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

Scottish law
The legal system of Scotland. Owing to its separate development, Scotland has a system differing from the rest of the UK, being based on ...

Scottish National Party
Nationalist party that supports the separation of Scotland from the UK as an independent state within the European Union. It was formed by the combining of several early nationalist parties in 1934...

Scottish National Portrait Gallery
Edinburgh art gallery, founded in 1882. It aims to illustrate Scottish history with portraits of Scots distinguished in any activity, and paintings which illustrate the history of Scottish dress and...

Scottish Parliament
Devolved legislative (law-making) body of Scotland. It comprises 129 members and was created by the November 1998 Scotland Act, which was passed following the Scottish electorate's overwhelming...

Scouts
Worldwide youth organization that emphasizes character, citizenship, and outdoor life. It was founded (as the Boy Scouts) in England in 1908 by Robert Baden-Powell. His book Scouting for Boys...

Scoville, Joseph Alfred
(1815-1864) US journalist and novelist. Scoville was briefly John C Calhoun's private secretary. After Calhoun's death, he became editor of the New York Picayune and the Pick.His writings provoked Northern...

Scribe
Member of an ancient Jewish group of biblical scholars, both priests and laypersons, who studied the books of Moses and sat in the Sanhedrin (supreme court). In the New Testament they are associated...

Scribe, Augustin Eugène
(1791-1861) French dramatist. He achieved recognition with Une Nuit de la garde nationale/Night of the National Guard 1815, and with numerous assistants produced many plays of technical merit but little...

Scribner, Charles
(1854-1930) US publisher. In 1879 Charles became head of the firm that became Charles Scribner's Sons. He was president and then chairman from 1928 onwards. Scribner's authors included Edith Wharton, George...

scrip issue
Practice of issuing more shares in a company on to the market. This is usually done on the basis of a certain number of shares per each share already issued; so under a one-for-one scrip issue a...

Scripps, E(dward) W(yllis)
(1854-1926) US journalist. Scripps founded the Cleveland Penny Press in 1878. He eventually bought another 30 mass-market papers, creating the first US major newspaper chain. In 1907 he founded the United...

Scripps, James Edmund
(1835-1906) US newspaper publisher who established the Detroit Evening News 1873, and with his younger brother Edward Wyllis Scripps (1854-1926) created the first US national newspaper chain 1880 with the St...

script
In drama, the written text or draft of a film, play, or radio or television broadcast, as used by the actors or performers. ...

scruple
In theology, the fear of sin when none has been committed. Generally, scruples are thoughts characterized by uncertainty or hesitation in relation to right and wrong moral conduct. Scruples may be...

Scruton, Roger Vernon
(1944) British philosopher and right-wing social critic, professor of aesthetics at Birkbeck College, London, from 1985. Advocating the political theories of Edmund Burke in such books as The Meaning of...

Scud
Soviet-produced surface-to-surface missile that can be armed with a nuclear, chemical, or conventional warhead. The Scud-B, deployed on a mobile launcher, was the version most commonly used...

Scudéry, Magdeleine de
(1607-1701) French novelist. She wrote long romances on the theme of love and was the hostess of a brilliant salon in Paris from about 1650. Her works include Artamène, ou le...

Scully, Vincent (Joseph, Jr)
(1920) US architectural historian. Scully made major contributions to the history of modern American architecture with his studies of Louis Sullivan's humanism and Frank Lloyd Wright's symbolism. His 15...

sculpture
Artistic shaping of materials such as wood, stone, clay, metal, and, more recently, plastic and other synthetics. Since ancient times, the human form has been the principal subject of sculpture...

scumble
In art, to cover an oil painting lightly with opaque or semi-opaque colours so as to soften the outlines or colours. A similar effect may be produced on a drawing by lightly rubbing the image. ...

Scuola di San Rocco
Headquarters of one of the Venetian confraternities, with wall paintings by Tintoretto. ...

scutage
In medieval Europe, a feudal tax imposed on knights as a substitute for military service. It developed from fines for non-attendance at musters under the Carolingians, but in England by the 12th...

Scylla and Charybdis
In Greek mythology, a sea monster and a whirlpool, between which Odysseus had to sail. Later writers located them at the northern end of the Straits of Messina, between Sicily and Italy. The monster...

Scythia
Region north of the Black Sea between the Carpathian Mountains and the River Don, inhabited by the Scythians 7th-1st centuries BC. From the middle of the 4th century, they were slowly superseded...

SD
Abbreviation for Sicherheitsdienst, the security arm of the SS. ...

SDI
Abbreviation for Strategic Defense Initiative. ...

SDLP
Abbreviation for Social Democratic and Labour Party, a Northern Ireland political party. ...

SDP
Abbreviation for Social Democratic Party, former British political party. ...

SDR
Abbreviation for special drawing right. ...

SE-5a
British fighter aircraft of World War I. One of the great combat machines of the war it was agile, robust, and easy to fly, though the first models suffered from...

sea law
Set of laws dealing with fishing areas, ships, and navigation; see maritime law. ...

Sea Peoples
Unidentified seafaring warriors who may have been Achaeans, Etruscans, or Philistines, who ravaged and settled the Mediterranean coasts in the 12th-13th centuries BC. They were defeated by Ramses...

sea serpent
Legendary sea creature, often resembling a snake in shape but of enormous size. Ancient stories of sea serpents can usually be identified with known animals such as whales, squids, manatees,...

Seabury, Samuel
(1873-1958) US lawyer and anticorruption investigator. The youngest judge to be elected in New York, Seabury exposed much municipal corruption. He forced the resignation of Mayor James John Walker in 1931, and...

Seacole, Mary
(1805-1881) Jamaican nurse. Her popularity during the Crimean War rivalled that of Florence Nightingale. She was rejected as a nurse by the British War Office, and by one of Florence Nightingale's assistants,...

Seaga, Edward Philip George
(1930) US-born Jamaican centre-right politician, prime minister 1980-89. Leader of the Jamaican Labour Party (JLP) and the opposition from 1974, he defeated Michael Manley's People's National Party...

Seager, Richard B(erry)
(1882-1925) US archaeologist. In 1903 Seager joined an excavation of Minoan remains on Crete and was soon in charge of his own site. Seager stayed in Crete for many years and wrote many important works on his...

seal
Mark or impression made in a block of wax to authenticate letters and documents. Seals were used in ancient China and are still used in China, Korea, and Japan. In medieval England, the great seal...

seam
Line along which two pieces or sections of fabric are sewn together. Different types of seam are used in different situations. In most factory-produced clothing, plain...

Seaman, Elizabeth
(c. 1865-1922) US journalist. A pioneering woman journalist, Seaman took her pen-name from a Stephen Foster song about a social reformer. In 1889-90, she made a round- ...

Seanad Éireann
Upper house or senate of the Oireachtas (legislature) in the Republic of Ireland. It has 60 members or senators, and its term of office is up to five years, concurrent with that of the Dáil (lower...

Searle, John R(ogers)
(1932) US philosopher and linguist. Searle taught first at Oxford, 1956-59, and then at the University of California, Berkeley. His many publications include Minds, Brains, and Science (1985), which he...

Searle, Ronald William Fordham
(1920) English cartoonist and illustrator. He created the schoolgirls of St Trinian's characters in 1941 and has made numerous cartoons of cats. His drawings as a Japanese prisoner of war during World War...

Sears, Minnie Earl
(1873-1933) US cataloguer and bibliographer. After working at the New York Public Library, 1914-20, Sears joined the H W Wilson Company and published her List of Subject Headings for Small Libraries. At the...

seasonal adjustment
In statistics, an adjustment of figures designed to take into account influences that are purely seasonal, and relevant only for a short time. The resulting figures are then thought to reflect...

seasonal unemployment
Unemployment arising from the seasonal nature of some economic activities. An example is agriculture, which uses a smaller labour force in winter. Seasonal employment can be created, however, as in...

SEATO
Abbreviation for Southeast Asia Treaty Organization. ...

Seattle
(c. 1788-1866) Suquamish/Duwamish chief. An active warrior as a youth, Seattle later converted to Christianity and advocated peace with the white colonists. The city of Seattle was named in his honour in 1852. ...

Sebastian
(1554-1578) King of Portugal 1557-78. He succeeded his grandfather John III. Ambitious of martial glory, he led an expedition in Morocco in 1578 to support the claims of Muhammad, the usurper. Like Muhammad,...

Sebastian, St
(died c. 258) Roman soldier. He was traditionally a member of Emperor Diocletian's bodyguard until his Christian faith was discovered. He was condemned to be killed by arrows. Feast day 20 January. Sebastian is...

Sebastiani, Horace François
(1772-1851) Corsican-born French soldier and diplomat. He served with distinction in several Napoleonic campaigns, was wounded at the battles of Austerlitz and Leipzig, and fought in Spain and Russia. After...

Sebastiano del Piombo
(c. 1485-1547) Venetian painter, he was a pupil of Giorgione and developed a similar style. In 1511 he moved to Rome, where his friendship with Michelangelo (and rivalry with Raphael) inspired his finest works,...

SEC
Abbreviation for Securities and Exchange Commission, US government body. ...

secession
In politics, the withdrawal from a federation of states by one or more of its members, as in the secession of the Confederate states from the Union in the USA 1860, Singapore from the Federation of...

Seckler-Hudson, Catheryn
(1902-1963) US political scientist and educator. Seckler-Hudson taught political science and public administration at American University, 1933-63, where she served as dean of the school of government,...

Secombe, Harry Donald
(1921-2001) Welsh-born singer, entertainer, presenter, and comedian who rose to fame on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) radio programme The Goon Show, which ran from 1951 to 1960, with one final...

Second Amendment
See Amendment, Second. ...

Second Front
In World War II, battle line opened against Germany on 6 June 1944 by the Allies (Britain and the USA). See D-day. Following Germany's invasion of the USSR June 1941 (the `first front`),...

Second Great Awakening
US religious evangelical revivalist movement, lasting from about 1800 to 1870. The Second Great Awakening permanently changed the face of religion in the USA; it saw a rise in the numbers of...

second sight
Another name for clairvoyance. ...

Second World
Former term for the industrialized communist...

Second World War
Alternative name for World War II, 1939-45. ...

Secret Garden, The
Novel for children by Frances Hodgson Burnett first published in the USA in 1911. Mary, a spoilt, sickly orphan, is sent from India to England to live at the house of her uncle, a crippled recluse....

secret police
Any state security force that operates internally, against political dissenters or subversives; for example, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and the UK Special Branch. ...

secret service
Any government intelligence organization. In the USA the Secret Service...

secret society
Society with membership by invitation only, often involving initiation rites, secret rituals, and dire punishments for those who break the code. Often founded for religious reasons or mutual...

secrétaire
(French) a small writing desk. ...

secretary of state
In the UK, a title held by a number of ministers; for example, the secretary of state for foreign and commonwealth affairs. Originally the title was given under Elizabeth I of England to each of two...

section
In architectural drawing, a vertical plane cut through a building, showing the elevations of individual rooms. ...

Securities and Exchange Commission
US organization whose primary aim is to protect investors and maintain the integrity of the US securities (stocks and bonds) and financial markets. The SEC requires public companies to disclose...

Securities and Investment Board
UK body with the overall responsibility for policing financial dealings in the City of London. Introduced in 1987 following the deregulation process of the so-called Big Bang, it acts as an...

security
In finance, assets that may be sold if a borrower defaults on a loan. For example, when a person takes out a mortgage on a house, the house acts as security for the lender. If the person cannot...

Security Council
The most important body of the United Nations; see United Nations. ...

Sedaine, Michel-Jean
(1719-1797) French dramatist. His plays include the bourgeois drama Le Philosophe sans le savoir/The Duel 1765 and the one-act comedy La Gageure imprévue 1768. He also wrote librettos, including those for...

sedan chair
Enclosed chair for one passenger carried on poles by two or more bearers. Introduced into England by Sanders Duncombe in 1634, by the 18th century it was the equivalent of a one-person taxi. The...

Sedan, Battle of
During the Franco-Prussian War, disastrous French defeat by the Prussians 2 September 1870 at Sedan, a fortified town in northern France, close to the Belgian border and about 195 km/120 mi...

Sedd-el-Bahr
Turkish village in the Gallipoli peninsula on the north side of the entrance to the Dardanelles. It is of great strategic importance because of its position and had been fortified by...

Seddon, Richard John
(1845-1906) New Zealand Liberal Party centrist politician, prime minister 1893-1906. During the 1890s he provided military assistance to the UK during the Boer War in South Africa. In 1901 he secured the...

Seder
Ceremonial meal that begins the Jewish festival of Pesach (Passover), which celebrates the Exodus. The order of the service is laid down in a Haggadah, which includes prayers, hymns, and a...

Sedgemoor, Battle of
In English history, a battle on 6 July 1685 in which Monmouth's rebellion was crushed by the forces of James II, on a tract of marshy land 5 km/3 mi southeast of Bridgwater, Somerset. ...

Sedgwick, Catherine Maria
(1789-1867) US writer. Sedgwick wrote several moral guidance books. The most popular American female author of her time, she was held in high regard by such contemporaries as Nathaniel Hawthorne. ...

Sedgwick, John
(1813-1864) US soldier. Sedgwick saw considerable action in the Seminole War, the Mexican War, and in the American West. A brigade, division, and finally corps commander in...

Sedgwick, Theodore
(1811-1859) US legal scholar. Sedgwick practised law for several years, 1934-50,and served as US district attorney for the Southern District of New York, 1858-59. He wrote extensively for the popular press,...

sedilia
In church architecture, a row of seats, usually three in number, on the south side of the chancel, for the officiating clergy. Most examples are late Gothic, with richly carved canopies. ...

sedition
In the UK, the offence of inciting unlawful opposition to the crown and government. Unlike treason, sedition does not carry...

Sedley, Charles
(1639-1701) English poet and dramatist. He wrote five plays, including the comedies The Mulberry Garden 1668 and Bellamira 1687, and the tragedy Antony and Cleopatra 1677; and poems and songs, including...

Seebohm, Frederick
(1909-1990) English banker and philanthropist. Seebohm joined Barclays Bank at 20, progressing to become chair 1965-72. He was highly influential in the banking world, and chaired numerous governmental and...

Seeckt, Hans von
(1866-1936) German general. In World War I, he planned the German offensive against Soissons, the Austro-German campaign in Galicia, and the conquest of Serbia 1915. Following the war, he became...

Seeger, Alan
(1888-1916) US soldier and poet. His Collected Poems 1916 contain the war poem `I have a rendezvous with death`. He enlisted in the French Foreign Legion in World War I, and was killed after winning the...

Seeley, John Robert
(1834-1895) English historian. In 1865 his Ecce Homo, a study of Christ as a man, caused much controversy. Among his historical works are The Expansion...

Sefer Torah
In Judaism, elaborately decorated and dressed Torah scroll housed in the ark in every synagogue. The scrolls are handwritten in Hebrew on vellum (calf, lamb, or kid skin) by a scribe who has trained...

Seferis, George
(1900-1971) Greek poet and diplomat. Although his poems are modernist in technique, drawing on Symbolism and surrealism, they are steeped in a classical past and have a spare and elegant clarity. He published...

Sefton, Earl of
Irish title held by the Molyneux family since 1771. The earl's eldest son was called Viscount Molyneux, and his chief seat was Croxteth Hall, Liverpool. On the death of the 7th Earl in 1972, the...

Segal, George
(1924-2000) US sculptor. Segal specialized in sculptural environments, creating lifelike scenes in isolated situations, such as Man at a Table (1961). His work is emotional and socially aware, focusing, among...

Segal, Walter
(1907-1985) Swiss-born British architect. He pioneered community architecture in the UK. From the 1960s he developed proposals for end-users to design and build their own housing, using simple construction...

Segalen, Victor
(1878-1919) French writer. His travels in the Far East as a ship's doctor influenced his writing, which includes Stèles/Stelae 1922 (poems in the Chinese manner) and such novels as Les Immémoriaux/The...

Segar, Elzie Crisler
(1894-1938) US cartoonist, creator of Popeye the sailor 1929. His characters appeared in comic strips and animated films. ...

Segesta
Ancient city in northwestern Sicily. From the early 6th century BC onwards, Segesta was engaged in frequent boundary disputes with the city of Selinus on the south coast of Sicily, and Segesta's...

Seghers, Anna
(1900-1983) German writer. Her political novels are concerned with social and economic exploitation. Das siebte Kreuz/The Seventh Cross 1942 is an account of the workers' resistance movement during the Third...

Seghers, Daniel
(1590-1661) Flemish painter. He made highly detailed paintings of garlands of flowers, often enclosing a picture by some other artist, usually a devotional subject or portrait. Seghers was a pupil of Jan...