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

Euston Road School
Group of English painters associated with the `School of Drawing and Painting` founded in 1937 in Euston Road, London, by William Coldstream (b. 1908), Victor Pasmore (1908-1998), Claude...

Euterpe
In Greek mythology, the Muse of lyric poetry. She inspired music and her symbol was the flute. ...

euthanasia
In medicine, `mercy killing` of someone with a severe and incurable condition or illness. Euthanasia is a highly controversial issue on medical and ethical grounds. A patient's right to refuse...

Eutropius, Flavius
(died AD 370) Roman historian. He was secretary to the emperor Julian the Apostate and accompanied Julian on his Parthian expedition. He wrote a concise history of Rome up to the death AD 364 of the emperor...

Eutyches
(c. 384-c. 456) Christian theologian. An archimandrite (monastic head) in Constantinople, he held that Jesus had only one nature, the human nature being subsumed in the divine (a belief which...

evacuation
Removal of civilian inhabitants from an area liable to aerial bombing or other hazards (such as the aftermath of an environmental disaster) to safer surroundings. The term is also applied to...

Evagoras I
(c. 435-374 BC) Ruler of Salamis in Cyprus from 410 BC. He sided with Athens against Sparta, and was at war with Persia 391-381 BC. Evagoras welcomed the Athenian commander Conon, who had escaped with eight ships...

Evander
In Roman mythology, the son of Hermes by the goddess Carmenta. He is described by Virgil as helping Aeneas against the Rutuli. About 60 years before the Trojan War, he led a colony from Pallantion...

Evangelical Movement
In Britain, a 19th-century group that stressed basic Protestant beliefs and the message of the four Gospels. The movement was associated with the cleric Charles Simeon (1783-1836). It aimed to...

evangelicalism
The beliefs of some Protestant Christian movements that stress biblical authority, faith, and the personal commitment of the `born again` experience. ...

evangelist
Person travelling to spread the Christian gospel, in particular the authors of the four Gospels in the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Proselytizers who appear mainly on television are...

Evans-Pritchard, Edward Evan
(1902-1973) English social anthropologist. His studies, in the 1920s and 1930s, of the Azande and the Nuer peoples of the southern Sudan were attempts to understand both how a tribal society was organized and...

Evans, Arthur John
(1851-1941) English archaeologist. His excavations at Knossos on Crete uncovered a vast palace complex, and resulted in the discovery of various Minoan scripts. He proved the existence of a Bronze Age...

Evans, Caradoc
(1878-1945) Welsh novelist. His books were mainly bitter satires on his own land and people, and his first collection of stories, My People 1915, was suppressed in Wales; it was followed by Capel Sion 1916, My...

Evans, Daniel Jackson
(1925) US governor, engineer, and educator. He served as a Democrat state representative for Washington (1956-65). Washington's only three-term governor (1965-77), he improved the state college...

Evans, Don(ald) L
(1946) US public servant, secretary of commerce 2001-04. In this post he sought a level playing field in the global market for US businesses and also to support continued US leadership in cutting-edge...

Evans, Edith (Mary)
(1888-1976) English character actor. She performed on the London stage and on Broadway. Her many imposing performances include the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet (first performed in 1926); her film roles include...

Evans, Edward Ratcliffe
(1881-1957) British naval commander. Evans was second-in-command of the ill-fated Antarctic Expedition of 1909 and led the expedition safely home after the death of Capt Scott 1913. During World War I, he...

Evans, Frederick William
(1808-1893) English-born US reformer, editor, and Shaker elder. Having edited publications advocating radical reform, he joined a Shaker community in New York and became one of its elders. He was one of the...

Evans, Gwynfor
(1912) Welsh Nationalist politician. Evans became vice-president of Plaid Cymru in 1943, he was president of the party from 1945 until 1981, and was member of Parliament for Carmarthen 1966-70 and...

Evans, Harold Matthew
(1928) English journalist. He was a journalist and editor on provincial newspapers, before becoming editor of The Sunday Times in 1967, where his reputation for investigative reporting and publishing...

Evans, Joan
(1893-1977) British medievalist and social historian. Her wide-ranging publications include Magical Jewels of the Middle Ages and Renaissance 1922, Life in Medieval France 1924, Art in Medieval France...

Evans, John
(1823-1908) English archaeologist and numismatist (studier of coins). Following the prehistoric discoveries of French geologist Jacques Boucher de Crèvecoeur de Perthes, whose Palaeolithic (Old Stone Age)...

Evans, Maurice
(1901-1989) English-born US stage, film, and television actor. He appeared on stage in Britain and in the USA, mainly in classics. He also featured in films and on television, most regularly in Bewitched. He...

Evans, Robley Dunglison
(1846-1912) US naval officer. Known as `Fighting Bob`, he was commander of the Atlantic Fleet (1905-07). He commanded the first segment of the round-the-world cruise of the...

Evarts, William Maxwell
(1818-1901) US lawyer, cabinet officer, and senator. A prominent lawyer, he was chief counsel for President Andrew Johnson in his impeachment trial, before becoming attorney general and then secretary of state....

Eve
In the Old Testament, the first woman, wife of Adam. She was tempted by Satan (in the form of a snake) to eat the...

Evelyn, John
(1620-1706) English diarist and author. He was a friend of the diarist Samuel Pepys, and like him remained in London during the Plague and the Great Fire of London. His fascinating diary, covering the years...

Evening Standard
London evening newspaper. It was founded as The Standard 1827, a Tory paper, and was issued in morning and evening editions from 1857, with the evening edition entitled Evening Standard. In 1916 it...

Evenki
Member of a Tungus-speaking people scattered over a vast area of Siberia, from the River Yenisey to the Sea of Okhotsk. In the north they are seminomadic and engage in fur trapping, fishing, and...

evensong
An evening service of the Anglican Communicon in which most of the liturgy is sung in Anglican chant. It also contains hymns, psalms, and the canticles Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis. ...

Everage, Dame Edna
Character of an Australian `housewife-superstar`, from Moonie Ponds, Victoria, created by Australian Barry Humphries. ...

Everdingen, Allart van
(1621-1675) Dutch landscape painter and etcher. He introduced into Dutch art the romantic ruggedness of Scandinavian scenery - as in Norwegian Waterfall (Staatliche Museen, Berlin) - inspiring Jacob van...

Everest, Mount
World's highest mountain above sea level, in the Himalayas range, on the China-Nepal frontier; height 8,848 m/29,028 ft. It was first climbed by New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary and Sherpa...

Everett, Edward
(1794-1865) US religious leader, educator, and public figure. He served in the US House of Representatives 1825-35, as governor of Massachusetts 1835-39, and as US minister to England 1841-45. He was...

Everett, Kenny
(1944-1995) English television and radio broadcaster. He developed a zany and surreal style as a disc jockey and comic, but his professional progress was hampered by his tendency to make gaffes. Everett's...

Evers, (James) Charles
(1922) US civil-rights leader and mayor. He was field director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Mississippi and mayor of Fayette, Mississippi (1969), the first...

Evers, Medgar
(1925-1963) US civil-rights activist. His murder in 1963 fuelled the civil-rights movement and increased support for legislation that would become the Civil Rights Act 1964. Evers served as Mississippi...

Everson, William Oliver
(1912-1994) US poet who wrote under the pen-name Brother Antonius. A conscientious objector during World War II, he became a Dominican lay brother, but left the order and became associated with the Beat...

Everyman
Popular English morality play of the early 16th century, probably derived from an earlier Dutch play, Elckerlijc. Summoned by Death, Everyman is forsaken by his former friends - allegorical...

evidence
In law, the testimony of witnesses and production of documents and other material in court proceedings, in order to prove or disprove facts at issue in the case. Witnesses must swear or affirm that...

evil
What is bad for, or harmful to, human beings or animals. Evil is traditionally divided into moral and natural evil. Moral evil originates in human action, whereas natural evil originates...

evil eye
The power of injuring, bewitching, or even killing by a glance. The superstitious belief that certain people possess this power is still common in some parts of the world. Amulets are worn to...

evzone
Member of a Greek infantry regiment whose soldiers wear distinctive white, short-skirted uniform. ...

Ewald, Heinrich Georg August
(1803-1875) German orientalist and biblical critic. A professor of philosophy, oriental languages and theology, the seven-volume Geschichte des Volkes Israel b ...

Ewald, Johannes
(1743-1781) Danish poet. His lyrical poetry at its best is unsurpassed in Danish literature, and his plays often show close affinity to French classicism. These include the biblical drama Adam og Eva/Adam and...

Ewart, Gavin (Buchanan)
(1914-1995) English poet. He published his first book of verse Poems and Songs in 1939. His second book, The Londoners (1964), mainly topographical poems, was followed by many volumes of light, but sometimes by...

Ewe
Member of a people inhabiting Ghana and Togo, and numbering about 2.5 million. The Ewe live by fishing and farming, and practise an animist religion. Their language belongs to the Kwa branch of the...

Ewell, Richard Stoddert (Stoddard)
(1817-1872) US Confederate general. He helped to suppress the Apache people 1857. Resigning his commission on the outbreak of the Civil War 1861, he served under `Stonewall`Jackson. He commanded a division...

Ewing, Juliana Horatia Orr
(1841-1885) English writer. She wrote for children; among her stories are Mrs Overtheway 1869, The Brownies and Other Tales 1870, Old Fashioned Fairy Tales 1882, Snapdragon and Old Father Christmas 1888, and...

Ewing, Winnie (Winnifred Margaret)
(1929) Scottish Nationalist politician. Her victory at the Hamilton by-election in 1967 established the Scottish National Party (SNP) as a major political force. Although ousted...

Eworth (or Ewoutszoon), Hans
(c. 1515-c. 1574) Flemish-born English portrait and minature painter. Arriving in England in the late 1540s, he worked for the court. About 35 portraits can either definitely or probably be attributed to him, many...

ex cathedra
Term describing a statement by the pope, taken to be indisputably true, and which must be accepted by Catholics. ...

ex parte
(Latin `on the part of one side only`) in law, term indicating that an order has been made after hearing only the party that made the application; for example, an ex parte injunction. It may...

Ex parte McCardle
US Supreme Court decision 1869 dealing with the power of Congress to deprive the Supreme Court of jurisdiction over appeals. William McCardle, a Mississippi journalist convicted of sedition by a...

Ex parte Merryman
Circuit court decision 1861 dealing with the right of the US president to restrict the civilian court under martial law for secessionist activities. Merryman, a Baltimore citizen, received a writ of...

Ex parte Milligan
US Supreme Court decision 1866 that attended to the issue of the jurisdiction of military tribunals in areas where civilian courts are operating. Milligan, an Indiana citizen sentenced by a military...

Excalibur
In British legend, the mystic sword of King Arthur, which, according to the promise of Merlin, he received from the Lady of the Lake. At his death it was thrown back into the lake by the knight...

excavation
In archaeology, the systematic recovery of data through the exposure of buried sites and artefacts. Excavation is destructive, and is therefore accompanied by a comprehensive recording of all...

exchange rate
Price at which one currency is bought or sold in terms of other currencies, gold, or accounting units such as the special drawing right (SDR) of the International Monetary Fund. Exchange rates may...

exchange rate policy
Policy of government towards the level of the exchange rate of its currency. It may want to influence the exchange rate by using its gold and foreign currency reserves held by its central bank to...

exchequer
Name of the king's court of revenue which is taken from the fact that in early times the accounts were reckoned up on a chequered cloth, resembling a large chessboard, round which the officers sat....

excise duty
Indirect tax levied on certain goods produced within a country, such as petrol, alcohol, and tobacco. It is collected by the British government's Customs and Excise department. ...

Exclusion Bills
In England, series of measures in the reigns of Charles I and II attempting to exclude Catholics from office. The first bill, proposed June 1641, aimed to exclude bishops from sitt ...

excommunication
In religion, exclusion of an offender from the rights and privileges of the Roman Catholic Church. The English monarchs King John, Henry VIII, and Elizabeth I were all excommunicated. ...

executive
One of the three branches of government, the others being the legislature and the judiciary. In a sovereign state the executive consists...

Executive Agency
Any one of a number of UK government agencies set up from the later 1980s by the Conservative administrations of Margaret Thatcher and John Major as part of a `Next Steps` initiative designed to...

Executive Order 8802
Directive issued in June 1941 by US president Franklin D Roosevelt that prohibited government contractors from engaging in employment discrimination based on race, colour, or national origin. It was...

executor
In law, a person appointed in a will to carry out the instructions of the deceased. A person so named has the right to refuse to act. The executor also has a duty to bury the deceased, prove the...

exedra
In architecture, an open recess such as a niche containing a seat, and usually curved in plan. ...

Exekias
(c. 550-525 BC) Athenian potter and leading vase painter of the Attic School in the archaic black-figured style. He is known from 11 signed works. A notable example is an amphora from Vulci, Etruria (Vatican),...

exemplum
In Western medieval and Renaissance literature, a short narrative text that contains a moral. Examples include works by the French essayist Montaigne, the philosopher Pascal, and the Italian...

Exeter Book
Manuscript probably dating from the first half of the 11th century, presented to Exeter cathedral (where it is still preserved) by Leofric, bishop of Exeter from 1050-71. In addition to some legal...

Exeter Cathedral
Cathedral church of St Peter in Exeter, Devon, England, around whose foundations exist remains of the Roman baths and Saxon conventual buildings. It springs from a monastic church established by...

exeunt
A stage direction. ...

existence
In philosophy, what is common to everything that there is. Like being, existence is a fundamental notion in metaphysics generally. Existence can be contrasted with being, as in some types of...

existence of God, arguments for
In Western thought, there are four traditional lines of reasoning to support belief in the existence of God: the argument from design, the cosmological argument, the moral argument, and the...

existentialism
Branch of philosophy based on the situation of the individual in an absurd or meaningless universe where humans have free will. Existentialists argue that people are responsible for and the sole...

exit
A stage direction. ...

Exmouth, Edward Pellew
(1757-1833) British admiral. He joined the navy at 13, and rose rapidly in the service. He won recognition throughout Europe for his bombardment of Algiers, 1816, after which he was made viscount. The...

Exodus
Second book of the Old Testament, which relates the departure of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, under the leadership of Moses, for the Promised Land of Canaan. The journey included the...

exogamy
The custom of marrying outside one's family, tribe, or clan; the converse of endogamy. It leads to the creation of ties of kinship between groups, and sometimes prevents close inbreeding. ...

exorcism
Rite used in a number of religions for the expulsion of evil spirits and ghosts. In Christianity it is employed, for example, in the Roman Catholic and Pentecostal churches. Many conditions were...

experience curve
Relationship between unit costs and cumulative production. As cumulative production increases, productivity costs decline. This effect is ascribed to the fact that, the more often processes are...

experimental archaeology
The controlled replication of ancient technologies and behaviour in order to provide hypotheses that can be tested by actual archaeological data. Experiments can range in size from the reproduction...

exploration, history of
Historically, exploration was undertaken by nations in the quest for new territory, wealth and power, but the explorers have just as often been individuals, risking dangers and uncertainties through...

explosive
Any material capable of a sudden release of energy and the rapid formation of a large volume of gas, leading, when compressed, to the development of a high-pressure wave (blast). Types of...

export credit
Loan, finance, or guarantee provided by a government or a financial institution enabling companies to export goods and services in situations where payment f ...

external economies of scale
Fall in the average cost of production for a firm arising from factors that affect an economy, geographical region, or industry as a whole, including general technological advances and the...

externality
The difference between the social cost or benefit of an economic activity and its private cost or benefit. For example, if a company pollutes the atmosphere but pays nothing to the government or the...

extinction
(Of a peerage or baronetcy) no longer existing, because the line of persons in remainder to the title has died out. ...

extradition
Surrender, by one state or country to another, of a person accused of a criminal offence in the state or country to which that person is extradited. When two nations are involved, extradition is...

Eyadema, (Etienne) Gnassingbé
(1935-2005) Togolese army officer and politician, president 1967-2005. In 1967, after serving in the French army, he overthrew President Grunitzky to become Togo's unelected president. A 1972 national...

Eyck, Aldo van
(1918-1999) Dutch architect. He had a strong commitment to social architecture. His works include an orphans' home, the Children's Home (1957-60), and Hubortus House - a refuge for single parents and their...

Eyck, Jan van
(c. 1390-1441) Flemish painter, who gained in his lifetime a Europe-wide reputation. One of the first painters to use oil paint effectively, he is noted for his meticulous detail and his brilliance of colour and...

Eylau, Battle of
In the Napoleonic Wars, hard-fought battle 8 February 1807 as Napoleon tried to prevent a joint force of Prussians and Russians under Marshal Levin Benningsen retreating toward Königsberg (now...

eyre
In English history, one of the travelling courts set up by Henry II 1176 to enforce conformity to the king's will; they continued into the 13th century. Justices in eyre were the judges who heard...

Eyre, Edward John
(1815-1901) English explorer who wrote Expeditions into Central Australia 1845. He was governor of Jamaica 1864-65. Lake Eyre in South Australia is named after him. ...

Eysteinn Asgrimsson
(died 1361) Icelandic monk. His `Lilja`, which translates as `The Lily`, referring to Our Lady, is the greatest religious poem of medieval Iceland and has twice been translated into English. ...

Ezekiel
(lived c. 600 BC) In the Old Testament, a Hebrew prophet. Carried into captivity in Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar in 597 BC, he preached that Jerusalem's fall was due to the sins of Israel. The book of Ezekiel begins...