Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) John of Damascus, Saint, or Saint John Damascene dămˈəsēn [key], c.675–c.749, Syrian theologian, Father of the Church and Doctor of the Church. He was brought up at the court of the caliph in Da...

(Encyclopedia) Fitzwilliam Museum, building erected to house the art collection and library bequeathed in 1816 to the Univ. of Cambridge by Richard, 7th Viscount Fitzwilliam. Both the collection and the Founder's Bu...

(Encyclopedia) Rydberg, Abraham Viktor äˈbrähäm vĭkˈtôr rüdˈbĕryə [key], 1828–95, Swedish philosopher and writer. Singoalla (1857), a romantic and mystical story of medieval times, was his first major w...

(Encyclopedia) Taunus touˈno͝os [key], range of the Rhenish Slate Mts., W Germany, extending c.50 mi (80 km) NE from the Rhine River, N of Mainz. It rises to 2,887 ft (880 m) in the Grosser Feldberg. The Taunus is...

(Encyclopedia) Ravensburg räˈvənsbo͝orkh [key], city (1994 pop. 47,099), Baden-Württemberg, S Germany. Its manufactures include machinery, paper, textiles, and wood products. Ravensburg was founded in the late ...

(Encyclopedia) San Gimignano sän jēmēnyäˈnō [key], town (1991 pop. 6,956), Tuscany, central Italy. It is a tourist center that has fully preserved its medieval aspect. The city walls, the palaces, and the cele...

(Encyclopedia) Andernach änˈdərnäkh [key], city, Rhineland-Palatinate, W Germany, a port on the Rhine River. Its manufactures include chemicals, metals, synthetic fibers and related ...

(Encyclopedia) hermandad ārmändäᵺˈ [key] [Span.,=brotherhood], a peacekeeping association of armed individuals, a characteristic of municipal life in medieval Spain, especially in Castile. Hermandades are know...

(Encyclopedia) morality play, form of medieval drama that developed in the late 14th cent. and flourished through the 16th cent. The characters in the morality were personifications of good and evil usually involved...

(Encyclopedia) Wernigerode vĕrnēgərōˈdə [key], city (1994 pop. 36,905), Saxony-Anhalt, central Germany, at the northern foot of the Harz Mts. It is an industrial city, a tourist center, and an important road a...