Aberdeen
A royal burgh (1178) with two universities by 1600, became a significant port and developed a range of industries after 1750, including linen, cotton and woollens, shipbuilding and engineering, ...
acheiropoieta
[Greek, ‘objects not made by [human] hands’] Primarily used of direct impressions of Christ’s face (the Kamoulianai Christ, the Mandylion of Edessa, the Veronica of Rome, and the Shroud of Turin), a ...
aetiology
An aetiological story professes to explain causes. The Pentateuch, especially Genesis, is rich in stories designed to give explanations about the origin of natural phenomena and of customs in ...
Alexis, Legend of Saint
The starting-point for the legend of St Alexis was probably the existence at Edessa, around the 5th c., of an ascetic famous for his extreme poverty and humility. Starting from ...
apparition
Accounts of apparitions are common in medieval literature. Distinguished from visions by a specific Latin or vernacular terminology (apparere, apparitio and their derivatives), apparitions were ...
ark
1 The Ark which Noah built to preserve life during the Flood (q.v.).2 The Ark of the Covenant, the most sacred religious symbol of the Hebrew people and believed to represent the Presence of God. It ...
Assumption
The reception of the Virgin Mary bodily into heaven, formally declared a doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church in 1950. The Feast of the Assumption is celebrated in the Roman Catholic Church on 15 ...
Bevis of Hampton
A popular verse romance from the late 13th or early 14th cent. in 4,620 lines, based on a 12th‐cent. Anglo‐Norman chanson de geste entitled Beuves de Hanstone.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
The northern half of the state of Bosnia‐Hercegovina since 1580. The term is generally used as an abbreviation for the entire state since its independence in 1992.
Charles Eastman
(1858–1939) Native American writerAn Indian Boyhood (1902) Non-FictionRed Hunters and Animal People (1904) Non-FictionOld Indian Days (1907) Non-FictionWigwam Evenings (1909) Non-FictionThe Soul of ...
Christopher
Male forename.St Christopher a legendary 3rd-century Christian martyr, adopted as the patron saint of travellers, since it is said that he once carried Christ in the form of a child across a river; ...
chronicles
A written record of events presented in order of time, and updated regularly over a prolonged period. The chroniclers of the Middle Ages, from the compilers of King Alfred's Anglo-Saxon Chronicle ...
contemporary, urban legends
From the 1940s onwards, folklorists became aware of a ‘new’ type of folktale—frightening, macabre, and/or amusing anecdotes going round orally, and sometimes in newspapers. These fitted the legend ...
cross
A variety of crosses appeared regularly in medieval liturgical contexts. Processional and churchyard crosses were standard medieval European church furniture, while archiepiscopal or papal crosses, ...
Daniel Boone
(c. 1734–1820)US pioneer. Moving west from his native Pennsylvania, Boone made trips into the unexplored area of Kentucky from 1767 onwards, organizing settlements and successfully defending them ...
dial
According to Isa. 38: 8 the dial of King Ahaz was approached by steps; or it is possible that the sundial may have been the staircase itself. As the day went on, the shadow would naturally fall, but ...
Eastern European Countries
To present a fair survey of children's literature in a region as heterogeneous as Eastern Europe is a complicated enterprise, because the region's ethnic, linguistic, cultural, and religious ...
Edomites
Inhabitants of land at the SE end of the Dead Sea. The Edomites lived adjacent to the Israelites, with whom there were frequent conflicts, though their close relationship was indicated by the legend ...
Elizabeth of Schönau
(1129–1164)A mystic and ecstatic visionary, Elizabeth lived from 1141 at the monastery of Schönau, in the canton of Sankt Goarshausen, which housed a men's convent and a women's convent. ...
Eve Bunting
(1928–), Irish-born American author of more than one hundred books for children and young adults, frequently tackling tough topics such as homelessness, racism, and riots in spare, often lyrical ...
