Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) sharecropping, an agricultural system in which a landowner allows a tenant to use their land in return for a share of the crop produced. In the United S...

(Encyclopedia) Michael I (Michael Rangabe), d. c.845, Byzantine emperor (811–13), son-in-law of Nicephorus I. He supported orthodoxy against iconoclasm and recalled Theodore of Studium from exile. He recognized (8...

(Encyclopedia) Dickinson, Goldsworthy Lowes, 1862–1932, English author. He was a pacifist during World War I, and he was later instrumental in the conception of the League of Nations. His political writings includ...

(Encyclopedia) Dowland, John douˈlənd [key], 1563–1626, English composer, unsurpassed in his day as a lutenist. His books of Songs or Ayres (1597–1603) established him as the foremost song composer of his time...

(Encyclopedia) Ferdinand II, d. 1188, Spanish king of León (1157–88), son and successor of Alfonso VII. He invaded Castile and set up a protectorate during the minority (1158–66) of his nephew Alfonso VIII. He ...

(Encyclopedia) Sutherland, Graham, 1903–80, English painter. Sutherland began his career as a painter at 35 and gained international acclaim with his paintings of war devastation. Among his major religious works a...

(Encyclopedia) Thrasea Paetus (Publius Clodius Thrasea Paetus) thrāsēˈə pēˈtəs [key], d. a.d. 66, Roman senator and Stoic philosopher. He criticized Nero, who commanded the senate to condemn him to death. Whe...

(Encyclopedia) Valentine, Saint, d. c.270, Roman martyr priest. The customs connected with him in English-speaking countries are probably a survival from a period when a pagan festival associated with love occurred ...

(Encyclopedia) Rodoreda, Mercè, 1909–83, Spanish novelist writing in Catalan. Exiled for several decades in Paris and Geneva following the Spanish Civil War, Rodoreda focuses her novel Time of the Doves (1962, tr...

(Encyclopedia) Lao She chĭng-cho͝on [key], 1899–1966, Chinese writer. He wrote his first novels while teaching Chinese at the Univ. of London's School of Oriental Studies (1924–30). He continued to teach and w...