Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Venantius Fortunatus, Saint (Venantius Honorius Clementianus Fortunatus) vēnănˈshəs fôrˌtyo͞onāˈtəs [key], d. c.600, Latin poet, b. near Treviso, Italy. A priest in Gaul and later bishop of ...

(Encyclopedia) Willibald, Saint wĭˈlĭbôld [key], d. 787?, English missionary in Germany. He traveled in the East and was sent from Rome on a mission to aid St. Boniface. He was made first bishop of Eichstätt. S...

(Encyclopedia) Saint-Omer săNtômĕrˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 15,304), Pas-de-Calais dept., N France, in Flanders, on the Aa River. The chief manufactures are metals, textiles, paper, and beer. The city grew around...

(Encyclopedia) Amsdorf, Nikolaus von nēˈkōlous fən ämsˈdôrf [key], 1483–1565, German Protestant reformer. He became a devoted supporter of Martin Luther. Elector John Frederick I of Saxony appointed Amsdorf...

(Encyclopedia) Nicaea, First Council of, 325, 1st ecumenical council, convened by Roman Emperor Constantine the Great to solve the problems raised by Arianism. It has been said that 318 persons attended, but a more ...

(Encyclopedia) Old Catholics, Christian denomination established by German Catholics who separated themselves from the Roman Catholic Church when they rejected (1870) the decrees of the First Vatican Council, especi...

(Encyclopedia) Valais välāˈ [key], Ger. Wallis, canton (1993 pop. 262,400), 2,021 sq mi (5,234 sq km), S Switzerland. Sion is the capital. Bordering on France and Italy, the Valais extends from the Bernese Alps i...

(Encyclopedia) North, George, fl. 1561–81, English gentleman, man of letters, and diplomat. A minor figure in the court of Queen Elizabeth I, he served as an ambassador to Sweden in 1564 and translated or adapted ...

(Encyclopedia) Margaret, 1930–2002, British princess, second daughter of King George VI and sister of Queen Elizabeth II, b. Glamis, Scotland. In 1960 she married a commoner, the photographer Antony Armstrong-Jone...

(Encyclopedia) Dickinson, Jonathan, 1688–1747, American Presbyterian clergyman, a founder and first president of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton Univ.), b. Hatfield, Mass., grad. Yale, 1706. He was a lead...