Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Medieval Latin literature, literary works written in the Latin language during the Middle Ages. Many literary genres were already being taken over by writing in the vernacular, which had begun in...

(Encyclopedia) Asunción äso͞onsyōˈn [key], city, S Paraguay, capital of Paraguay, on the Paraguay River. It is the principal port and chief industrial and cultural center of Paragua...

(Encyclopedia) Notre-Dame de Paris nôˈtrə-däm də pärēˈ [key] [Fr.,=Our Lady of Paris], cathedral church of Paris, a noble achievement of early Gothic architecture in France. It stands upon the Île de la Cit...

(Encyclopedia) Auchincloss, Louis (Louis Stanton Auchincloss) ôˈkĭnklŏs [key], 1917–2010, American novelist and man of letters, b. Lawrence, New York; studied Yale, Univ. of Virginia Law School (LL.B., 1941). ...

(Encyclopedia) Hitchcock, Sir Alfred, 1899–1980, English-American film director, writer, and producer, b. London. Hitchcock began his career as a director in 1925 and became prominent with The 39 Steps (1935) and ...

(Encyclopedia) Nightingale, Florence, 1820–1910, English nurse, the founder of modern nursing, b. Florence, Italy. Her life was dedicated to the care of the sick and war wounded and to the promotion of her vision ...

(Encyclopedia) Castro, Inés de, or Inez de Castro both: īˈnĕz də kăsˈtrō, Port. ēnĕshˈ dĭ käshˈtro͝o [key], d. 1355, Spanish noblewoman, a celebrated beauty, and a tragic figure in Portuguese history....

(Encyclopedia) Clouet, Jean both: zhänĕˈ [key], c.1485–1540, portrait and miniature painter. He was court painter and valet de chambre to the French king Francis I. He is thought to have been Flemish and may ha...

(Encyclopedia) Albee, Edward ălˈbē [key], 1928–2016, American playwright, one of the leading dramatists of his generation, b. Washington, D.C., as Edward Harvey. His most characteristic work constitutes an absu...