Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) dole, distribution to the poor, usually of food or money. In medieval times doles were usually from bequests of money or land, and the income was given to charity or distributed to the local poor at f...

(Encyclopedia) zoological garden or zoo, public or private park where living animals are kept for exhibition and study. The menageries and aviaries of China, Egypt, and Rome were famous in ancient times. From the la...

(Encyclopedia) Malbork mälˈbôrk [key], Ger. Marienburg, town (1994 est. pop. 40,100), Pomorskie prov., N Poland, on the Nogat River. It is a rail junction with sugar refineries and dairies. Originally a castle fo...

(Encyclopedia) virtue [Lat.,=manliness], in philosophy, quality of good in human conduct. The cardinal virtues, as presented by Plato, were wisdom (or prudence), courage, temperance, and justice. They are to be inte...

(Encyclopedia) Deventer, city, Overijssel prov., E central Netherlands, on the IJssel River. It is an industrial center with machine shops and foundries; important man...

(Encyclopedia) Rothenburg ob der Tauber rōˈtənbo͞orkh ôp dĕr touˈbər [key], town (1994 pop. 12,001), Bavaria, S Germany, on the Tauber River. One of the best-preserved and most picturesque medieval towns in ...

(Encyclopedia) Saale zälˈə [key], river, c.265 mi (430 km) long, rising in the Fichtelgebirge, central Germany, and flowing generally N through E central Germany, past Jena, Naumberg (the head of navigation), and...

(Encyclopedia) communistic settlements, communities practicing common ownership of goods. Communistic settlements were known in ancient and medieval times, but the flowering of such groups occurred in the 19th cent....

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Kievan Rus (c.1000) Kievan Rus kēˈĕfən [key], medieval state of the Eastern Slavs. It was the earliest predecessor of modern Ukraine and Russia. Flourishing from the 10th to the 13th cent....

(Encyclopedia) De Coster, Charles Théodore Henri də kŏsˈtər, Fr. shärl tāōdôrˈ äNrēˈ də kôstĕrˈ [key], 1827–79, Belgian author, b. Munich. His collected legends from Flemish folklore (1857), writt...