Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Witt, Jan de yän [key], 1625–72, Dutch statesman. Like his father, Jacob de Witt, burgomaster of Dort, he became a leading opponent of the house of Orange and played a vital role in the three succe...

(Encyclopedia) Mena, Juan de hwän dā māˈnä [key], 1411–56, Spanish poet and scholar. Influenced by the Italian school, he modeled his chief work Laberinto de Fortuna (1444) upon Dante. This 300-stanza allegor...

(Encyclopedia) Sacrobosco, Johannes de yōhänˈəs də săkrōbŏsˈkō [key], or John of Hollywood, c.1200–1256, English mathematician and astronomer. He wrote several widely read and influential books: Algorism...

(Encyclopedia) Cormenin, Louis Marie de La Haye, vicomte de lwē märēˈ də lä ā vēkôNtˈ də kôrmənăNˈ [key], 1788–1868, French politician, jurist, and pamphleteer. He held minor offices under Napoleon,...

(Encyclopedia) Guérin, Maurice de (Georges Maurice de Guérin) zhôrzh mōrēsˈ də gārăNˈ [key], 1810–39, French writer. At his early death he left two fragmentary prose poems, Le Centaure and La Bacchante, ...

(Encyclopedia) Montgomery, Gabriel, seigneur de Lorges, comte de gäbrēĕlˈ sānyörˈ də lôrzh kôNt də môNgômərēˈ [key], c.1530–1574, French soldier. Captain of the Scottish guards of King Henry II of ...

(Encyclopedia) Campomanes, Pedro Rodríguez de, conde de Campomanes pāˈᵺrō rôᵺrēˈgāth kōnˈdā dā kämpōmäˈnās [key], 1723–1802, Spanish statesman, economist, and author. As president of the counc...

(Encyclopedia) Margaret of Valois välwäˈ [key], 1553–1615, queen of France and Navarre, daughter of King Henry II of France and of Catherine de' Medici. She was known as Queen Margot. Her wedding (1572) with He...

(Encyclopedia) flagellants flăjˈələnts, fləjĕlˈənts [key], term applied to the groups of Christians who practiced public flagellation as a penance. The practice supposedly grew out of the floggings administe...