Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) klezmer klĕzˈmər [key], form of instrumental folk music developed in the Eastern European Jewish community. The style had its beginnings in the Middle Ages; its name is a Yiddishized version of the...

(Encyclopedia) Kutná Hora ko͝otˈnä hôˈrä [key], Ger. Kuttenberg, city (1991 pop. 24,561), central Czech Republic, in Bohemia. Now an agricultural center, it was an important silver-mining center in the Middle...

(Encyclopedia) Kantorowicz, Ernst Hartwig, 1895–1963, German-American historian, b. Poznań (then Posen, Germany), studied Univ. of Berlin, Univ. of Heidelberg (Ph.D., 1921). As a young man he was a German nationa...

(Encyclopedia) Sismondi, Jean Charles Léonard Simonde de zhäN shärl lāônärˈ sēmôNdˈ də sēsmôNdēˈ [key], 1773–1842, Swiss historian, economist, and critic. A member of the circle of Mme de Staël, he...

(Encyclopedia) Worcestershire, county, 674 sq mi (1,746 sq km), W central England. Worcester is the county administrative center. Worcestershire is largely hilly country. The Malvern, Cotswold, Clent, and Lickey hil...

(Encyclopedia) benefice bĕnˈəfĭs [key], in canon law, a position in the church that has attached to it a source of income; also, more narrowly, that income itself. The occupant of a benefice receives its revenue...

(Encyclopedia) Balaklava bələkläˈvə [key], section of the city of Sevastopol, on the Crimean peninsula. In ancient times it was an important Greek commercial city. In the Middle Ages it belonged to the Genoese ...

(Encyclopedia) Tieck, Ludwig lo͝otˈvĭtkh tēk [key], 1773–1853, German writer. In his youth he led the transition from Sturm und Drang to romanticism, writing with W. H. Wackenroder Phantasien über die Kunst (...

(Encyclopedia) Tower of London, ancient fortress in London, England, just east of the City and on the north bank of the Thames, covering about 13 acres (5.3 hectares). Now used mainly as a museum, it was a royal res...

(Encyclopedia) turnip, garden vegetable of the same genus of the family Cruciferae (or Brassicaceae; mustard family) as the cabbage; native to Europe, where it has been long cultivated. The two principal kinds are t...