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The History Channel - Encyclopedia Category: History and Culture > History Date & country: 02/12/2007, UK Words: 25833

henotheism
Belief that there are a number of gods, but that one particular god has a special relationship with a particular family, clan, or tribe. This means that for that group there is no other god, but...

Henotikon
Declaration published by Roman emperor Zeno 482, aimed at reconciling warring theological factions within the early Christian church. It refuted the Council of Chalcedon 451, and reaffirmed the...

Henri II style
A movement in French art and especially architecture during the reign of Henry II. Essentially an attempt to absorb the ideas of the Italian Renaissance, it can be best seen in the works of the...

Henri IV style
A movement in French architecture during the reign (1589-1610) of Henry IV. A noted patron of the arts, Henry revolutionized contemporary attitudes towards town planning through his pragmatic...

Henri, Adrian Maurice
(1932-2000) English poet and painter. In the 1960s he became known as one of the `Liverpool Poets` with Roger McGough and Brian Patten. A compilation of his work was published in the best-selling The...

Henri, Robert
(1865-1929) US painter and teacher, a leading figure in development of 20th-century American art. A realist, he was a member of the Eight, later known as the Ashcan School, and one of the organizers of the...

Henrietta Maria
(1609-1669) Queen of England 1625-49. The daughter of Henry IV of France, she married Charles I of England in 1625. By encouraging him to aid Roman Catholics and make himself an absolute ruler, she became...

Henry
Prince of the UK (see Harry). ...

Henry (I) the Fowler
(c. 876-936) King of Germany from 919, and duke of Saxony from 912. He secured the frontiers of Saxony, ruled in harmony with its nobles, and extended German influence over the Danes, the Hungarians, and the...

Henry (III) the Black
(1017-1056) King of Germany from 1028, Holy Roman Emperor from 1039 (crowned In 1046). He raised the empire to the height of its power, and extended its authority over Poland, Bohemia, and Hungary. ...

Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales
(1594-1612) Eldest son of James I of England and Anne of Denmark; a keen patron of Italian art. ...

Henry I
(c. 1008-1060) King of France from 1031. He spent much of his reign in conflict with William the Conqueror, then Duke of Normandy. ...

Henry I
(1068-1135) King of England from 1100. Youngest son of William the Conqueror, he succeeded his brother William II. He won the support of the Saxons by marrying a Saxon princess, Matilda, daughter...

Henry II
(1519-1559) King of France from 1547. He captured the fortresses of Metz and Verdun from the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and Calais from the English. He was killed in a tournament. In 1526 he was sent with his...

Henry II
(1133-1189) King of England from 1154. The son of Matilda and Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou, he succeeded King Stephen (c. 1097-1154). He brought order to England after the chaos of Stephen's reign, curbing the...

Henry III
(1551-1589) King of France from 1574. He fought both the Huguenots (headed by his successor, Henry of Navarre) and the Catholic League (headed by the third Duke of Guise). Guise expelled Henry from Paris in...

Henry III
(1379-1406) King of Castile. He succeeded his father, John I, at the age of 11. Despite unrest during his regency period, he was able to assert his power and under his personal rule the kingdom prospered. He...

Henry III
(1207-1272) King of England from 1216, when he succeeded John, but the royal powers were exercised by a regency until 1232, and by two French nobles, Peter des Roches and Peter des Rivaux, until the barons...

Henry IV
(1553-1610) King of France from 1589. Son of Antoine de Bourbon and Jeanne, Queen of Navarre, he was brought up as a Protestant and from 1576 led the Huguenots. On his accession he settled the religious...

Henry IV
(1367-1413) King of England from 1399, the son of John of Gaunt. In 1398 he was banished by Richard II but returned in 1399 to head a revolt and be accepted as king by Parliament. He was succeeded by his son...

Henry IV
(1050-1106) Holy Roman Emperor from 1056. He was involved from 1075 in a struggle with the papacy. Excommunicated twice (1076 and 1080), Henry deposed Gregory VII and set up the antipope Clement III (died 1191)...

Henry of Blois
(died 1171) Brother of King Stephen of England, he was bishop of Winchester from 1129, and Pope Innocent II's legate to England from 1139. While remaining loyal to Henry II, he tried to effect a compromise...

Henry of Huntingdon
(c. 1080-1155) English historian. He became archdeacon of Huntingdon about 1110. His Historia Anglorum covers the period of English history from Julius Caesar until the accession of Henry II and is remarkable for...

Henry Roe Cloud
(1884-1950) US leader and Presbyterian clergyman. He was the first American Indian to receive a BA from Yale University. He subsequently earned an MA and founded the American Indian Institute (1915). He was...

Henry the Lion
(1129-1195) Duke of Bavaria 1156-80, Duke of Saxony 1142-80, and Duke of Lüneburg 1180-85. He was granted the Duchy of Bavaria by the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. He founded Lübeck and Munich. In 1162...

Henry the Minstrel
Another name for Harry the Minstrel, Scottish poet. ...

Henry the Navigator
(1394-1460) Portuguese prince, the fourth son of John I. He is credited with setting up a school for navigators in 1419 and under his patronage Portuguese sailors explored and colonized Madeira, the Cape Verde...

Henry V
(1387-1422) King of England from 1413, son of Henry IV. Invading Normandy in 1415 (during the Hundred Years' War), he captured Harfleur and defeated the French at Agincourt. He invaded again in 1417-19,...

Henry V
(1086-1125) German king from 1099 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1111. He continued the struggle with the church until the settlement of the investiture contest in 1122. ...

Henry VI
(1421-1471) King of England from 1422, son of Henry V. He assumed royal power in 1442 and sided with the party opposed to the continuation of the Hundred Years' War with France. After his marriage in 1445, he...

Henry VI
(1165-1197) Holy Roman Emperor 1191-97. He conquered the Norman Kingdom of Sicily in the name of his wife, Constance, aunt and heiress of William II of Sicily, and was crowned at Palermo, Sicily, on Christmas...

Henry VII
(c. 1269-1313) Holy Roman Emperor from 1308. He attempted unsuccessfully to revive the imperial supremacy in Italy. ...

Henry VII
(1457-1509) King of England from 1485, when he overthrew Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth. A descendant of John of Gaunt, Henry, by his marriage to Elizabeth of York in 1486, united the houses of York and...

Henry VIII
(1491-1547) King of England from 1509, when he succeeded his father Henry VII and married Catherine of Aragón, the widow of his brother. During the period 1513-29 Henry pursued an active foreign policy,...

Henry, Andrew
(c. 1775-1833) US trapper and lead miner. He joined the St Louis Missouri Fur Company (1809) and led the first party of American fur trappers west of the Rocky Mountains (1810-11). His status as a hero among...

Henry, Edward
(1850-1931) English commissioner of Metropolitan Police. He entered the Indian civil service and in 1891 was appointed inspector-general of police in Bengal. In 1901 he was appointed assistant commissioner in...

Henry, O
(1862-1910) US short-story writer. His stories are written in a colloquial style and employ skilled construction with surprise endings. Among his collections are Cabbages and Kings (1904), The Four Million...

Henry, Patrick
(1736-1799) US patriot who in 1775 supported the arming of the Virginia militia against the British by a speech ending, `Give me liberty or give me death!` He was governor of...

Henry, the Young King
(1155-1183) Eldest son of Henry II, he was crowned 1170 as his father's successor and associate while his father was still king, in line with continental custom to avoid a disputed succession. However, it only...

Henryson, Robert
(c. 1430-c. 1505) Scottish poet. His works include versions of Aesop's fables (The Moral Fables of Esope the Phrygian), an early pastoral, Robene and Makyne, and The Testament of Cresseid, a work once attributed to...

Henslowe, Philip
(died 1616) English theatre manager. He owned the Fortune, Hope, and Rose Theatres in London. He wrote a diary, in which he kept his accounts of transactions for his theatres, and of loans and payments to...

Henson, Herbert Hensley
(1863-1947) English Anglican bishop. Although his forcible and arresting method of stating his views changed little throughout his ministry, the views themselves ch ...

Henson, Josiah
(1789-1883) US social activist and minister. He became a land superintendent and a Methodist preacher while still in slavery. He and his family escaped north to Canada in 1830 and settled in Ontario; there he...

Henson, Matthew (Alexander)
(1866-1955) US explorer. He met Lt Robert E Peary in 1887 and became his valet and assistant for 22 years. He, Peary, and four Eskimos reached the North Pole on 6 April 1909. Henson, an African-American,...

Henty, G(eorge) A(lfred)
(1832-1902) English writer. His numerous patriotic historical novels for children include Under Drake's Flag 1882, With Clive in India 1883,...

Hepburn, William (Peters)
(1833-1916) US politician. A lawyer in Marshalltown, Iowa (1855-61) and Republican party activist, he joined the Union Army in 1861, becoming a Lieutenant Colonel. After the war, he returned to his law...

Hephaestion
(c. 356-324 BC) Macedonian general. He supervised the foundation of cities and colonies in Bactria, central Asia, and India. Hephaestion was a close friend of Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia, who called him...

Hephaestus
In Greek mythology, the god of fire and metalcraft (Roman Vulcan); the lame son of Zeus and Hera; and in Homer's Odyssey, husband of Aphrodite, goddess of love. He created armour for the Greek hero...

Hepplewhite, George
(died 1786) English furnituremaker associated with Neo-Classicism. His reputation rests upon his book of designs The Cabinetmaker and Upholsterer's Guide, published posthumously in 1788, which contains over...

heptarchy
The seven Saxon kingdoms thought to have existed in England before AD 800: Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Sussex, and Wessex. The term was coined by 16th-century historians. ...

Hepworth, (Jocelyn) Barbara
(1903-1975) English sculptor. She developed a distinctive abstract style, creating slender upright forms reminiscent of standing stones or totems; and round, hollowed forms with spaces bridged by wires or...

Her Majesty's Theatre
Theatre in the Haymarket, London. The present building, which holds 1,283, was designed by the English architect C J Phipps (1835-1897) and dates from 1897. It is...

Hera
In Greek mythology, the goddess of women and marriage (Roman Juno); sister and consort of Zeus; and mother of Hephaestus, god of fire and metalcraft, the war god Ares, and Hebe, the original...

Heraclea
Name of several ancient Greek towns. Heraclea in Magna Graecia, between the rivers Aciris and Siris, on the Gulf of Tarentum, was probably founded about 432 BC and rapidly rose to prosperity. It was...

Heracles
In Greek mythology, an immortalized hero (Roman Hercules); son of Zeus and Alcmene; and famed for his strength. While serving Eurystheus, king of Argos, he performed 12 labours, including the...

Heraclian (or Heraclianus)
(lived 5th century AD) Officer of the Roman emperor Honorius. He served well during the invasion of Italy by Alaric, King of the Visigoths, and against the usurper Attalus. He revolted 412 and, proclaiming himself...

Heraclidae
In Greek mythology, the descendants of Heracles. Zeus had intended Heracles to rule over...

Heraclitus
(c. 544-c. 483 BC) Greek philosopher who believed that the cosmos is in a ceaseless state of flux and motion, fire being the fundamental material that accounts for all change and motion in the...

Heraclius
(c. 575-641) Byzantine emperor from 610. His reign marked a turning point in the empire's fortunes. Of Armenian descent, he recaptured Armenia in 622, and other provinces 622-28 from the Persians, but lost...

Heraeum
In the ancient world, any temple dedicated to the goddess Hera. With original foundations dating from about 1750 BC, the Heraeum about 8 km/5 mi from Argos and 5 km/3 mi from Mycenae was the most...

heraldry
Insignia and symbols representing a person, family, or dynasty; the science of armorial bearings. Heraldry originated with simple symbols used on shields and banners for recognition in battle. By...

Heralds' College
Another name for the College of Arms, the English heraldic body. ...

herbal
A book describing the medicinal properties of plants, often including illustrations. The earliest herbals are described by Pliny the Elder in the 1st century BC. In the Renaissance, the earliest...

Herbart, Johann Friedrich
(1776-1841) German philosopher and educationist. He wrote extensively on philosophy, psychology, and education. In his work on psychology Herbart rejects the doctrine of mental faculties and endeavours to prove...

Herbert, A(lan) P(atrick)
(1890-1971) English politician and writer. He was an Independent member of Parliament for Oxford University 1935-50, author of several novels, including The Water Gipsies (1930), and a contributor to the...

Herbert, Edward
(1583-1648) English philosopher. His virtual rejection of revelation and his advocacy of rational religion founded English deism. His main work is De veritate 1624. He was the brother of the poet George...

Herbert, Frank Patrick
(1920-1986) US science fiction writer. He was the author of the Dune series from 1965 (filmed by David Lynch 1984), large-scale adventure stories containing serious ideas about ecology and religion. ...

Herbert, George
(1593-1633) English poet. His volume of religious poems, The Temple, appeared in 1633, shortly before his death. His intense though quiet poems embody his religious struggles (`The Temper`, `The...

Herbert, Hilary Abner
(1834-1919) US secretary of the navy. As a confederate officer he fought in numerous Civil War battles (1861-64). He became a congressman (1877-93) and the secretary of...

Herbert, Sidney
(1810-1861) British politician. He was secretary for war in Aberdeen's Liberal-Peelite coalition of 1852-55, and during the Crimean War was responsible for sending Florence Nightingale to...

Herbert, Thomas
(1606-1682) English author and traveller. He published Description of the Persian Monarchy 1634, reprinted as Some Yeares Travels into divers parts of Asia and Afrique 1638, and Threnodia Carolina...

Herbert, Wally (Walter William)
(1934-2007) British surveyor and explorer. His first surface crossing by dog sledge of the Arctic Ocean 1968-69, from Alaska to Spitsbergen via the North Pole, was the longest sustained sledging journey...

Herbert, Zbigniew
(1924-1998) Polish poet and essayist. His poetry, avant-garde, ironic, and formally accomplished, achieved classical precision and control amidst and against the observed chaos of Poland's human suffering. He...

Herblock
(1909-2001) US cartoonist who gained a national reputation during the 1950s with his syndicated cartoons. He won Pulitzer Prizes in 1942, 1954, and 1979, and published sever ...

Herbst, Josephine (Frey)
(1892-1969) US writer. In 1933 she published Pity is Not Enough, the first volume of her trilogy based on her own family's history from the Civil War to the Great Depression. During the 1930s, the world's...

Herculaneum
Ancient city of Italy between Naples and Pompeii. Along with Pompeii, it was buried when Vesuvius erupted in AD 79. It was excavated from the 18th century onwards. ...

Hercules
In Roman mythology, Roman form of the deified Greek hero Heracles. Possibly the first foreign cult accepted in Rome, he was popular with merchants due to his legendary travel and ability to ward off...

Herder, Johann Gottfried von
(1744-1803) German poet, critic, and philosopher. Herder's critical writings indicated his intuitive rather than reasoning trend of thought. He collected folk songs of all nations in Stimmen der Völker in...

Heredia, José-María de
(1842-1905) French poet. He became a member of Les Parnassiens who regarded form as being of supreme importance. His exquisitely fashioned sonnets, contained in Les Trophées 1893, prove his power as a word...

Hereford Cathedral
Cathedral in the city of Hereford, Herefordshire, England. Founded not later than 680 by its first bishop, Putta, it was destroyed in 1055 by the Welsh, and rebuilt late in the 11th century, the...

Herero
A Bantu-speaking people living in Namibia, southwestern Africa. ...

heresy
Any doctrine opposed to orthodox belief, especially in religion. Those holding ideas considered heretical by the Christian church have included Gnostics, Arians, Pelagians, Montanists, Albigenses,...

Hereward the Wake
(lived 11th century) Legendary Saxon hero of the English resistance to the Normans in 1070. Helped by a Danish army, the rebels attacked and sacked Peterborough Abbey. William bribed the Danes to return home, but...

Hergé
(1907-1983) Belgian artist, creator of the boy reporter Tintin, who first appeared in strip-cartoon form as Tintin in the Land of the Soviets 1929-30. ...

Hergenrother, Joseph von
(1824-1890) German theologian and historian. His Anti-Janus (1870), defended the doctrine of papal infallibility. He was made a prelate of the papal household in 1877, a cardinal in 1879, and curator of the...

Hergesheimer, Joseph
(1880-1954) US novelist. The Three Black Pennys 1917 and Tubal Cain 1918 are studies in the triumph of personality. Java Head 1919 and The Bright Sh ...

Hergest, Red Book of
One of the manuscripts upon which the Mabinogion, the Welsh collection of myths and folk tales, is based. ...

Heriot, George
(1563-1624) Scottish goldsmith. In 1601 he became jeweller to James VI, having already been appointed in 1597 goldsmith to his queen, Anne of Denmark. In 1620 a grant was made to him and out of the proceeds he...

Herkimer, Nicholas
(1728-1777) US soldier. A veteran of the French and Indian War, he was made Brigadier-General...

Herkomer, Hubert Von
(1849-1914) German-born English painter and illustrator. A realist, he made his name first with historical and then domestic genre subjects, such as On Strike 1891 (Royal Academy, London), and finally...

Herlihy, David (Joseph)
(1930-1991) US historian. After receiving his doctorate from Yale University (1956), he became the first prominent medievalist to write about women's roles in medieval history. He taught at the university level...

Herling-Grudzinski, Gustaw
(1919-2000) Polish novelist and essayist. An anti-Nazi journalist in 1939, he was deported to a Russian labour camp during the war, an experience reflected in the juxtaposed horror and beauty of his...

herm
In ancient Greece and Rome, a square pillar on which were carved the head and genitals of the god Hermes. Probably originating as boundary stones, they were set up on street corners, at crossroads,...

hermae
In ancient Greece, posts or heaps of stones, set up to mark boundaries or distances along roads. The hermae were associated with the cult of Hermes, the messenger of the gods. In about the 5th...

Hermaphroditus
In Greek mythology, the son of Hermes, messenger of the gods, and Aphrodite, goddess of love. He was loved by the nymph of the founta ...

Hermeias (or Hermias)
(lived 4th century BC) Greek tyrant of Atarneus and Assos in Mysia, northwestern Asia Minor. He succeeded Eubulus and maintained himself as an independent prince in defiance of Persian claims. Hermeias was a eunuch who...

hermeneutics
Philosophical tradition concerned with the nature of understanding and interpretation of human behaviour and social traditions. From its origins in problems of biblical interpretation, hermeneutics...

Hermes
In Greek mythology, the messenger of the gods; son of Zeus and Maia, one of the Pleiades. Homer's Odyssey presented the god as the conductor of the dead (shades) to Hades, in which capacity he...

Hermes Trismegistus
Aspect of Hermes, identified with the ancient Egyptian god Thoth, and supposed author of the Hermetica (2nd-3rd centuries AD), a body of writings expounding a...

Hermes, Georg
(1775-1831) German Roman Catholic theologian. His theories are embodied in two principal works:Einleitung in die cristkatholische Theologie/Introduction to Catholic Theology (1819-29) and Cristkatholische...