in under land grants from Benning Wentworth, the colonial governor of New Hampshire. Although th...

(Encyclopedia) Marion. 1 City (1990 pop. 14,545), seat of Williamson co., S Ill.; inc. 1841. It is the commercial and retail center of a farm and coal area and has a large soft drink bottling plant. A maximum-securi...

(Encyclopedia) Peter III (Peter the Great), 1239?–1285, king of Aragón and count of Barcelona (1276–85) and king of Sicily (1282–85); son and successor of James I. In 1280 he established Aragonese influence o...

(Encyclopedia) requiem rĕkˈwēəm, rēˈ–, rāˈ– [key] [Lat.,=rest], proper Mass for the souls of the dead, performed on All Souls' Day and at funerals. The reformation of Roman Catholic liturgy following the...

(Encyclopedia) Confucius kənfyo͞oˈshəs [key], Chinese K'ung Ch'iu or K'ung Fu-tzu, Pinyin Kong Fuzi, c.551–479? b.c., Chinese sage. Positive evidence concerning the life of Confucius is scanty; modern scholars...

(Encyclopedia) California, University of, at ten campuses, main campus at Berkeley; land-grant and state supported; coeducational; chartered 1868, opened 1869 when it took over the College of California (est. 1853 a...

(Encyclopedia) force bill, popular name for several laws in U.S. history, notably the act of Mar. 2, 1833, and the Reconstruction acts of May 31, 1870; Feb. 28, 1871; and Apr. 20, 1871. The first force bill, passed ...

(Encyclopedia) Sibelius, Jean Julius Christian zhän yo͞oˈlyo͝os krĭsˈtyän sĭbāˈlyo͝os [key], 1865–1957, Finnish composer. Sibelius was a highly personal, romantic composer, yet at the same time he repre...