Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Kerr, Walter Francis, 1913–96, American drama critic, b. Evanston, Ill. He wrote for the theater in the 1930s, and became drama critic for the New York Herald Tribune in 1951 and for the New York Ti...

(Encyclopedia) Coppola, Francis Ford kōˈpəˌlə [key], 1939–, American film director, b. Detroit. Coppola began his career directing low-budget films and working on screenplays for other directors. He won his f...

(Encyclopedia) Tancred (Tancred of Lecce) tăngˈkrĭd;, lĕˈchā [key], b. 1130 or 1134, d. 1194, king of Sicily (1190–94), illegitimate son of Roger of Apulia and grandson of Roger II of Sicily. On the death of...

(Encyclopedia) King of Prussia, industrialized suburban area (1990 pop. 18,406), Montgomery co., SE Pa. It has glass and steel fabricating, food processing, printing and publishing, and varied manufacturing (textile...

(Encyclopedia) Italian Wars, 1494–1559, series of regional wars brought on by the efforts of the great European powers to control the small independent states of Italy. Renaissance Italy was split into numerous ri...

(Encyclopedia) Gloucester, Humphrey, duke of, 1391–1447, English nobleman; youngest son of Henry IV and Mary de Bohun. He was well educated and had a great interest in humanist scholarship. After the accession of ...

(Encyclopedia) Frederick VIII, 1843–1912, king of Denmark (1906–12), son and successor of Christian IX. He fought in the war with Prussia in 1864 and always retained an interest in military affairs. He was succe...

(Encyclopedia) Fisher, Geoffrey Francis, 1887–1972, archbishop of Canterbury (1945–61). He was educated at Oxford and ordained a priest in 1913. He served as assistant master of Marlborough College (1911–14) a...

(Encyclopedia) Stockton, Francis Richard (Frank R. Stockton), 1834–1902, American humorist and story writer, b. Philadelphia. He wrote several children's books including Ting-a-Ling (1870) and The Floating Prince ...

(Encyclopedia) Nantes, Edict of, 1598, decree promulgated at Nantes by King Henry IV to restore internal peace in France, which had been torn by the Wars of Religion; the edict defined the rights of the French Prote...