Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Peri, Jacopo yäˈkōpō pĕˈrē [key], 1561–1633, Italian composer and singer. Dafne (c.1597), perhaps the first opera, was composed by both Peri and Jacopo Corsi. The librettist, Ottavio Rinuccin...

(Encyclopedia) Bassompierre, François, baron de fräNswäˈ bärôNˈ də bäsôNpyĕrˈ [key], 1579–1646, marshal of France. Under King Henry IV he distinguished himself in the army and as a courtier, and after ...

(Encyclopedia) Italian architecture, the several styles employed in Italy after the Roman period. Nineteenth-century Italian architecture, such as Giuseppe Sacconi's Victor Emmanuel monument, shows a decline in qu...

(Encyclopedia) Francis, 1554–84, French prince, duke of Alençon and Anjou; youngest son of King Henry II of France and Catherine de' Medici. Although ill-shapen, pockmarked, and endowed with a curiously formed no...

(Encyclopedia) Gemistus Pletho, Georgius jôrˈjəs jĭmĭsˈtəs plēˈthō [key], c.1355–1452, Byzantine scholar and philosopher, b. Constantinople. He represented the Orthodox Eastern Church at the Council of F...

(Encyclopedia) Bagration, Piotr Ivanovich, Prince pyôˈtər ēväˈnəvyĭch bägrätēōnˈ [key], 1765–1812, Russian general in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He fought under Field Marshal Suvoro...

(Encyclopedia) Ammanati, Bartolomeo bärtōlōmĕˈō äm-mänäˈtē [key], 1511–92, Italian sculptor and architect. He studied under Bandinelli in Florence and assisted Jacopo Sansovino in his work on the Librar...

(Encyclopedia) Polignac, Jules Armand, prince de zhül ärmäNˈ prăNs də pôlēnyäkˈ [key], 1780–1847, French statesman. Belonging to one of the oldest families of France, he emigrated with them during the Fr...

(Encyclopedia) Brosse, Salomon de sälōmôNˈ də brôs [key], 1571–1626, French architect, trained by his grandfather, Jacques du Cerceau, the elder. He paved the way for the next generation in the use of classi...

(Encyclopedia) Berry, Caroline Ferdinande Louise, duchesse de kärôlēnˈ fĕrdēnäNd lwēz, düshĕsˈ də bĕrēˈ [key], 1798–1870, wife of the French prince, Charles Ferdinand, duc de Berry; daughter of Fran...