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romance

(Encyclopedia)romance [O.Fr.,=something written in the popular language, i.e., a Romance language]. The roman of the Middle Ages was a form of chivalric and romantic literature widely diffused throughout Europe fro...

Glastonbury, town, England

(Encyclopedia)Glastonbury glăsˈtənbərē [key], town, Somerset, SW England. It has a leather industry, but ...

Artois

(Encyclopedia)Artois ärtwäˈ [key], region and former province, in Pas-de-Calais dept., N France, near the English Channel, between Picardy and Flanders. Arras is the chief city. Largely agricultural, it contains...

Nicholas, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Nicholas, Saint, patron of children and sailors, of Greece, Sicily, and Russia, and of many other places and persons. Little is known of him, but he is traditionally identified as a 4th-century bishop...

minstrel

(Encyclopedia)minstrel, professional secular musician of the Middle Ages. The modern application of the term is general and includes the jongleurs. Certain very able jongleurs ceased their wanderings and were attac...

Lydgate, John

(Encyclopedia)Lydgate, John lĭdˈgāt [key], c.1370–c.1450, English poet, a monk of Bury St. Edmunds. A professed disciple of Chaucer, he was one of the most influential, voluminous, and versatile writers of the...

Charles Martel

(Encyclopedia)Charles Martel märtĕlˈ [key] [O.Fr.,=Charles the Hammer], 688?–741, Frankish ruler, illegitimate son of Pepin of Heristal and grandfather of Charlemagne. After the death of his father (714) he se...

clavichord

(Encyclopedia) CE5 Clavichord clavichord klăvˈĭkôrd [key], keyboard musical instrument invented in the Middle Ages. It consists of a small rectangular wooden box, placed upon a table or on legs, containing a...

George, Saint

(Encyclopedia)George, Saint, 4th cent.?, perhaps a soldier in the imperial army who died for the faith in Asia Minor. His life is cloaked in legends; Gibbon's identification of him with George of Cappadocia is fals...
 

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