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

cost of living
Cost of goods and services needed for an average standard of living. See Retail Price Index (RPI). ...

cost-benefit analysis
Process whereby a project is assessed for its social and welfare benefits in addition to considering the financial return on investment. For example, this might take into account the environmental...

cost-plus pricing
Method employed by companies to price their products. The firm calculates the direct cost of production for a particular product (the `cost`), and then adds to that a percentage mark-up (the...

cost-push inflation
Theory of inflation which states that inflation is caused...

Costa Book Awards
Annual literary prizes open to writers in the UK and Ireland. Nominations are in five categories: novel, first novel, autobiography/biography, children's books, and poetry, each receiving...

Costa e Silva, Artur da
(1902-1969) Brazilian military general and president 1967-69. He was renowned for his repressive government, resorting to press censorship and the initiation of emergency powers in 1968, following...

Costa Rica
Country in Central America, bounded north by Nicaragua, southeast by Panama, east by the Caribbean Sea, and west by the Pacific Ocean. Government The 1949 constitution provides for a president,...

Costa, Claudio-Manoel de
(1720-1790) Brazilian poet. Highly critical of the colonial government of Brazil, he was the anonymous author of the satirical Cartas Chilenas, which attacked the governor. His poem `Villa-Rica` is based...

Costa, Lorenzo
(1460-1535) Italian painter, active in Bologna. An early work is his Madonna Enthroned with the Bentivoglio Family (1487) in the Bentivoglio Chapel of S Giacomo Maggiore, Bologna. He succeeded Andrea Mantegna...

Costas, Bob
(1952) US sports broadcaster. Working for NBC from 1980, he was host of NFL Live, the NBC Sunday coverage of professional football, 1984-93, and from 1988 host of Later with Bob Costas, an interview show...

Coster, Samuel
(1579-1665) Dutch dramatist and surgeon. One of the leading Dutch writers of his day, he is remembered for his violent tragedies modelled on those of Seneca, and for farces that develop the traditional Dutch...

Cosway, Richard
(1742-1821) English artist. He led an 18th-century revival of the miniature, painting portraits of the Prince Regent's court. His works show an exceptional lightness of touch. He became very successful...

Cotán, Juan Sánchez
(1561-1627) Spanish painter. He worked in Granada, and produced many pictures of fruit and flowers. His Quince, Cabbage, Melon, and Cucumber (1602, San Diego Museum of Art, California) is one of the...

Cotehele
Medieval house near Calstock, Cornwall, England, on the west bank of the River Tamar. The house, which is virtually unaltered, was acquired by the National Trust, together with 520 ha/1284 acres,...

Cotes, Francis
(1726-1770) English painter and pastellist. A minor artist, he shared in the elegance of the age of Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough. He worked in London and Bath and was a founder member...

cottage industry
Manufacture undertaken by employees in their homes and often using their own equipment. Cottage industries frequently utilize a traditional craft such as weaving or pottery, but may...

cottar
In feudal time, a free smallholder and tenant of a cottage, mainly in southern England. ...

Cottle, Joseph
(1770-1853) English bookseller, writer, and publisher. He published works by the poets Robert Southey, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and William Wordsworth, including the Lyrical Ballads of Coleridge and Wordsworth...

Cotton, Billy
(1899-1969) English bandleader and entertainer who was a permanent fixture of the variety revues broadcast by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in the 1950s and 1960s. He had several top 20 hits...

Cotton, Charles
(1630-1687) English poet and translator. His Scarronides, or the First Book of Virgil Travestied was published anonymously 1664, and was revised in later editions, becoming more gross on each occasion. He is...

Cotton, John
(1585-1652) English-born American religious leader. In England, his extreme Puritan views led to charges of heterodoxy being filed against him 1633. In the same year, he immigrated to the Massachusetts Bay...

Cotton, Robert Bruce
(1571-1631) English antiquary. At his home in Westminster he built up a fine collection of historical manuscripts and coins, many of which derived from the dissolution of the monasteries. His son Thomas Cotton...

Coty, René
(1882-1962) French centrist politician and head of state. As second president of the Fourth Republic 1954-59, Coty called on the National Assembly to invest General Charles de Gaulle as prime minister...

Cotys
In classical mythology, a Thracian goddess whose orgiastic rites resembled those of Cybele. She was later worshipped by the Greeks at Corinth and Athens. ...

Cotytto
Alternative spelling of the Thracian goddess Cotys. ...

Coughton Court
Large mansion 3 km/2 mi north of Alcester, Warwickshire, England. Coughton has belonged to the Throckmorton family since 1409. The present 16th-century house was set on fire in the Great Rebellion...

Coulmiers, Battle of
First French victory of the Franco-Prussian War 9 November 1870 at Coulmiers, about 19 km/12 mi to the northwest of Orléans, then held by a force of about 20,000 Bavarian troops un ...

Coulton, George Gordon
(1858-1947) English historian. He became a lecturer at Cambridge University in 1919. His major works are Five Centuries of Religion 1923-50, The Medieval Village 1925, Art and the Reformation 1928, and The...

council
In local government in England and Wales, a popularly elected local assembly charged with the government of the area within its boundaries. Under the Local Government Act 1972,...

Council for National Policy
US extreme right-wing organization for formulating strategy, training political activists, and raising funds, founded 1981. Despite having tax-free status, it is run like an exclusive networking...

Council in the Marches
Royal court with jurisdiction over Wales and the English border counties; established as part of the process of imposing the King's rule over the semi-independent Marcher Lords of the Welsh border...

Council of Blood
Court set up in the Netherlands in 1567 by the Spanish during the Revolt of the Netherlands. Established by the governor of the Netherlands, Ferdinand Alvarez de Toledo, the Duke of Alva, it was...

Council of Estates
Executive committee, composed of members of parliament and others, convened in the 17th century to govern Scotland during conflicts with the Crown, notably during the Civil War (1640-51), at the...

Council of Europe
Body constituted in 1949 to achieve greater unity between European countries, to help with their economic and social progress, and to uphold the principles of parliamentary democracy and respect for...

Council of the Entente
Organization of West African states for strengthening economic links and promoting industrial development. It was set up 1959 by Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire,...

Council of the European Union
Main decision-making and legislative body of the European Union (EU). Member states are represented at council meetings by the...

Council of the North
In England, royal council which supervised Yorkshire, Cumberland, Durham, Northumberland, and Westmoreland. Though its origins lay in the 15th century, it was reconstituted in 1537 after the...

council tax
Method of raising revenue (income) for local government in Britain. It replaced the community charge, or poll tax, from April 1993. The tax is based on property values at April 1991, but takes some...

Counter-Reformation
Movement initiated by the Catholic Church at the Council of Trent (1545-63) to counter the spread of the Reformation. Extending into the 17th century, its dominant forces included the rise of the...

countervailing power
In economics, the belief that too much power held by one group or company can be balanced or neutralized by another, creating a compatible relationship, such as trade unions in the case of strong...

Country Party
Parliamentary opposition to the royal government in the 17th and 18th centuries in England. Although not a formal party as such, the term is used by many historians to identify a dissident strand of...

Country Party of Australia
Former name 1916-82 of the National Party of Australia. ...

Countryside March
Demonstration in London on 4 March 1998 to promote understanding of the issues facing rural Britain. Issues that had caused controversy and led to the march included the 1997 bill to ban hunting...

county
Administrative unit of a country or state. It was the name given by the Normans to Anglo-Saxon `shires`, and the boundaries of many present-day English counties date back to Saxon times....

county council
In England, a unit of local government whose responsibilities include broad planning policy, highways, education, personal social services, and libraries; police, fire, and traffic control; and...

county court
English court of law created by the County Courts Act 1846 and now governed by the Act of 1984. It exists to try civil cases, such as actions on contract and tort where the claim does not exceed...

County Hall
Building in central London, on the River Thames opposite the Palace of Westminster. Opened in 1922, it was the headquarters of the governing body for London until the abolition of the county palatine
In medieval England, a county whose lord held particular rights, in lieu of the king, such as pardoning treasons and murders. Under William I there were four counties palatine: Chester, Durham,...

coup d'état
Forcible takeover of the government of a country by elements from within that country, generally carried out by violent or illegal means. It differs from a revolution in typically being carried out...

Couperus, Louis
(1863-1923) Dutch novelist. His first novel Eline Vere (1888), a vivid picture of society in The Hague, was an immediate success. The same psychological insight typifies the characterization of De Stille...

Coupland, Douglas
(1961) Canadian writer. His Generation X (1991) identified a generation of disillusioned twenty-somethings with little hope for the future. It was followed by Shampoo Planet (1992), Life After God...

Coupon Election
British general election of 1918, named after the letter issued November 1918 by the ruling Liberal-Conservative coalition under Lloyd George and Bonar Law jointly endorsing their candidates....

Courbet, Gustave
(1819-1877) French artist. He was a portrait, genre, and landscape painter. Reacting against academic trends, both classicist and Romantic, he became a major exponent of realism, depicting contemporary life...

Courcy, John de
(died c. 1219) In Irish history, a prince of Ulster, which he conquered in 1177. He was a member, possibly illegitimate, of a family with connections in Somerset, but established a number of monasteries in Ulster...

Couric, Katie
(1957) US broadcast journalist. She is best known for co-hosting the popular Today show, where she interviewed political leaders and popular culture icons, covering a range of topical news and human...

Courier, Paul Louis
(1772-1825) French writer. He became the leading pamphleteer in France, noted for his irony. The most acclaimed of his pamphlets, in which he describes the grievances of the peasantry in the face of oppression...

Courland
Former name of part of the Baltic State of Latvia, with its capital at Jelgava. Courland was a coastal region, bounded by...

Cournot, Antoine Augustin
(1801-1877) French economist and mathematician. By 1838 he had developed a theory of market behaviour, but his ideas did not occupy a central position in economic thinking. His main work was Recherches sur les...

court
Body that hears legal actions and the building where this occurs. Particular kinds of law court include the Court of Appeal, the county courts, the Court of Session in Scotland, and, in Northern...

court martial
Court convened for the trial of persons subject to military discipline who are accused of violations of military laws. British courts martial are governed by the code of the service concerned -...

Court of Appeal
UK law court comprising a Civil Division and a Criminal Division, set up under the Criminal Appeals Act 1968. The Criminal Division of the Court of Appeal has the power to revise (alter) sentences...

Court of Arches
In the UK, ecclesiastical court of the archbishop of Canterbury, so called because it was originally held at the church of St Mary of the Arches, now St Mary-le-Bow. It has power to deal with...

Court of Auditors
Institution that audits European Union (EU) revenue and expenditure to ensure lawfulness and sound financial management. It is composed of fifteen members appointed for six years by unanimous...

Court of Protection
In English law, a department of the High Court that deals with the estates of people who are incapable, by reason of mental disorder, of managing their own property and affairs. ...

Court of the Lord Lyon
Scottish heraldic authority composed of one king-of-arms (the Lord Lyon, or Lyon King-of-Arms, three heralds, and three pursuivants who specialize in genealogical work. The court sits in...

Courteline, Georges.
(1858-1929) French dramatist. He wrote a number of comedies and farces, including Lidoire et la biscotte 1892 (a series of sketches on military life), Boubouroche 1893 (on cuckoldry), Hortense,...

Courtenay
English family of French origin, many members of which have held the earldom of Devon since 1335. Hugh de Courtenay of Okehampton was declared Earl of Devon by letters patent in 1335. In 1461...

Courtenay (or Courtney), William
(c. 1342-1396) English prelate, archbishop of Canterbury 1381-96. In 1382 he summoned a council to pass judgement on the religious reformer John Wycliffe's heretical teaching. Wycliffe was allowed to go free,...

courtesy title
In the UK, any title allowed by custom to the progeny of members of the peerage, though the holder has no legal right to it. For example, the eldest son of a duke, marquess, or earl may bear one of...

Courthope, William John
(1842-1917) English literary historian. He wrote works on Shakespeare, Edmund Spenser, and Joseph Addison, and edited Alexander Pope's works in ten volumes with a biography 1871-89. His History of English...

Courtier, The
Book published by the Italian courtier Baldassare Castiglione in 1528 describing the accomplishments of the ideal Renaissance courtier. Written as a dialogue between courtiers and ladies, it...

courtly love
Medieval European code of amorous conduct between noblemen and noblewomen. It inspired a genre of medieval and 16th-century art and literature, including the 14th-century Romance of the Rose and...

Courtneidge, Cicely Esmeralda
(1893-1980) English comic actor and singer. She appeared both on stage and in films. She married comedian Jack Hulbert (1892-1978), with whom she formed a successful v ...

Courtrai, Battle of
Defeat of French knights on 11 July 1302 by the Flemings of Ghent and Bruges. It is also called the Battle of the Spurs from the 700 pairs of gilded spurs, taken from the defeated knights, which...

cousin
The child of one's uncle or aunt. Children of brothers or sisters are full, or first, cousins. If A and B are first cousins, A's child is a first cousin once removed to B, and children of A and B...

Cousin, Jean
(1490-c. 1560) French painter of the Fontainebleau School. He produced the first important French painting of a nude, Eva Prima P ...

Cousin, Victor
(1792-1867) French philosopher who helped to introduce German philosophical ideas into France. In 1840 he was minister of public instruction and reorganized the system of elementary education. ...

Cousins, Frank
(1904-1986) British trade unionist and politician. He was general secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU) 1956-69, and was minister of technology 1964-66 and Labour member of Parliament...

Couthon, Georges
(1755-1794) French revolutionary. He became president of the Committee of Public Safety during the French Revolution and helped Robespierre to destroy the partisans of Jacques Hébert and Georges Danton. He was...

Coutts, Thomas
(1735-1822) British banker. He established with his brother the firm of Coutts & Co. (one of London's oldest banking houses, founded in 1692 in the Strand), becoming sole head on the latter's death in 1778....

Couture, Thomas
(1815-1879) French painter. He was a pupil of Antoine-Jean Gros, and produced the academic (and politely erotic) Romans of the Decadence 1847 (Louvre, Paris). He was also an able portrait painter and was...

couvade
Custom in some societies where a man behaves as if he were about to give birth when his child is being born - including feeling or appearing to feel real pa ...

Couve de Murville, Jacques Maurice
(1907-1999) French politician and diplomat, prime minister 1968-69. He was minister of foreign affairs 1958-68 and succeeded Georges Pompidou as prime minister. He was president of the foreign affairs...

Couzens, James
(1872-1936) Canadian-born US industrialist, Republican senator, and philanthropist. One of the original investors in the Ford Motor Company, he was general manager, and a major factor in the company's early...

Covarrubias, Alonso de
(c. 1488-1564) Spanish architect and sculptor. His works, which mark the transition from the Gothic style to one increasingly influenced by Italian fashions, include the chapel of the New Kings (1531-34) in...

covenant
Solemn agreement between two parties. In Judaism, it describes especially the relationship between God and the Jewish people, based on God's promise to Abraham and his descendants in the Book of...

Covenanter
In Scottish history, one of the Presbyterian Christians who swore to uphold their forms of worship in a National Covenant, signed on 28 February 1638, when Charles I attempted to introduce a liturgy...

Coventry, John
(died 1682) English politician. During a parliamentary debate on theatres in 1670 he indicated that King Charles II's interest was really in the female actors, for which he was attacked and had his nose slit....

Coverdale, Miles
(1488-1568) English Protestant priest whose translation of the Bible (1535) was the first complete version to be printed in English. His translation of the psalms is that retained in the...

cow protection
In Hinduism, the special protection and respect accorded to cows and bulls. Hindus believe that it is wrong to kill or harm any animal, since all living things are part of the same atman (universal...

Coward, Noël Peirce
(1899-1973) English dramatist, actor, revue-writer, director, and composer. He epitomized the witty and sophisticated man of the theatre. From his first success with The Young Idea (1923), he wrote and...

cowboy
US cattle herder working on horseback; one of the great figures of American history and part of the folklore of the rugged adventurous West portrayed in books, films, and plays. Thousands of cowboys...

Cowley, Abraham
(1618-1667) English poet. He introduced the Pindaric ode (based on the work of the Greek poet Pindar) to English poetry, and published metaphysical verse with elaborate imagery, as well as essays. His...

Cowley, Malcolm
(1898-1989) US literary critic and editor. As literary advisor to Viking Press from 1948-85, he edited popularly available editions of selected works of writers from Nathaniel Hawthorne and Walt Whitman to F...

Cowper, William
(1731-1800) English poet. His verse anticipates Romanticism and includes the six books of The Task (1785). He also wrote hymns (including `God Moves in a Mysterious Way`). Cowper's work is important for its...

Cox, Archibald
(1912-2004) US professor of law and solicitor general. He is best known as director of the office of the Watergate special prosecution force in 1973; he was fired when he demanded that President Richard Nixon...

Coxcie (or Coxcyen), Michiel van
(1499-1592) Flemish painter and engraver. After a visit to Rome he based his style on that of Raphael Sanzio, painting religious works such as St Sebastian and Triumph of Christ (both Musée Royal des...

Coxey's Army
March of the unemployed from Ohio to Washington, DC, USA, during the depression of the mid-1890s, led by business executive Joseph S Coxey (1854-1951). Some 500 marchers demonstrating outside...

coyne and livery
In Irish history, a general term employed by English commentators to cover the various feudal and arbitrary exactions imposed by Gaelic Irish and Anglo-Irish lords in late-medieval and...

Coysevox, Antoine
(1640-1720) French baroque sculptor at the court of Louis XIV. He was employed at the palace of Versailles, contributing a stucco relief of a triumphant Louis XIV to the Salon de la Guerre. He also produced...