Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Romanus IV (Romanus Diogenes) dīŏjˈənēz [key], d. 1072, Byzantine emperor (1068–71). A Cappadocian general, he succeeded Constantine X by marrying his widow, Eudocia Macrembolitissa. After some...

(Encyclopedia) Runyon, Damon (Alfred Damon Runyon), 1884–1946, American short story writer and journalist, b. Manhattan, Kans. He is best known for his humorous stories—written in a picturesque, slangy journalis...

(Encyclopedia) Schnabel, Johann Gottfried shnäˈbəl [key], b. 1692, d. after 1742, German author, whose pseudonym was Gisander. He fought in the War of the Spanish Succession. Schnabel's popular novel Die Insel F...

(Encyclopedia) Porta, Guglielmo della dĕlˈlä pôrˈtä [key], d. 1577, Italian sculptor. His early works are in Genoa. In 1546 he went to Rome, where he was employed by Pope Paul III in restoring certain antique...

(Encyclopedia) Raymond Berengar IV bĕrˈəngär [key], d. 1162, count of Barcelona (1131–62). He married Petronilla, daughter and heir of King Ramiro II of Aragón, after whose abdication (1137) Raymond also rule...

(Encyclopedia) Spence, Thomas, 1750–1814, English agrarian socialist. A forerunner of the single taxers (see single tax), he devised a scheme by which the parishes would assume ownership of the land and rent paid ...

(Encyclopedia) Barclay, Robert, 1648–90, Scottish apologist for the Society of Friends (Quakers). He wrote many controversial works but is best known for his great treatise An Apology for the True Christian Divini...

(Encyclopedia) Bruce, Edward, d. 1318, Scottish king of Ireland, brother of Robert I of Scotland. He aided his brother in the war for independence from England and in 1315 was declared heir to Robert's throne. With ...

(Encyclopedia) Brunanburh, battle of bro͞oˈnənbûrg [key], a.d. 937, a victory won by Athelstan, king of the English, over a coalition of Irish, Scots, and Britons (or Welsh) of Strathclyde. The site of the battl...

(Encyclopedia) El Cordobés ĕl kōrdōvāsˈ [key], 1936?–, Spanish bullfighter, b. Manuel Benítez Pérez. The predominant matador of the 1960s, he brought an unorthodox acrobatic and theatrical style to the rin...