Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) herbal medicine, use of natural plant substances (botanicals) to treat and prevent illness. The practice has existed since prehistoric times and flourishes today as the primary form of medicine for pe...

(Encyclopedia) Elizabeth I, 1533–1603, queen of England (1558–1603). After the Armada, Elizabeth's popularity began to wane. Parliament became less tractable and began to object to the abuse of royally grante...

(Encyclopedia) Walton, Sam (Samuel Moore Walton), 1918–92, American retailing executive, b. Kingfisher, Okla. After 17 years of operating franchise retail stores, he opened the first Wal-Mart Discount City in Roge...

(Encyclopedia) fable, brief allegorical narrative, in verse or prose, illustrating a moral thesis or satirizing human beings. The characters of a fable are usually animals who talk and act like people while retainin...

(Encyclopedia) Stuart or Stewart, royal family that ruled Scotland and England. The Stuart lineage began in a family of hereditary stewards of Scotland, the earliest of whom was Walter (d. 1177), grandson of a Norma...

(Encyclopedia) Menteith mĕntēthˈ [key], lake, up to 1.5 mi (2.4 km) across, Stirling, central Scotland, near the town of Stirling. Mary Queen of Scots, as a child of five, was hidden at Inchmahome priory on the l...

(Encyclopedia) Fotheringhay fŏᵺˈərĭng-gā [key], village, Northamptonshire, central England, on the Nene River. Fotheringhay Castle (12th cent.), now in ruins, was the birthplace of Richard III and the scene o...

(Encyclopedia) Paul IV, 1476–1559, pope (1555–59), a Neapolitan named Gian Pietro Carafa; successor of Marcellus II. First superior of the Theatines (see Cajetan, Saint), he was sternly ascetic. A leading reform...

(Encyclopedia) Danby, Thomas Osborne, earl of, 1631–1712, English statesman. Under the patronage of the 2d duke of Buckingham, he was appointed treasurer of the navy (1668), a privy councilor (1672), and lord trea...

(Encyclopedia) John the Baptist, Saint, d. c.a.d. 28–a.d. 30, Jewish prophet, considered by Christians to be the forerunner of Jesus. He was the son of Zacharias and Elizabeth, who was also a kinswoman of Mary, th...