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

Cozens, John Robert
(1752-1797) English landscape painter, a watercolourist. His romantic views of Europe, mostly Alpine and Italian views, painted on tours in the 1770s and 1780s, were very popular and greatly influenced the...

Cozzens, James Gould
(1903-1978) US writer. Often promoting socially conservative views, his novels focused on the world of male professionals; his best-known works are carefully crafted character studies such as Guard of Honor...

CPP
Abbreviation for current purchasing power. ...

Crab
In World War II, modified Sherman tank used for clearing minefields. A power-driven spindle from which chains hung was mounted on...

Crab, Roger
(c. 1621-1680) English hermit. He practised great austerity and was accused of witchcraft, imprisoned, cudgelled, and put in the stocks. He published The English Hermite 1655, Dagon's Downfall 1657, and tracts...

Crabbe, George
(1754-1832) English poet. He wrote grimly realistic verse about the poor:The Village (1783), The Parish Register (1807), The Borough (1810) (which includes the story used in Benjamin...

Crabtree, William
(1905-1991) English architect. He designed the Peter Jones department store in Sloane Square, London, 1935-39, regarded as one of the finest Modern Movement buildings in England. The building was technically...

Crace, Jim
British novelist. His 1997 novel Quarantine won the 1997 Whitbread Novel Award and was shortlisted for the 1997 Booker Prize. He also published Continent (1986), The Gift of Stones (1988), Arcadia...

Cradock, Christopher
(1862-1914) English rear admiral. He commanded the cruiser squadron at the Battle of Coronel in 1914, which was sunk by the German squadron under Admiral von Spee; Cradock went down in his...

Cradock, Fanny (Phyllis)
(1909-1994) English television cook who is less remembered for her recipes than for her comically strident manner and brusque on-screen treatment of her embattled husband Johnny. Together they wrote a number...

craft
The creation or decoration of handmade artefacts with a practical purpose, using technical skill and manual dexterity. Crafts may be culture specific, such as Sioux beadwork in American Indian art....

craft union
Union that represents skilled manual or `craft` workers, traditionally trained through apprenticeship schemes. Craft unions were first formed in...

Cragg, Tony
(1949) English sculptor, based in Germany since 1977. His early work consisted of almost flat arrangements of junk material, sometimes displayed like a picture on a wall, sometimes on the floor. From the...

Craig, (Edward Henry) Gordon
(1872-1966) English director and stage designer. His innovations and theories on stage design and lighting effects, expounded in On the Art of the Theatre (1911), had a profound influence on stage production in...

Craig, James
(1871-1940) Ulster Unionist politician; first prime minister of Northern Ireland 1921-40. Elected to Westminster as MP for East Down 1906-18 (Mid-Down 1918-21), he was a highly effective organizer of...

Craig, John
(c. 1512-1600) Scottish religious reformer, a popular preacher of the Reformation. He escaped execution in Rome for confession of his faith after the death of Pope Paul IV in 1559 and returned to Scotland. In 1574...

Craig, Malin
(1875-1945) US soldier. He carried out extensive modernization as army chief of staff in the late 1930s. At his direction, the army upgraded mobilization plans, updated armoured equipment and tactics, and...

Craigievar Castle
Stately 17th-century castle built on a hillside 5 km/3 mi north of Lumphanan, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, by William Forbes. The castle is little altered, and contains magnificent plasterwork in the...

Craik, Dinah Maria
(1826-1887) English novelist. She was the author of John Halifax, Gentleman (1857), the story of the social betterment of a poor orphan through his own efforts. Born in Stoke-on-Trent, the Midlands, at the...

Cram, Ralph Adams
(1863-1942) US architect and author. He was an enthusiast for, and an authority on, the Gothic style. As senior partner of Cram, Goodhue & Ferguson he helped to design many American buildings, for example: the...

cramp ring
In Britain, in the 11th to 16th centuries, a ring worn to ward off attacks of cramp. Rings blessed by the sovereign on Good Friday, made of gold and silver coins offered by him, were supposed to...

Cranach, Lucas the Elder
(1472-1553) German painter, etcher, and woodcut artist. A leading figure in the German Renaissance, he painted religious scenes, allegories (many featuring full-length nudes), and precise and polished...

Crane, (Harold) Hart
(1899-1932) US poet. His long mystical poem The Bridge (1930) uses the Brooklyn Bridge as a symbolic key to the harmonizing myth of modern America, seeking to link humanity's present with its past in an epic...

Crane, Charles Richard
(1858-1939) US internationalist and philanthropist. He was the largest single contributor to Woodrow Wilson's campaign for the presidency in 1912. He cowrote (with Henry Churchill King) the Crane-King report...

Crane, Stephen
(1871-1900) US writer and poet who introduced grim realism into the US novel. His book The Red Badge of Courage (1895) deals vividly with the US Civil War...

Cranmer, Thomas
(1489-1556) English cleric, archbishop of Canterbury from 1533. A Protestant convert, he helped to shape the doctrines of the Church of England under Edward VI. He was responsible for the issue of the Prayer...

crannog
Artificial island and lake dwelling found in Ireland and southwestern Scotland. Some crannogs date from the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods (Middle and New Stone...

Cranston, Alan (MacGregor)
(1914-2000) US Democratic senator. Elected to the US Senate for California 1968-92, he ran unsuccessfully for the presidential nomination in 1984. He supported disarmament and liberal domestic policies. He...

craquelure
Network of fine cracks on a painting's surface that are due to age. In tempera paintings the cracks are barely visible, whereas in oil paintings they can be very distinctive. Craquelure is an...

Crashaw, Richard
(c. 1613-1649) English religious poet of the metaphysical school. He published a book of Latin sacred epigrams, Epigrammatum Sacrorum Liber (1634). His principal sacred poems were published in Steps...

Crassus the Elder, Marcus Licinius
(115-53 BC) Roman general who crushed the Spartacus Revolt in 71 BC and became consul in 70 BC. In 60 BC he joined with Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great in the First Triumvirate and obtained a command in the...

Craterus
(died 321 BC) Macedonian general. When Alexander the Great died 323 BC, Craterus became joint regent of Macedonia and Greece with the general Antipater. He assisted Antipater in the defeat of the Greeks at...

Crates
(lived 5th century BC) Athenian writer of the Old Comedy (see Greek literature). According to Aristotle he initiated the movement away from satirical comedy towards a regular plot. The titles of ten plays are known, but...

Crathes Castle
Castle near Crathes, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, built 1546-96 on the north side of the River Dee by the Burnett family. It contains original tempera painted ceilings, and the problem of preserving...

Cratinus
(c. 520-423 BC) Greek comic dramatist, predecessor of Aristophanes. He wrote 21 comedies, such as Putine/The Bottle, but only fragments of his work survive. He is credited with various improvements in the...

Craven, Wayne
(1930) US art historian and writer. Regarded as a leading historian of American sculpture, he published numerous works, including Sculpture in America: The Colonial Period to the Present (1984). He was...

Crawford and Balcarres, Earl of
Title of members of the Scottish family of Lindsay. The first of this name to settle in Scotland was probably Walter de Lindsay, an Anglo-Norman baron of the reign of David I (1124-1153). The...

Crawford, Cheryl
(1902-1986) US actor, director, and producer. One of the founders of the Group Theatre in 1931, she also helped found the American Repertory Theatre in 1946, the Actors Studio in 1947, and became a director of...

Crawford, Osbert Guy Stanhope
(1886-1957) British archaeologist. He introduced aerial survey as a means of finding and interpreting remains, an idea conceived during World War I. A leading field archaeologist, he was the first archaeology...

Crawford, Robert
(c. 1695-1733) Scottish poet. He is chiefly remembered for his songs, such as `Tweedside`, `The Bush aboon Traquair`, and `The Broom of Cowdenknowes`, many of which were published in the Orpheus...

Crawford, Thomas
(c. 1813-1857) US- (or Irish-)born sculptor who settled permanently in Rome in 1835. He was a woodcarver (c. 1827) and a stone cutter (c. 1832). Essentially an imitator of classical sculpture, he created...

Crawfurd, Thomas
(c. 1530-1603) Scottish soldier. He was taken prisoner by the English at the Battle of Pinkie in 1547 and afterwards helped bring the murderers of Lord Darnley to trial. During internal Scottish conflicts he took...

Crawhall, Joseph
(1861-1913) English painter. In his watercolours of animals and birds, he showed an unusual capacity for rendering essentials with simplified brushstrokes. The Dove (Tate Gallery, London) is a good example. ...

crawling peg
In economics, a method of achieving a desired adjustment in a currency exchange rate (up or down) by small percentages over a given period, rather than by major revaluation or devaluation. Some...

Craxi, Bettino (Benedetto)
(1934-2000) Italian socialist politician, leader of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) 1976-93, prime minister 1983-87. In 1993 he was one of many politicians suspected of involvement in Italy's corruption...

Crayer (or Craeyer), Gaspar de
(1584-1669) Flemish painter. He was greatly influenced by Peter Paul Rubens and painted many church altarpieces, among them The Assumption (Ghent Cathedral). He went to Madrid as painter to the court but...

crayon
Drawing stick made of a mineral substance (chalk, lamp black, charcoal, or red ochre) that is fixed in an oil or wax medium. ...

Crazy Horse
(1849-1877) American Indian Sioux chief, one of the leaders at the massacre of Little Bighorn. He was killed when captured. In June 1998, the face of the mountain sculpture of Crazy Horse in South Dakota was...

creamware
A fine lead-glazed earthenware, composed of white clay from Devonshire, coloured and low-fired. It was invented in Staffordshire soon after 1720 and perfected by Josiah Wedgwood in his...

Creang&acaron;, Ion
(1837-1889) Romanian writer. A friend of Mihai Eminescu, he frequented the literary circle known as Junimea (`youth`), where he presented his short stories based on folklore. His most successful work, the...

Creasy, Edward Shepherd
(1812-1878) English historian and lawyer. He was appointed professor of history at London University in 1840 and was chief justice of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) 1860-70. His best-known work is The Fifteen...

creation
In Judaism and Christianity, God's creation of the universe. It is described in Genesis 1 and 2, the first book of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament). Genesis was once regarded as literally true, and...

creation myth
Legend of the origin of the world. All cultures have ancient stories of the creation of the Earth or its inhabitants. Often these involve the violent death of a primordial being from whose body...

Creation of Adam, The
Fresco (Sistine Chapel ceiling, Vatican) by Michelangelo (1511), showing God reaching out to the earthbound Adam who, though painted as the ultimate in male beauty and form, is lifeless, lacking...

creationism
Theory concerned with the origins of matter and life, claiming, as does the Bible in Genesis, that the world and humanity were created by a supernatural Creator, not more than 6,000 years ago. It...

creative accounting
Organizing and presenting company accounts in a way that, although desirable for the company concerned, relies on a liberal and unorthodox interpretation of general accountancy procedures. Creative...

Crécy, Battle of
First major battle of the Hundred Years' War, fought on 26 August 1346. Philip VI of...

credentials
Instruments which an ambassador, envoy, or other diplomatic agent receives from their own government authorizing them to appear in their diplomatic character and defining their powers. The...

Credi, Lorenzo di
(1458-1537) Italian painter. In his sensitive Madonnas and other decorous religious paintings, his fondness for painting children appears. An example is Madonna and Child (Louvre, Paris). A fellow pupil with...

credit
In economics, a means by which goods or services are obtained without immediate payment, usually by agreeing to pay interest. The three main forms are consumer credit (usually given to individuals...

credit card
Card issued by a credit company, retail outlet, or bank, which enables the holder to obtain goods or services on credit (usually to a specified limit), payable on specified terms. The first credit...

Crédit Mobilier
Institution formed simultaneously with the Crédit Foncier in 1852 in France for making advances on the security of personal or moveable estate. It was taken over in 1932 by the...

Crédit Mobilier scandal
US financial scandal 1872 in which more than a dozen US congressmen, including the future president James A Garfield, were implicated. It involved corrupt dealings by the Crédit Mobilier...

credit rating
Measure of the willingness or ability to pay for goods, loans, or services rendered by an individual, company, or country. The lower the credit rating of a firm, the higher the interest charged by...

creditor
Individual or business organization that is owed money by another individual or business. Money owed to creditors by a company is a current liability on the company's balance sheet. If the Cree
Member of an American Indian people who inhabited the subarctic regions of Canada (northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories to Québec). They are divided into the Woodland Cree and the...

creed
In general, any system of belief; in the Christian church the verbal confessions of faith expressing the accepted doctrines of the church. The different forms are the Apostles'...

Creed, Martin
(1968) English artist. His works are typically minimalist, using everyday, mundane media and reflecting an antimaterialism and playful wit. His widely exhibited Work No 200, `half the air in a given...

Creek
Member of an American Indian people who lived in the southeastern USA (parts of Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Tennessee); they are thought to be descendants of the prehistoric...

Creel, George
(1876-1953) US journalist and government official. Investigative journalist who founded the Kansas City Independent (1898-1909). During World War I, President Woodrow Wilson appointed him head of the...

Creevey, Thomas
(1768-1838) British Whig politician and diarist whose lively letters and journals give information about early 19th-century society and politics. He was a member of Parliament and...

Creighton, Mandell
(1843-1901) English bishop and historian. He was bishop of Peterborough 1891-97, and bishop of London 1897-1901, and professor of ecclesiastical history at C ...

cremation
Disposal of the dead by burning. The custom was universal among ancient Indo-European peoples, for example, the Greeks, Romans, and Teutons. It was discontinued among Christians until the late...

Cremer, William Randal
(1838-1908) English trade unionist and pacifist politician. He founded the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners in 1860, and the Inter-Parliamentary Conferences on Peace...

Cremin, Lawrence (Arthur)
(1925-1990) US historian and educator. His major published works include 3-volume history of American education (1970-80), which won a Pulitzer Prize, and Popular Education and its Discontents (1990). He...

Creole
In the West Indies and Spanish America, originally someone of European descent born in the New World; later someone of mixed European and African descent. In Louisiana and other states on the Gulf...

Creon
In Greek mythology, a king of Corinth and father of Glauce, the second wife of Jason. ...

Creon
In Greek mythology, brother of Jocasta, father of Haemon, and king of Thebes in Sophocles' Antigone. ...

crepe
Fabric woven from yarns spun with an extra-high twist, giving it a crinkled texture and good drape and handle. The effect can be imitated by various chemical finishes applied selectively, causing...

Crerar, Henry Duncan Graham
(1888-1965) Canadian general. Appointed Chief of the Canadian General Staff 1940, he was sent to Britain to organize the training of Canadian troops as they arrived. He resigned 1941 and took a drop in rank to...

crescent
Curved shape of the Moon when it appears less than half illuminated. It also refers to any object or symbol resembling the crescent Moon. Often associated with Islam, it was first used by the Turks...

Crescimbeni, Giovanni Maria
(1663-1728) Italian poet and critic. His Istoria della volgar poesia (1698; revised 1714), is still a standard work on the history of Italian poetry. The Commentari intorno alla storia della volgar poesia...

Crespi, Giuseppe Maria
(1665-1747) Italian painter and etcher. The last noteworthy baroque artist in Bologna, he was a painter of historical and genre scenes, and portraits. He was also a brilliant caricaturist. He was a fine...

Crespo, Joaquín
(1845-1898) Venezuelan president 1884-86, 1892-98. A puppet of Antonia Guzman Blanco during his first term in office, Crespo seized power 1892 and is noted for his involvement in a boundary dispute with...

Cressey, Donald R
(1919-1987) US sociologist of crime. An authority on juvenile delinquency, organized crime, embezzlement, and other white-collar crimes, he served as an adviser to national and state agencies concerned with...

Cressida
Literary name of the Briseis of Greek legend. ...

Cresson, Edith
(1934) French socialist politican, the first woman prime minister of France 1991-92. A longstanding supporter of François Mitterrand, she served under his presidency as minister for agriculture...

Cressy, HMS
British armoured cruiser, sister ship of HMS Aboukir. ...

Cret, Paul Philippe
(1876-1945) French-born US architect and educator who emigrated to Philadelphia in 1903. Particularly prolific during the 1920s, he designed civic and memorial buildings in a modern classical style adapted to...

Crete, Battle of
In World War II, costly but successful German operation to capture the island of Crete from the Allies May 1941. Both sides suffered massive casualties, in particular the German airborne forces...

cretonne
Strong unglazed cotton cloth, printed with a design and used for wall hangings and upholstery. It originally referred to a fabric with an unusual weave of hempen warp and linen weft, made in France....

Creüsa
In Roman mythology, the wife of Aeneas and mother of Ascanius; she died on the night of the fall of Troy. ...

Creüsa
In Greek mythology, another name for Glauce, second wife of Jason. ...

Creüsa
In Greek mythology, mother of Janus and Ion by Apollo. She abandoned Ion at his birth and married Xuthus; they were told by the Delphic oracle to adopt Ion. Creüsa planned to poison her son, but he...

Crichton, James
(1560-1582) Scottish scholar. He was known as `the Admirable Crichton` because of his extraordinary gifts as a poet, scholar, and linguist; he was also an athlete and fencer. According to one account he was...

Crichton, Michael
(1942) US novelist, screenwriter, film director, and producer. He has written the screenplays for such commercial successes as Jurassic Park (1993), Rising Sun (1993), Twister (1996), and Jurassic Park:...

Crick, Francis Harry Compton
(1916-2004) English molecular biologist who was awarded a Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1962, together with Maurice Wilkins and James Watson, for the discovery of the double-helical structure of...

crime
Behaviour or action that is punishable by criminal law. A crime is a public, as opposed to a moral, wrong; it is an offence committed against (and hence punishable by) the state or the community at...

Crime and Punishment
Novel by Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky, published 1866. It analyses the motives of a murderer and his reactions to the crime he has committed. ...

crime fiction
Genre of detective fiction distinguished by emphasis on character and atmosphere rather than solving a mystery. Examples are the works of US writers Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler during the...