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

parliamentary government
Form of government in which the executive (administration) is drawn from and is constitutionally responsible to the legislature (law-making body). This is known as the `fusion of powers` as...

parliamentary paper
In the UK, an official document, such as a White Paper or a report of a select committee, which is prepared for the information of members of Parliament. ...

parliamentary reform
In Britain, the aftermath of the Revolutionary Wars saw a period of political agitation for parliamentary reform that was met by government repression. However, there was a gradual reform of the...

parliamentary reform acts
UK acts of Parliament 1918, 1928, and 1971. The 19th century witnessed the gradual reform of the voting system in Britain and suffrage was extended in...

parliamentary sovereignty
Doctrine defined by A V Dicey (1835-1922), in his book Law of the Constitution (1885), as the doctrine that Parliament has `the right to make...

parliamentary supremacy
Alternative term for parliamentary sovereignty. ...

Parmenides
(c. 510-450 BC) Greek pre-Socratic philosopher, head of the Eleatic school (so called after Elea in southern Italy). Against Heraclitus's doctrine of Becoming, Parmenides advanced the view that nonexistence was...

Parnassiens, Les
School of French poets which flourished 1866-76, including Leconte de Lisle, Heredia, Sully-Prudhomme, François-Edouard Coppée, Léon Dierx, Louis Menard, and Albert Merat. It was named...

Parnassus
Mountain in central Greece, height 2,457 m/8,200 ft, revered by the ancient Greeks as the abode of Apollo and the Muses. The sacred site of Delphi lies on its southern flank. ...

Parnell, Charles Stewart
(1846-1891) Irish nationalist politician. He supported a policy of obstruction and violence to attain home rule,...

Parnell, Frances
(`Fanny`) (1849-1882) and Anna (1852-1911) Sisters of the Irish nationalist leader Charles Stewart Parnell. They set up the Ladies' Land League in 1881, in support of the Land League founded by their brother and Michael Davitt two years...

parole
Conditional release of a prisoner from jail. The prisoner remains on licence until the date release would have been granted, and may be recalled if the authorities deem it necessary. In the UK, the...

Paros
Island in the south Aegean Sea, off the east coast of Greece, belonging to the Cyclades group; area 209 sq km/81 sq mi; population (1996 est) 8,000. Paros lies 7 km/4 mi west of Naxos. The island...

parquetry
Geometric version of marquetry: a decorative veneer applied to furniture and floors, composed of shaped pieces of wood or other suitable materials, such as bone, horn, or ivory, to form a geometric...

Parr, Catherine
(1512-1548) Sixth wife of Henry VIII of England. She had already lost two husbands when in 1543 she married Henry. She survived him, and in 1547 married the Lord High Admiral Thomas...

Parr, Samuel
(1747-1825) English schoolmaster and author. He was a great Latinist, but left no work to account for the high reputation which he enjoyed in his lifetime. His chief power lay in his conversation for which he...

Parra, de las, Teresa
(1889-1936) Venezuelan novelist. Ifigenia 1922 contrasts a world of dull provincial respectability with the Paris where de las Parra was educated; the heroine s ...

Parrington, V(ernon) L(ouis)
(1871-1929) US literary historian. Parrington revolutionized the study of American literature by regarding literary works in the context of intellectual history, most influentially in his 3-volume Main...

Parrish, Anne
(1888-1957) US novelist. She wrote The Perennial Bachelor 1925, and other deft novels of character, including All Kneeling 1928 and Loads of Love 1932. Pray for a Tomorrow 1941 reflects the crisis in Europe;A...

Parry-Williams, Thomas Herbert
(1887-1975) Welsh poet, essayist, and scholar. In 1923 he published his authoritative study of the English element in Welsh, and ten volumes of his prose and verse appeared 1928-66, together with many works...

Parry, Milman
(1902-1935) US philologist. He pioneered in establishing that the Iliad and Odyssey were the works of a preliterate oral poetic tradition involving the use of repeated epithets. With the scholar Alfred Bates...

Parry, William Edward
(1790-1855) English admiral and Arctic explorer. He made detailed charts during explorations of the Northwest Passage (the sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans) 1819-20, 1821-23, and 1824-25....

Parsee
Follower of the religion Zoroastrianism. The Parsees fled from Persia after its conquest by the Arabs, and settled in India in the 8th century AD. About 100,000 Parsees now live mainly in the former...

Parsifal
In Germanic mythology, one of the knights who sought the Holy Grail; the father of Lohengrin. ...

Parsons (or Persons), Robert
(1546-1610) English Jesuit and polemical writer. In 1574 he resigned his fellowship at Balliol College, Oxford University, entered the Society of Jesus in Rome, Italy, in 1575, and was ordained a priest three...

Parsons, Albert Richard
(1848-1887) US anarchist and labour activist. A speaker at the Haymarket rally in Chicago where a bomb killed several people (May 1886), he was tried, and, despite a lack of evidence, convicted, with several...

Parsons, Elsie (Worthington Clews)
(1875-1941) US sociologist, anthropologist, and folklorist. She wrote feminist sociological works before 1915, then turned to fieldwork-based ethnological studies of southwestern Indians, including the...

Parsons, Louella
(1893-1972) US newspaper columnist. Working for the Hearst syndicate, she moved to Hollywood 1925 and began a gossip column and a popular radio programme Hollywood Hotel 1934. For over 40 years she exerted...

Parsons, Theophilus
(1797-1882) US legal scholar. On the faculty of Harvard (1848-69), he was a popular lecturer and wrote several important textbooks including The Law of Contracts (1853-55). He was...

Parthenon
Temple of Athena Parthenos (`the Virgin`) on the Acropolis at Athens; built 447-438 BC by Callicrates and Ictinus under the supervision of the sculptor Phidias, and the most perfect example of...

Parthia
Ancient country in western Asia in what is now northeastern Iran, capital Ctesiphon. Parthian ascendancy began with the Arsacid dynasty in 248 BC, and reached the peak of its power under Mithridates...

partisan
Member of an armed group that operates behind enemy lines or in occupied territories during wars. The name `partisans` was first given to armed bands of Russians who operated against Napoleon's...

Partisan Review
US intellectual and literary magazine, founded 1934 to express Marxist principles. In the later 1930s it departed from the orthodox line, and committed itself to modernist literature. During the...

partition
Separation of Ireland into the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland under the Government of Ireland Act (1920). This was recognized by the Anglo-Irish Treaty (1921) following the partition
Division of a country into two or more nations. Ireland was divided into Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic under the Government of Ireland Act 1920. The division of the Indian subcontinent...

partnership
Two or more persons carrying on a common business for shared profit. The business can be of any kind - for instance, solicitors, shop owners, or window cleaners. A partnership differs from a...

party
In law, a person who takes part in legal proceedings. Parties to a civil action may include one or more plaintiffs or defendants. In the UK, the parties in a criminal trial include the Crown (as...

Parvati
In Hindu mythology, the consort of Shiva in one of her gentler manifestations, and the mother of Ganesh, the god of prophecy, and Karytikeya (or Skanda), the god of war. She is said to be the...

parvise
In architecture, a French term for an enclosed space in front of a church, as formerly at St Paul's Cathedral, London. In England a room over a church porch is incorrectly called a parvise. ...

Pasargadae
Ancient city in Persia. Cyrus the Great made it his capital and built a number of palaces and temples there. The capital was transferred to Persepolis by King Darius I. Pasargadae was situated near...

Pascal, Blaise
(1623-1662) French philosopher and mathematician. He contributed to the development of hydraulics, calculus, and the mathematical theory of probability. Mathematics Pascal's work in mathematics widened general...

Paschal II
(died 1118) Pope, 1099-1118. He reigned during the periods of the investiture contest, bringing him into conflict with the Holy Roman emperors Henry IV and Henry V, as well as Henry I of England. He was...

Pascin, Jules
(1885-1930) Bulgarian-born US painter. His sensual studies of women have soft, hazy colours and fluid lines. A typical example is Claudine Resting 1923 (Chicago Institute of Art). He also painted portraits...

Pascoli, Giovanni
(1855-1912) Italian poet and scholar. His first collection of verse, Myricae 1891, contained mostly poems of simple country life. It was followed by Primi poemetti 1897 and Canti di Castelvecchio 1903. Poemi...

Pasek, Jan Chryzostom
(c. 1636-c. 1701) Polish diarist and soldier. His Pamietniki/Memoirs, written 1656-88, describe his battles, journeys, domestic life, politics, and farming. First published in 1836, the book bec ...

Pasiphaë
In Greek mythology, the wife of King Minos of Crete and mother of Phaedra and the Minotaur, the monstrous offspring of her union with a bull sent from the sea by the god Poseidon. The craftsman...

Pasmore, (Edwin John) Victor
(1908-1998) English painter. In the 1930s he was a founder-member of the Euston Road School, which favoured a subdued representational style. He painted landscapes and, from 1947, three-dimensional abstract...

Pasolini, Pier Paolo
(1922-1975) Italian film director, poet, and novelist. From his Marxist viewpoint, he illustrated the decadence and inequality of society, set in a world ravaged by violence and sexuality. Among his films are...

Pasquin
Legendary cobbler of Rome, celebrated for his gibes. The name Pasquin was also given to the mutilated statue of a gladiator, found under a pavement near the Palazzo Orsini in 1501. It became...

pass laws
South African laws that required the black population to carry passbooks (identity documents) at all times and severely restricted freedom of movement. The l ...

Passage to India
Novel (1924) by E M Forster. In his last and possibly best novel Forster depicts Indian and...

Passamaquoddy
Member of an American Indian people living in the Quoddy Loop area of Maine, Massachusetts, and New Brunswick, Canada. They speak an Algonquian language, and are related to the Penobscot, their...

Passau
Town in southeast Bavaria, Germany, 148 km/92 mi northeast of Munich; population (2005 est) 50,700. It lies on the Austrian border at the junction of the rivers Inn and Ilz with the Danube. There...

Passchendaele, Battle of
In World War I, successful but costly British operation to capture the Passchendaele ridge in western Flanders, part of the third Battle of Ypres October-November 1917; British casualties numbered...

Passfield, Baron Passfield
Title of the Fabian socialist Sidney Webb. ...

passion play
Play representing the death and resurrection of Jesus, performed on Good Friday throughout medieval Europe. It has its origins in medieval mystery plays. Traditionally, a passion play takes place...

Passover
Alternative term for the Jewish festival of Pesach. ...

passport
Document issued by a national government authorizing the bearer to go abroad and guaranteeing the bearer the state's protection. Some countries require an intending visitor to obtain a special...

pastel
In art, chalky material consisting of ground pigment bound with gum. Pastel is a form of painting in dry colours and produces a powdery surface, which is delicate and difficult to conserve. Artists...

Pasternak, Boris Leonidovich
(1890-1960) Russian poet and novelist. His novel Dr...

Pasteur, Louis
(1822-1895) French chemist and microbiologist who discovered that fermentation is caused by micro-organisms and developed the germ theory of disease. He also created a vaccine for rabies, which led to the...

Paston family
Family of Norfolk, England, whose correspondence and documents (known as the Paston letters) for 1422-1509 throw valuable light on the period. ...

Paston Letters
Correspondence of a Norfolk family, together with state papers and other documents, covering the period 1422-1509. They form an invaluable source of information on 15th-century life...

Pastor, Tony
(1837-1908) US actor and manager. He worked successfully to clean up the image of vaudeville, banning the sale of liquor and getting rid of the cruder acts. He opened several theatres and introduced such stars...

pastoral staff
Staff shaped like a shepherd's crook carried by Christian cardinals and bishops on certain formal occasions as a sign of office. ...

Pastorius, Francis Daniel
(c. 1651-c. 1720) German lawyer. In 1683, acting as agent for a group of German Quakers, he journeyed to Philadelphia, bought 15,000 acres from Penn, and laid out the settlement...

Pastrana (Arango), Andres
(1955) Colombian politician and president 1998-2002. A member of the Partido Social Conservador (PSC; Social Conservative Party), he was elected against an upsurge in violence, promising to make peace...

Pasvolsky, Leo
(1893-1953) Russian-born economist and government official. He was instrumental in organizing the United Nations (UN) and in drawing up its charter. He worked to get the USA to join the UN and attended the...

Pataliputra
Ancient northern Indian city, founded c. 490 BC as a small fort (Pataligrama) near the River Ganges within the kingdom of Magadhajanapada. It became the capital for both the Mauryan dynasty under...

Patanjali
Indian author of the Yoga-s?tras, which propound the philosophy of yoga. According to Patanjali, yoga consists of eight steps:yama (self-restraint);niyama...

Patay, Battle of
Battle fought on 18 June 1429 at the village of Patay, 21 km/13 mi northwest of Orléans, France, during the Hundred Years' War, in which the French under the Duke of Alençon and Joan of Arc...

Patay, Battle of
During the Hundred Years' War, French victory led by Joan of Arc over the English on 19 June 1429 at the village of Patay, 21 km/13 mi northwest of Orléans. Joan of Arc was continuing her...

Patch, Alexander (McCarrell)
(1889-1945) US general. During World War II, he became commander of US XIV Corps on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands in 1942, crushing Japanese resistance there in 1943. In August 1944 he commanded the US 7th...

patchwork
Textile technique used mainly for quilts and bedcovers. Small pieces of fabric, often offcuts, in varying colours and patterns, are sewn together by the edges, usually in a geometric pattern, to...

paten
Flat dish of gold or silver used in the Christian church for holding the consecrated bread at the Eucharist. ...

patent
Documents conferring the exclusive right to make, use, and sell an invention for a limited period. Ideas are not eligible; neither is anything not new. In the UK, patents are granted by the Patent...

patent rolls
In England, records of royal grants of privileges or office made under the Great Seal from 1201. Most important administrative acts were recorded in this way, but by the later middle ages patent...

Pater, Jean Baptiste Joseph
(1695-1736) French rococo painter. A pupil of Antoine Watteau, he followed him closely in subject and style, specializing in fêtes galantes (festive groups of courtly figures in fancy dress). He is well...

Pater, Walter Horatio
(1839-1894) English scholar, essayist, and art critic. He published Studies in the History of the Renaissance (1873), which expressed the idea of `art for art's sake` that...

Paterculus, Marcus
Shortened name of the Roman historian Velleius Paterculus. ...

Paternoster
In the Roman Catholic Church, the Lord's Prayer. The opening words of the Latin version are Pater noster. ...

Paterson, Banjo (Andrew Barton)
(1864-1941) Australian journalist and folk poet. Early acquaintance with drovers, squatters, and even bushrangers in New South Wales gave him material for his collection The Man from Snowy River and Other...

Paterson, Emma
(1848-1886) English trade unionist. Appointed secretary of the Women's Suffrage Association in 1872, she later founded the Women's Protective and Provident League to promote the establishment of trade unions,...

Paterson, William
(1745-1806) Irish-born US Supreme Court justice and political leader. A member of the Constitutional Convention 1787, he was elected one of New Jersey's first US senators 1789. After serving as New Jersey...

Pathan
Member of a people of northwestern Pakistan and Afghanistan, numbering about 14 million (1984). The majority are Sunni Muslims. The Pathans speak Pashto, a member of the Indo-Iranian branch of the...

Pather Panchali
Bengali novel by Bibhuti Bhushan Banerji (1894-1950), published in 1929. It was his first major success. Episodic in structure, it offers an authentic portrayal of everyday life seen through the...

Pathfinder Force
In World War II, special RAF force of highly experienced and skilled bomber crews carrying the best navigational equipment and used to find and mark targets for the main bombing forces. This...

patina
Effect produced on bronze by oxidation, which turns the surface green, and by extension any lacquering or finishing technique, other than gilding, applied to bronze objects. Patina can also mean the...

Patmore, Coventry (Kersey Dighton)
(1823-1896) English poet and critic. His first volume of verse, Poems 1844, was admired by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He published the sequence of poems The Angel in the House 1854-63. His homely...

Paton, Joseph Noel
(1821-1901) Scottish painter. Taking his subjects largely from legend and history, he painted in a detailed style that was close to the approach of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (Millais...

patriarch
In the Old Testament, one of the ancestors of the human race, and especially those of the ancient Hebrews, from Adam to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and his sons (who became patriarchs of the Hebrew...

patrician
Member of a privileged class in ancient Rome, which originally dominated the Senate. During the 5th and 4th centuries BC many of the rights formerly exercised by the patricians alone were extended...

Patrick, Mason (Mathews)
(1863-1942) US soldier and aviator. From 1921, as chief of the post-war air service, Patrick fostered experimentation in aircraft design and established a chain of air facilities. He supported the 1926...

Patrick, St
(c. 389-c. 461) Patron saint of Ireland. Born in Britain, probably in South Wales, he was carried off by pirates to six years' slavery in Antrim, Ireland, before escaping either to Britain or Gaul to train as a...

patriot
Person who loves his or her country and supports and defends it. In colonial America, the revolutionaries who fought for independence of the colonies from Britain called themselves Patriots. Those...

Patriot missile
Ground-to-air medium-range missile system used in air defence. It has high-altitude coverage, electronic jamming capability, and excellent mobility. US Patriot missiles were tested in battle...

patronage
Power to give a favoured appointment to an office or position in politics, business, or the church; or sponsorship of the arts. Patronage was for centuries bestowed mainly by individuals (in Europe...

Patten, Chris(topher Francis)
(1944) British Conservative politician, governor of Hong Kong 1992-97. He was MP for Bath 1979-1992 and Conservative Party chair 1990-92, orchestrating the party's campaign for the 1992 general...

Patten, Gilbert
(1866-1945) US writer. From 1896 to 1913 he wrote his Frank Merriwell series for Tip Top Weekly under the pen-name of Burt L Standish. Frank Merriwell became a popular paradigm of youth, virtue, wealth,...

pattern
In Ireland, the traditional celebration of the feast-day of a saint who is a local `patron`. A pattern was usually held at a holy well dedicated to the saint, with devotees kneeling in...