Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Barzillai bärzĭlˈāī [key], in the Bible. 1 Chief in Gilead who was friendly to David. 2 The father-in-law of Saul's daughter Merab. ...

(Encyclopedia) Lamb, Charles, 1775–1834, English essayist, b. London. He went to school at Christ's Hospital, where his lifelong friendship with Coleridge began. Lamb was a clerk at the India House from 1792 to 18...

(Encyclopedia) Wall, Richard, 1694–1778, Spanish statesman. Born in France of Irish parents, Wall entered the Spanish military service as a young man and later held important diplomatic posts. He helped negotiate ...

(Encyclopedia) Golden Dawn, Hermetic Order of the, occult-oriented fraternal organization established by the Freemasons in England (1888), led by S. L. MacGregor Mathers (1854–1917). The order's rituals were deriv...

(Encyclopedia) Canonicus kənŏnˈĭkəs [key], c.1565–1647, Native North American chief, who ruled the Narragansett when the Pilgrims landed in New England. He granted (1636) Rhode Island to Roger Williams and be...

(Encyclopedia) Justus of Tiberia, fl. 1st cent. a.d., Jewish historian. Friendly to Rome, he opposed the Jewish war against the Romans and fled to Beirut where he became the private secretary of Agrippa II. He is ma...

(Encyclopedia) Faber, Johannes yōhäˈnəs fäˈbər [key], 1478–1541, German churchman. His German surname was Heigerlin. He was a Dominican. After 1531 he was bishop of Vienna. Faber was friendly at first (unti...

(Encyclopedia) Albert Achilles əkĭlˈēz [key], 1414–86, elector of Brandenburg (1470–86); third son of Elector Frederick I. He succeeded his brother in 1470. Anxious to consolidate Hohenzollern power in Brand...

(Encyclopedia) Sophia Charlotte zōfēˈä shärlôtˈə [key], 1668–1705, first queen of Prussia, second wife of King Frederick I, daughter of Electress Sophia of Hanover, and sister of King George I of England. ...

(Encyclopedia) Hobbes, Thomas hŏbz [key], 1588–1679, English philosopher, grad. Magdalen College, Oxford, 1608. For many years a tutor in the Cavendish family, Hobbes took great interest in mathematics, physics, ...