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

Catlett, Elizabeth
(1919) US sculptor. As an black American she was a social activist as well as an artist. Based in Morelos, Mexico, she has taught at the School of Fine Arts, National University of Mexico 1958-76, and is...

Catlin, George
(1796-1872) US painter and explorer. His deep interest in the American Indians of the West led him to travel widely, recording pictorially the way of life and customs of the tribes of the Rocky Mountains and...

Cato Street Conspiracy
In British history, unsuccessful plot hatched in Cato Street, London, to murder the Tory foreign secretary Robert Castlereagh and all his ministers on 20 February 1820. The leader, the Radical...

Cato, (Robert) Milton
(1915-1997) St Vincent and the Grenadines centrist politician, chief minister 1967-69, and prime minister 1969-72 and 1974-84. He helped to establish the St Vincent Labour Party (SVLP) in 1954, and from...

Cato, Dionysius
(lived 3rd century) Reputed author of Dionysii Catonis Disticha de Moribus ad Filium (3rd or 4th century), a book of moral injunctions and precepts which was very popular in the Middle Ages. It was translated into many...

Cato, Marcus Porcius
(234-149 BC) Roman politician. Having significantly developed Roman rule in Spain, Cato was appointed censor in 184 BC. He acted severely, taxing luxuries and heavily revising the senatorial and equestrian...

Cato, Marcus Porcius Uticensis
(95-46 BC) Roman politician, great-grandson of Cato `the Censor`. Cato was tribune of the plebs 63 BC. He supported the orator Cicero in proposing the execution of the fellow conspirators of Catiline,...

Catron, John
(c. 1786-1865) Supreme Court justice. He was nominated to the US Supreme Court (1837-65) by President Jackson when the Court was enlarged from seven judges to nine. Known as a `Jacksonian jurist`, he argued...

Cats, Jakob
(1577-1660) Dutch poet. His popularity (some 50,000 copies of his works were sold during his lifetime) persisted into the 19th century. His long didactic poems include Trou-Ringh/Wedding Ring (1637) and...

Cattle Acts
In Irish history, protectionist legislation passed by the English Parliament in 1663, 1667, 1671, and 1681, giving effect to a total prohibition of imports of Irish cattle, beef, pork, and bacon...

cattle industry, early US
In US history, the cattle industry that developed on the Great Plains after the end of the American Civil War (1861-65); the industry boomed rapidly until its sudden demise in the late 1880s. It...

cattle rustling
The stealing of grazing cattle. The term originated in the USA, where pioneer farmers grazed cattle on huge ranges that were difficult to patrol. In recent years high meat prices in Britain and some...

Catton, Bruce
(born 1899) US historian. He specialized in the American Civil War, and his publications include Mr Lincoln's Army 1950, A Stillness at Appomattox 1953 (Pulitzer Prize), U S Grant and the American Military...

Catullus, Gaius Valerius
(c. 84-54 BC) Roman lyric poet. He wrote in a variety of metres and forms, from short narratives and hymns to epigrams. He moved with ease through the literary and political society of late republican Rome. His...

Catulus, Gaius Lutatius
(lived 3rd century BC) Roman general in the first of the Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage, and consul 242 BC. In 241 he commanded a fleet of 200 ships which defeated the Carthaginians off the Aegates Islands. ...

Catulus, Quintus Lutatius
(c. 152-87 BC) Roman general and consul with Marius 102 BC. The united armies of Catulus and Marius defeated the Cimbri (a Germanic tribe) 101, but Catulus grew to resent Marius's reputation and later jo ...

Catuvellauni
Leading southern British tribe of the time of the Roman invasions under Caesar and Claudius, with a fortified stronghold at what is now Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire. Caucasian Chalk Circle, The
Dramatic parable by Bertolt Brecht 1945. The child of a provincial governor in the Caucasus is rescued and brought up by Grusha, a maid, but is finally reclaimed by its natural mother. Forced into...

Caucasoid
Former racial classification used for any of the light-skinned peoples of the world, one of three theoretical major varieties of humans. The Caucasoid group included the indigenous peoples of...

caucus
In the USA, a closed meeting of regular political party members; for example, to choose a candidate for office. The term was originally used in the 18th century in Boston, Massachusetts. In the UK,...

caudillo
Spanish term for leader, often used for a dictator, which originated during the independence movement in Latin America 1808-26. At that time civilian institutions were in decline and soldiers, or...

Cauldron, the
In World War II, area in Libya south of Gazala into which the German field marshal Rommel withdrew after initial reverses in the Battle of Gazala 10 May 1942. The British, under Maj-Gen Neil...

Caulfield, Patrick
(1936-2005) English painter and printmaker. His style is related to pop art, with strong flat colours enclosed within thick black outlines, while his subjects are traditional - typically, landscapes, still...

Caumont
Town in Normandy, northern France, 35 km/22 mi southwest of Caen. During the Allied invasion of Normandy in World War II, Caumont was captured by US troops 1 July 1944 and absorbed in the British...

Caunus
Ancient city on the south coast of Caria in southwestern Asia Minor, opposite the island of Rhodes. Caunus was the birthplace of the painter Protogenes, and exported fruit. ...

causality
In philosophy, a consideration of the connection between cause and effect, usually referred to as the `causal relationship`. If an event is assumed to have a cause, two important questions...

causation
The relation between two states of affairs when the occurrence of the second is invariably a result of the occurrence of the first. For example, the striking of a dry...

Causley, Charles Stanley
(1917-2003) English poet. His first volume of verse, Farewell Aggie Weston (1951), reflected his service in the Royal Navy during World War II. Recent collections of his verse include Collected Poems...

caution
Legal term for a warning given by police questioning a suspect, which in the UK must be couched in the following terms:`You do not have to say anything unless you wish to do so, but what you say...

Cavaco Silva, Anibal
(1939) Portuguese politician, prime minister and Social Democratic Party (PSD) leader 1985-95, and president from 2006. Under his leadership Portugal joined the...

Cavafy, Constantinos.
(1863-1933) Greek poet. An Alexandrian, he shed light on Greek history, recreating the classical period with zest. He published only one book of poetry and remained almost unknown until translations of his work...

Cavalcanti, Guido
(c. 1255-1300) Italian poet. A Florentine and friend of Dante, he was a leading exponent of the dolce stil nuovo (sweet new style). His `Donna mi prega/A Lady Asks Me` is a philosophical poem about love, and...

cavalier
Horseman of noble birth, but mainly used as a derogatory nickname to describe a male supporter of Charles I in the English Civil War (Cavalier), typically with courtly dress and long hair (as...

Cavalier poets
Poets of Charles I's court, including Thomas Carew, Robert Herrick, Richard Lovelace, and John Suckling. They wrote witty, lighthearted lyrics about love and loyalty to the monarch. ...

Cavallini, Pietro
(1250-1330) Italian painter, sculptor, mosaicist, and architect. His importance lies in his partial return to classical tradition (as distinct from the current Byzantine style), which helped to set the...

cavalry
Mounted unit of troops, specifically trained in the techniques of mounted warfare and deployed for their greater speed and manoeuvrability than infantry units. The term is still applied in modern...

cave temple
Temple hewn out of rock. The Great and Small Temples at Abu Simbel, Egypt, dating from about 1301 BC (now relocated), were carved out of the mountainside. In India there are notable Buddhist...

Cave, Edward
(1691-1754) British printer and founder, under the pseudonym Sylvanus Urban, of The Gentleman's Magazine 1731-1914, the first periodical to be called a magazine. Samuel Johnson was a contributor 1738-44. ...

caveat emptor
Dictum that professes the buyer is responsible for checking that the goods or services they purchase are satisfactory. The implication of caveat emptor is that...

Cavell, Edith (Louisa)
(1865-1915) English nurse. As matron of a Red Cross hospital in Brussels, Belgium, in World War I, she helped Allied soldiers escape to the Dutch frontier. She was court-martialled by the Germans and...

Cavell, Stanley (Louis)
(1926) US philosopher. He taught at the University of California 1956-62, and then at Harvard, winning prominence for his wide-ranging writings in value theory, aesthetics, and other areas. He was born...

Cavendish
Family name of dukes of Devonshire; the family seat is at Chatsworth, Derbyshire, England. ...

Cavendish-Bentinck
Family name of the dukes of Portland. ...

Cavendish, Lord Frederick Charles
(1836-1882) British administrator, second son of the 7th Duke of Devonshire. He was appointed by Gladstone as chief secretary to the lord lieutenant of Ireland in 1882. On t ...

Cavendish, Spencer
British politician; see Spencer Compton Cavendish Hartington. ...

Cavendish, Thomas
(1560-1592) English navigator, and commander of the third circumnavigation of the world. He sailed in July 1586, touched Brazil, sailed down the coast to Patagonia, passed through the Straits of Magellan, and...

Cavendish, William
(1720-1764) British Whig politician, prime minister and First Lord of the Treasury 1756-57. His appointment was chiefly a convenience to secure the services of William Pitt the Elder as secretary of war, and...

Cavour, Camillo Benso di, Count
(1810-1861) Italian nationalist politician, a leading figure in the Italian Cawley, William
(1602-1666) English republican politician. He was an active member of the Long Parliament and was one of the judges who condemned Charles I to death 1649. Excluded from pardon on the Restoration of the monarchy...

Caxton, William
(c. 1422-1491) English printer. He learned the art of printing in Cologne, Germany, in 1471 and set up a press in Belgium where he produced the first book printed in English, his own version of a French romance,...

Cayce, Edgar
(1877-1945) US alleged psychic and healer. He gained a wide reputation for being able to diagnose illness and prescribe effective treatment while in a trance, even if the patient was not actually present. He...

Cayrol, Jean
(1911-2005) French poet and novelist. His experience of German concentration camps provided the dominant metaphor in his work, that of a derelict and suffering humanity cast out into a world of signs and...

Cayton, Horace Roscoe
(1903-1970) US sociologist and cultural anthropologist. He taught at Fisk University and later headed a Works Progress Administration research project in Chicago that formed the basis of the landmark study...

CB
Abbreviation for citizens' band (radio). ...

CC
In Britain, abbreviation for county council or cricket club. ...

CCASG
Abbreviation for Cooperative Council for the Arab States of the Gulf. ...

CDU
Abbreviation for Christian Democratic Union, a right-of-centre political party in Germany. ...

CE
Abbreviation for Common Era (see calendar);Church of England (often C of E). ...

Ceausescu, Nicolae
(1918-1989) Romanian politician, leader of the Romanian Communist Party (RCP), in power from 1965 to 1989. He pursued a policy line independent of and critical of the USSR. He appointed family members,...

Cech, Svatopluk
(1846-1908) Czech poet and novelist. He was one of the principal architects of Czech nationalism. His verse is richly rhetorical and full of vivid images. Cech's varied work includes epics based on Czech...

Cecil, (Edward Christian) David
(1902-1986) English critic and biographer. His works include The Stricken Deer (1929, a life of the poet William Cowper); biographies of the writers Walter Scott (1933), Jane Austen (1935), and Thomas Hardy...

Cecil, Edgar Algernon Robert
(1864-1958) British lawyer, parliamentarian and cabinet minister, one of the architects of the League of Nations. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1937 for his work with the League. Cecil was educated at...

Cecil, Robert
(1563-1612) Secretary of state to Elizabeth I of England, succeeding his father, Lord Burghley; he was afterwards chief minister to James I (James VI of Scotland) whose accession to the English throne he...

Cecil, William
See Burghley, William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley. ...

Cecilia, St
(lived 2nd or 3rd century AD) Christian patron saint of music. She was martyred in Rome, Italy, and is said to have sung hymns while undergoing torture. Her feast day is 22 November. There are many compositions in her honour;...

Cecrops
In Greek mythology, the first king of Attica. He was umpire in the dispute between Athena and Poseidon for possession of Attica, in which Athena won and gave her name to the city of Athens. Cecrops...

CEDA
Acronym for Confederación Español de Derechas Autónomas, federation of right-wing parties under the leadership of José Maria Gil Robles, founded during the Second Spanish Republic 1933 to...

Cedar Creek, Battle of
In the American Civil War, decisive battle of the Shenandoah Valley campaign at Cedar Creek, 32 km/20 mi south of Winchester, Virginia, USA, 19 October 1864; 17,000 Confederates under General Jubal...

Céitinn, Seathrún
Gaelic name of Irish Gaelic poet and historian Geoffrey Keating. ...

Cela, Camilo José
(1916-2002) Spanish novelist. Among his novels, characterized by their violence and brutal realism, are La familia de Pascual Duarte/The Family of Pascal Duarte (1942) and La colmena/The Hive (1951). He was...

Celan, Paul
(1920-1970) Romanian-born Jewish poet. He survived a Nazi labour camp and settled in Paris, France, in 1948, where he worked as a translator. Considered outstanding by many, his work slowly gained recognition...

Céleste, Céline
(1814-1882) French dancer and actor. She performed in New York, Liverpool, and London. Her finest part was that of Miami in Green Bushes 1845 by John Buckstone (1802-1879). She was manager of the Adelphi...

Celestina, La
Spanish novel, published anonymously 1499 under the title La Comedia de Calisto y Melibea, but generally known as La Celestina from its principal character. Written in dialogue form, probably by...

celibacy
Way of life involving voluntary abstinence from sexual intercourse. In some religions, such as Christianity and Buddhism, celibacy is sometimes a requirement for certain religious roles, such as the...

Céline, Louis-Ferdinand
(1894-1961) French novelist. His writings aroused controversy over their cynicism and misanthropy. His best-known work is Voyage au bout de la nuit/Journey to the End of the Night (1932). Later novels include...

Celler, Emanuel
(1888-1981) US representative. A Democrat in the US House of Representatives 1923-73, he was chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary. After his electoral defeat by reform Democrats, he joined a commission...

Cellini, Benvenuto
(1500-1571) Italian Mannerist sculptor and goldsmith. Among his works are a graceful bronze Perseus (1545-54; Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence) and a gold salt cellar made for Francis I of France (1540-43;...

Celsus
(lived 2nd century AD) Platonist philosopher from Alexandria. He was one of the earliest opponents of Christianity. He was the author of Alethes Logos/The True Account, in which he accused the Christians of absurd...

Celt
Indo-European people that originated in Alpine Europe and spread to the Iberian peninsula and beyond. They were ironworkers and farmers. In the 1st century BC they were defeated by the Roman...

Celtic art
Art of the Celtic peoples of Western Europe, emerging about 500 BC, probably on the Rhine. It spread to most parts of Europe, but after the 1st century BC flourished only in Britain and Ireland, its...

Celtic field
Any small square field surviving as earthworks or soilmarks in southern England, dating from the Bronze Age or Roman times. These field patterns can be seen covering large areas in the chalkl ...

Celtic mythology
Group of traditional stories and beliefs ascribed to Celtic cultures. Evidence of their mythology can be gleaned from altars, inscriptions, and images in continental Europe, especially France...

Celtis, Konrad
(1459-1508) German humanist and poet. One of the leading figures in the German Renaissance, he sought both to imitate Italian humanism and also to revive German culture. He taught classics and literature at a...

Cenci, Beatrice
(1577-1599) Italian noblewoman controversially executed for murdering her father. Treated with extraordinary cruelty by her father, Francesco Cenci, she finally murdered him with the help of servants and other...

Cendrars, Blaise
(1887-1961) French writer. An associate of the avant-garde poet Apollinaire, he wrote poetry with Futurist tendencies (for example, Prose du Transsibérien et de la petite Jehanne de France/Prose of the...

Cennini, Cennino
(c. 1370-c. 1440) Italian painter and writer, who wrote a practical manual on painting Il libro dell'arte/The Book of Art (c. 1390), an important source...

cenotaph
Monument to commemorate a person or persons not actually buried at the site, as in the Whitehall Cenotaph, London, designed by Edwin Lutyens to commemorate the dead of both world wars. ...

censor
In ancient Rome, either of two senior magistrates, high officials elected every five years to hold office for 18 months. They were responsible for regulating public morality, carrying out a census...

censorship
Suppression by authority of material considered immoral, heretical, subversive, libellous, damaging to state security, or otherwise offensive. It is generally more strict under totalitarian...

centaur
In Greek mythology, a creature half human and half horse, wild and lawless. Chiron, the men ...

CentCom
Abbreviation for US Central Command, a military strike force. ...

Centlivre (or Carroll), Susannah
(c. 1667-c. 1723) English dramatist and actor. The author of 19 plays, her first was a tragi-comedy, The Perjured Husband (1700). Success as a dramatist came with the comedy The Gamester (1705), which was followed...

cento
Literary work consisting of passages from other writings. Composition of centos was a popular literary exercise in Roman times; in particular, Virgil's Aeneid formed the basis of several centos,...

CENTO
Abbreviation for Central Treaty Organization. ...

Central African Federation
Grouping imposed by the British government in 1953, incorporating the territories of Nyasaland and Northern and Southern Rhodesia. Although it established representative government along federal and...

Central African Republic
Landlocked country in Central Africa, bordered northeast and east by Sudan, south by the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of the Congo, west by Cameroon,...

central bank
The bank responsible for issuing currency in a country. Often it is also responsible for foreign-exchange dealings on behalf of the government and for supervising the banking system in the country...

Central Command
Military strike force consisting of units from the US army, navy, and air force, which operates in the Middle East and North Africa. Its headquarters are...

central government
In the UK, that part of the public sector controlled by the nationally-elected government at Westminster, as opposed to local government, which is controlled by local councillors in counties,...

central planning
Alternative name for command economy. ...