Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) stavkirke stäfˈkērˌkĕ [key] [Nor.], medieval wooden church building of Scandinavian countries. Of hundreds erected in the 11th, 12th, and 13th cent., only a score survive, and these are all in No...

(Encyclopedia) Wickram, Jörg yörk vĭkˈräm [key], c.1505–62, German writer. Wickram wrote Meisterlieder, farces such as Der treue Eckart [faithful Eckart] (1538), biblical drama such as Tobias (1550), and the ...

(Encyclopedia) Roanne rôänˈ [key], town (1990 pop. 42,848), Loire dept., E central France, on the Loire River. Cotton and metals are the chief products; other industries include tanning, machine and vehicle manuf...

(Encyclopedia) Bec bĕk [key], former Benedictine abbey, near the village of Bec-Hellouin, Eure dept., N France, in Normandy. Founded in the 11th cent. by Lanfranc, and later directed by Anselm, who became (1078) th...

(Encyclopedia) Salvemini, Gaetano gäātäˈnō sälvāmēˈnē [key], 1873–1957, Italian historian. He taught at the universities of Messina, Pisa, and Florence and also served (1919–21) in parliament. After be...

(Encyclopedia) Provençal literature, vernacular literature of S France. Provençal, or Occitan, as the language is now often called, appears to have been the first vernacular tongue used in French commerce and lite...

(Encyclopedia) Taylor, Francis Henry, 1903–57, American museum director, b. Philadelphia, studied throughout Europe. He began his museum career as assistant curator (1927–28) and then curator of medieval art (19...

(Encyclopedia) Callisthenes kəlĭsˈthənēz [key], c.360–c.327 b.c., Greek historian of Olynthus; nephew of Aristotle. He accompanied Alexander the Great into Asia as the historian of the expedition. At first he...

(Encyclopedia) knight, in ancient and medieval history, a noble who did military service as a mounted warrior. As the feudal system disintegrated, knight service was with growing frequency commuted into cash pay...

(Encyclopedia) Zittau tsĭtˈou [key], city (1994 pop. 30,874), Saxony, E central Germany, on the Lusatian Neisse River, near the Polish and Czech borders. It is a road and rail hub and a center for the environmenta...