abacus schools
From the late thirteenth century onwards, many towns and guilds paid an ‘abacus master’ to teach mathematics to a given number of boys who intended to engage in commerce or ...
Abraham Zacuto
(c. 1450–1515?),the foremost writer on astronomy in fifteenth-century Castile. Zacuto was born in Salamanca, Spain, to Jewish parents. His principal work, the Almanach perpetuum coelestium motuum, ...
Absalon Pederssøn Beyer
(1528–1575), Norwegian theological educator and humanist.Orphaned at age six, he was raised as the foster son of Bishop Geble Pederssøn, the first Lutheran bishop of Bergen. Beyer was educated ...
Accolti family
The Arezzo family of the Accolti produced jurists, churchmen, and writers for centuries. The family had already produced several distinguished jurists when Benedetto Accolti ‘il Vecchio’ (1415–66) ...
acorn cup
Covered silver cup shaped like the cupulate involucre in which the acorn grows, usually mounted on a botanical stem. Acorn cups were popular in Elizabethan and Jacobean England.
Adam Krafft
(Eng., Adam of Fulda; Lat., Fuldanus/Fuldensis, Crato, Vegetius; 1493–1558), German Lutheran church reformer, theologian, and administrator in Hesse.Krafft's father, Hans, was a burgomaster at Fulda, ...
Adam Pastor
(d. 1560),German Anabaptist leader, probably born in Münster; his real name was Rudolf Martens. He was principally active in Cleves (German Kleve). In 1547 he began to work with ...
Adam van Noort
(b Antwerp, 1562; d Antwerp, ?Sept. 1641).Flemish history and portrait painter, remembered chiefly as one of the teachers of Rubens. Too little is known of the style of either ...
adiaphora
A transliteration of the Greek word ἀδδιáφορα, which means ‘things indifferent’. In theological use, an adiaphoron is a rite or a practice that is not essential to the Christian faith. ...
adlerglas
A German drinking-glass, sometimes with a cover, developed in the mid-sixteenth century. Each glass was decorated in enamel with an image of the eagle of the Holy Roman Empire; the ...
Admonition to the Parliament
(1572). A Puritan manifesto demanding a non-episcopal constitution for the English Church. It was issued anonymously, but responsibility for it was probably correctly attributed to two London ...
Adolf Daucher
(c.1460–1523/4) and(c.1485–after 1538),German sculptors in Augsburg who worked in the service of the Fugger family. Adolf's best-known work is the high altar of the Annenkirche in Annaberg-Buchholz; ...
Adolph Clarenbach
(d. 1529), teacher and Protestant martyr.Born toward the end of the fifteenth century on the farm “Zum Busche” (in the parish of Lüttringhausen, near Lennep, duchy of Berg), Clarenbach ...
Adolphus Tectander Venator
(also de Jager; 1569?–1618), minister in the Netherlands who, though not reckoned among the Remonstrants, served as a catalyst in the Arminian controversy.After completing theological studies in ...
Adriaan Corneliszoon Van Haemstede
(c.1525–1562), Dutch theologian and martyrologist.Now recognized as one of the most influential of the first generation of Dutch Reformed writers, notably through the enduring popularity of his ...
Adriaan Mijle
(also Adriaan Arendszoon van der Mijle; 1538–1590), moderate Calvinist and politician in Holland and supporter of William of Orange.He was a member of one of the most important families ...
Adrian VI
(1459–1523),Pope from 9 January 1522 until his death on 14 September 1523, was born Adriaan Florenszoon Dedal in Utrecht on 2 March 1459. He was educated by the Brethren ...
Adriano Fiorentino
(c.1450/60–c.1499),Italian sculptor and medallist, born in Florence, where he cast the bronze statuette of Bellerophon and Pegasus (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) by Bertoldo di Giovanni. At an ...
Adrien Turnèbe
(1512–65),French classical philologist. He was born at Les Andelys in Normandy, and at the age of 12 moved to Paris to continue his education. He was appointed professor of ...
Afonso de Albuquerque
(c.1445/62–1515),Portuguese admiral and second viceroy of Portuguese India, born in Alhandra (near Lisbon), the son of a courtier through whom he was illegitimately related to the royal family. He ...
