Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) John George, 1585–1656, elector of Saxony (1611–56). A drunkard, he nonetheless ruled the leading German Protestant state during the Thirty Years War. He vacillated in his policy between support o...

(Encyclopedia) Schism, Great, or Schism of the West, division in the Roman Catholic Church from 1378 to 1417. There was no question of faith or practice involved; the schism was a matter of persons and politics. Sho...

(Encyclopedia) John Birch Society, ultraconservative, anti-Communist organization in the United States. It was founded in Dec., 1958, by manufacturer Robert Welch, headquartered in Belmont, Mass., and named after Jo...

(Encyclopedia) Otto IV, 1175?–1218, Holy Roman emperor (1209–15) and German king, son of Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony. He was brought up at the court of his uncle King Richard I of England, who secured his ele...

(Encyclopedia) Letcher, John, 1813–84, American politician, b. Lexington, Va. He studied law and practiced at Lexington, where he also edited the Jacksonian Democrat Valley Star. In Congress (1851–59), he was kn...

(Encyclopedia) Dillinger, John dĭlˈĭnjər [key], 1902–34, American bank robber, probably b. Indianapolis. Paroled after serving a prison term for attempted robbery, Dillinger organized a gang and terrorized the...

(Encyclopedia) Dunstable, John dŭnˈstəbəl [key], c.1385–1453, English composer. Dunstable is thought to have accompanied his patron, the duke of Bedford, to France. About 60 of his works—nearly all sacred pi...

(Encyclopedia) Wanamaker, John wŏnˈəmāˌkər [key], 1838–1922, American merchant, b. Philadelphia. He went into the men's clothing business in Philadelphia with Nathan Brown, his brother-in-law, in 1861. The f...

(Encyclopedia) John of Brienne brēĕnˈ [key], c.1170–1237, French crusader. He was a count and in 1210 married Mary, titular queen of Jerusalem. Mary died in 1212, and their daughter, Yolande (1212–28), succee...

(Encyclopedia) Tonson, Jacob tŏnˈsən [key], 1656?–1736, English publisher. He and his brother Richard purchased the publication rights to Milton's Paradise Lost, a transaction later claimed as the firm's most p...