Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Wolsey, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Wolsey, Thomas wo͝olˈzē [key], 1473?–1530, English statesman and prelate, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. From 1514 to 1529 Wolsey virtually controlled domestic and foreign policy for th...

investiture

(Encyclopedia)investiture, in feudalism, ceremony by which an overlord transferred a fief to a vassal or by which, in ecclesiastical law, an elected cleric received the pastoral ring and staff (the symbols of spiri...

comic strip

(Encyclopedia)comic strip, combination of cartoon with a story line, laid out in a series of pictorial panels across a page and concerning a continuous character or set of characters, whose thoughts and dialogues a...

Mansel, Henry Longueville

(Encyclopedia)Mansel, Henry Longueville mănˈsəl [key], 1820–71, English philosopher and theologian. A disciple of Sir William Hamilton, he systematized his teacher's conception of the relativity of knowledge, ...

Honorius II

(Encyclopedia)Honorius II, d. 1130, pope (1124–30), an Italian named Lamberto, b. Bologna; successor of Calixtus II. Before becoming pope he spent several years in Germany adjusting the quarrel over investiture b...

Roscoe, Sir Henry Enfield

(Encyclopedia)Roscoe, Sir Henry Enfield rŏsˈkō [key], 1833–1915, English chemist. He was professor (1857–87) at Owens College, Manchester. He is known for his work, with R. W. Bunsen, in photochemistry and f...

Perkin, Sir William Henry

(Encyclopedia)Perkin, Sir William Henry, 1838–1907, English chemist. In 1856 he discovered the first aniline dye (aniline purple, known as mauve and mauveine); by founding a factory to make it, Perkin established...

Constable, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Constable, Henry kŏnˈstəbəl [key], 1562–1613, English poet. After graduating from Cambridge in 1580 he went to Paris, where the atmosphere was more congenial for one of Roman Catholic faith. The...

Matilda, countess of Tuscany

(Encyclopedia)Matilda, 1046–1115, countess of Tuscany, called the Great Countess; supporter of Pope Gregory VII in the papal conflict with the Holy Roman emperors. Ruling over Tuscany and parts of Emilia-Romagna ...

Derby, Thomas Stanley, 1st earl of

(Encyclopedia)Derby, Thomas Stanley, 1st earl of därˈbē [key], 1435?–1504, English nobleman. During the Wars of the Roses, Stanley was ostensibly a supporter of the Lancastrian Henry VI, but he had Yorkist sym...
 

Browse by Subject