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

Fishbourne Palace
Romano-British villa, near Chichester in West Sussex, dating from the 1st century AD; several magnificent mosaics remain. It may have been built for the Roman client king, Tiberius Claudius...

Fisher, (Norman Fenwick) Warren
(1879-1948) British civil servant. In 1919 Fisher became permanent secretary to the Treasury and head of the Civil Service. He did much to reorganize the Treasury and to promote high standards of conduct in the...

Fisher, Andrew
(1862-1928) Australian Labor politician. Born in Scotland, he went to Australia in 1885. He entered the Australian parliament in 1901 and became Labor Party leader in 1907. He was prime minister 1908-09,...

Fisher, Dorothy Canfield
(1879-1958) US writer. She published her early fiction and later non-fiction under her maiden and married names respectively. Among other contributions to education she popularized the Montessori teaching...

Fisher, Geoffrey Francis
(1887-1972) English priest, archbishop of Canterbury 1945-61. He was the first holder of this office to visit the pope since the 14th century. GCVO 1953, Baron 1961. ...

Fisher, Herbert Albert Laurens
(1865-1940) English politician and historian. He became a Liberal MP in 1916 and was President of the Board of Education. His major historical work was the three-volume History of Europe (1935). Born in...

Fisher, Irving
(1867-1947) US economist, noted for developing the Fisher, John Arbuthnot
(1841-1920) British admiral, First Sea Lord 1904-10, when he carried out many radical reforms and innovations, including the introduction of the dreadnought battleship. KCB 1894, Baron 1909. He served in the...

Fisher, John, St
(1459-1535) English cleric, created bishop of Rochester in 1504. He was an enthusiastic supporter of the revival in the study of Greek, and a friend of the humanists Thomas More and Desiderius Erasmus. In 1535...

Fisher, M(ary) F(rances) K(ennedy)
(1908-1992) US food writer. She created a new literary genre with her witty, erudite essays evoking the pleasures of food and places. Her translation of Physiology of Taste is considered a classic. She also...

Fiske, Bradley Allen
(1854-1942) US naval officer and inventor. As a naval officer (1874-1916), he developed over sixty patents, including those for submarine protection devices, telescopic sights for naval guns, and the...

Fiske, Fidelia
(1816-1864) US Protestant missionary. Sent as a missionary to the Middle East, she founded a girls' school and ministered among women and children there. Her Recollections of Mary Lyon (1866) is about the...

Fiske, Haley
(1852-1929) US lawyer. He worked in insurance law and became vice-president of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. There he instituted new programmes including a national health campaign for...

Fiske, John
(1842-1901) US historian and philosopher. A graduate of Harvard, he was a lecturer and librarian there. A prolific author, he was also a celebrated history lecturer, popularizing contemporary scientific,...

Fiske, Minnie Maddern
(1865-1932) US stage actor. She began acting as a child and graduated to ingenue parts, eventually reaching stardom as Stella in In Spite of All. She bought the Manhattan Theatre and...

fission-track dating
In geology, a dating method based on the natural and spontaneous nuclear fission of uranium-238 and its physical product, linear atomic displacements (tracks) created along the trajectory of...

Fitch, (William) Clyde
(1865-1909) US playwright. His first plays were based on historical figures, but he soon moved toward successful social comedies including The Moth and the Flame (1898), Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines...

Fitch, James Marston
(1909-2000) US architectural preservationist and historian. He taught at Columbia University (1954-77), where he founded the nation's first historic preservation programme. His works include American...

Fitch, Ralph
(c. 1550-1611) English merchant adventurer. Fitch travelled overland to India with John Newberry, setting out in 1583 and returning in 1591. The account of this journey was published by Hakluyt in the second...

Fitch, Wray (Aubrey)
(1883-1978) US naval officer. He commanded one of the two task forces in the battle of Coral Sea (1942), was superintendent of the Naval Academy (1945-47) and retired with the rank of admiral in 1947. He was...

Fitt, Gerry (Gerard)
(1926-2005) Northern Ireland politician. From 1962 to 1972 he represented the Dock Division of Belfast as a Republican Labour member of the Northern Ireland parliament, then founded and led the Social...

Fitton, Mary
(c. 1578-c. 1647) English courtier and maid of honour to Queen Elizabeth I. Fitton was one of the performers in the masque at the wedding of Lord Herbert in 1600, shortly afterwards becoming his mistress. Attempts...

Fitz-Gibbon, `Fitz`
(c. 1895-1982) US advertising executive. Her speciality was in retail advertising at Macy's, John Wanamaker, and Gimbels, New York, where, as publicity director, she was one of the highest paid women in...

Fitzalan-Howard
Family name of dukes of Norfolk; seated at Arundel Castle, Sussex, England. ...

Fitzgerald
In Irish history, one of the great Anglo-Irish houses, founded in 1170 by the Anglo-Norman baron Maurice Fitzgerald, `the Invader` (d. 1176), with lands at Maynooth, Kildare, granted in...

Fitzgerald
Irish family that bore the title Earl of Desmond; the family line ended in 1583. ...

Fitzgerald, `Honey Fitz`
(1863-1950) US businessman and mayor. He ran a newspaper and was a state senator and Republican US Representative for Massachusetts, before he became mayor of Boston (1906-08, 1910-14). His administrations...

Fitzgerald, Barry
(1888-1961) Irish stage and screen actor. He first won acclaim for his roles in the dramas of Sean O'Casey, appearing in The Plough and the Stars and Juno and the Paycock. He moved to Hollywood in 1937 and...

Fitzgerald, Edward
(1809-1883) English poet and translator. His poetic version of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyám (1859) (and often revised), with its resonant and melancholy tone, is generally considered more an original creation...

Fitzgerald, F(rancis) Scott (Key)
(1896-1940) US novelist and short-story writer. His early autobiographical novel This Side of Paradise (1920) made him known in the post-war society of...

FitzGerald, Garret Michael
(1926) Irish politician, leader of the Fine Gael party 1977-87. As Taoiseach (prime minister) 1981-82 and 1982-87, he attempted to solve the Northern Ireland dispute, ultimately by participating in...

Fitzgerald, Gerald
(1487-1534) Irish political leader. The son of the governor Gerald Fitzgerald, 8th Earl, he was appointed lord high treasurer of Ireland in 1504 and served three terms as lord deputy (1513-20, 1524-28, and...

Fitzgerald, Penelope (Mary)
(1916-2000) English novelist. She published her first novel, The Golden Child (1977), when she was 61. Since then she has applied a distinctive, economic style, an understanding of human nature, and a sense of...

Fitzgerald, Thomas
(1513-1537) Lord Deputy of Ireland, and leader of the Kildare uprising against Henry VIII in 1534-35. Despite the capture of Dublin, the rebellion failed, Tudor rule in Ireland was consolidated, and...

Fitzgibbon, John
(1749-1802) Irish Unionist politician and lawyer. As lord chancellor of Ireland, he opposed all moves towards Catholic emancipation, and was instrumental in having the pro-Catholic lord lieutenant, William...

Fitzherbert, Maria Anne
(1756-1837) Wife of the Prince of Wales, later George IV. She became Mrs Fitzherbert by her second marriage in 1778 and, after her husband's death in 1781, entered London society. She secretly married the...

Fitzhugh, William
(1651-1701) English-born American lawyer and planter. Originally a lawyer, he became a Virginian planter and exporter. He served in the House of Burgesses and prepared a digest of Virginia's laws. His...

Fitzmaurice, George
(1877-1963) Irish playwright for the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, whose peasant and folk plays often blend the realistic and the fantastical. The naturalistic play The Country Dressmaker (1907) was his first and most...

Fitzpatrick, Thomas
(c. 1799-1854) Irish-born US trapper, guide, and American Indian agent. He served as a guide to pioneer and military groups just prior to and during the Mexican War (1845-46), and negotiated peace treaties...

Fitzroy
Family name of dukes of Grafton; descended from King Charles II by his mistress Barbara Villiers. The family seat is at Euston Hall, Norfolk, England. ...

Fitzroy, Robert
(1805-1865) British vice admiral and meteorologist. In 1828 he succeeded to the command of HMS Beagle, then engaged on a survey of the Patagonian coast of South America, and in 1831 was accompanied by...

Fitzstephen, William
(died c. 1191) English biographer of Thomas à Becket. Fitzstephen's Life and Passion of Archbishop Becket was written in 1174 and printed in 1723. He was present at Becket's death. ...

Fitzurse, Reginald
(lived 1170) Anglo-Norman knight. Fitzurse was one of Thomas à Becket's murderers. He is said to have died in Palestine while paying penance for Becket's death. ...

Fitzwilliam, Richard
(1745-1816) Irish peer, founder by bequest of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. ...

five articles of Perth
Reforms imposed on the Kirk (Scottish church) in 1618 by James VI in an attempt to bring it into line with the English church. The articles were ratified by the Scots Parliament in 1621, despite...

Five Boroughs
Five East Midlands towns of Leicester, Lincoln, Derby, Stamford, and Nottingham. They were settled by Danish soldiers in the 9th and 10th centuries, and formed an independent confederation within...

Five Civilized Tribes
Term used by European settlers to describe the Choctaw, Creek, Chickasaw, Cherokee, and Seminole peoples of the southeast USA. They were considered `civilized` because they farmed in settled...

Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms
Chaotic period in Chinese history 907-960 between the Han and Song dynasties, during which regionally based military dictatorships contested for power. The five dynasties, none of which lasted...

Five Forks, Battle of
Last major battle of the American Civil War, on 1 April 1865. At Five Forks, about 16 km/10 mi southwest of Petersburg, Virginia, 28,000 Union troops commanded by Maj-Gen Philip Sheridan and...

five Ks
Five articles of faith worn by the Khalsa, the community or order of Sikhs, all beginning with the letter `k` in Punjabi. They are kesh (uncut hair), a kirpan (sword), a kara (steel bangle),...

five members
Five prominent members of parliament who Charles I tried to have arrested 4 January 1642 for alleged treason. Charles tried to persuade the Lords to arrest the five - John Hampden, Sir Arthur...

Five Mile Act
In England, act of 1665 forbidding dissenting clergy from coming within five miles of their former parishes or of any large towns, unless they swore an oath of nonresistance. The act, part of the...

Five Moral Precepts
In Buddhism, the rules of behaviour accepted by the Buddhist laity, who vow to refrain from: 1. taking life, 2. stealing, 3. sexual promiscuity, 4. lying, and 5. drinking alcohol (which may lead to...

Five Pillars of Islam
The five duties required of every Muslim. five-year plan
Long-term strategic plan for the development of a country's economy. Five-year plans were from 1928 the basis of economic planning in the USSR, aimed particularly at developing heavy and light...

fixed cost
Or overhead cost. Cost which does not vary directly with output (not a variable or direct cost), but remains constant as output increases. For example, a company may increase its output by one...

Flaccus, Marcus Valerius
(died 121 BC) Roman democrat. As consul 125 BC he unsuccessfully proposed that Roman citizenship should be granted to all the allies in Italy. Flaccus was a supporter of the reformers Tiberius...

Flacius Illyricus, Matthias
(1520-1575) Istrian-born follower of Martin Luther. An enthusiastic Protestant reformer, Flacius was often involved in controversy. After Luther's death he was banished from Wittenberg due to conflict with...

flag
Piece of cloth used as an emblem or symbol for nationalistic, religious, or military displays, or as a means of signalling. Flags originated from the representations of animals and other objects...

flag of convenience
National flag flown by a ship that has registered in that country in order to avoid legal or tax commitments (also known as offshore registry). Flags...

flagellant
Religious person who uses a whip on him- or herself as a means of penance. Flagellation was practised in many religions from ancient times; notable outbreaks of this type of extremist devotion...

Flagellation of Christ
Tempera painting on panel of the 1450s by Piero della Francesca (Galleria delle Marche, Palazzo Ducale, Urbino). Although small in scale (about 62 x 81 cm/24 x 32 in) when compared to Piero's great...

Flaget, Benedict Joseph
(1763-1850) French-born US Catholic prelate. A Sulpician priest, he served as first bishop of Bardstown (later Louisville), Kentucky. He travelled tirelessly throughout his far-flung territory and he was...

Flagg, Ernest
(1857-1947) US architect. In his New York practice (established 1891), he promoted the adoption of Beaux-Arts principles and pioneered tenement housing, especially the type built round a courtyard with a...

Flagg, James Montgomery
(1877-1960) US illustrator. His World War I recruiting poster `I want You`, features a haggard image of Uncle Sam modelled on Flagg himself. ...

Flagg, Josiah Foster
(1788-1853) US dentist and anatomical artist. He designed the first variable forceps for tooth extraction (1828) and produced the first `mineral teeth`, artificial teeth made out of porcelain. He was also...

Flagler, Henry Morrison
(1830-1913) US entrepreneur. He founded a salt factory in Saginaw, Michigan, 1862, but when that failed moved to Cleveland and entered the oil-refining business with John D Rockefeller 1867. Fl ...

flak
Term used by Allied troops and airmen in World War II to describe anti-aircraft fire from the German abbreviation for Flugzeugabwehrkanone-`aircraft attack gun`. A flak jacket was an...

Flambard, Ranulf
(died 1128) Norman-born Chief Justiciar of England under William II. Flambard was William's chief adviser. He became bishop of Durham in 1099 but on Henry I's accession was imprisoned in the Tower of London....

Flamboyant
In French architecture, the Late Gothic style contemporary with the Perpendicular style in England. It is characterized by flame-like decorative work in windows, balustrades, and other projecting...

flamen
One of 15 sacrificial priests in ancient Rome, appointed to offer daily sacrifice to particular gods in the state pantheon. The office was held for life, but was terminated by the death of the...

flamethrower
Weapon emitting a stream of burning liquid which can be directed against troops or strongpoints. When first used by the Germans in World War I at the Battle...

Flaminian Way
Roman road, built 220 BC by the censor Gaius Flaminius. It was 336 km/209 mi long and was...

Flamininus, Titus Quinctius
(c. 228-c. 173 BC) Roman general and politician, consul 198 BC. He ended the Second Macedonian War between Rome and Philip V of Macdon when he defeated Philip at Cynoscephalae, in Thessaly, in 197 BC. Flamininus...

Flaminius, Gaius
(died 217 BC) Roman consul and general. He constructed the Flaminian Way northward from Rome to Rimini in 220 BC, and was killed at the battle of Lake Trasimene fighting Hannibal. ...

Flanagan, Edward Joseph
(1886-1948) Irish-born US Catholic priest. In 1914, he opened a home for the homeless in Omaha, Nebraska. Convinced that rehabilitation can be effective if begun early, he founded Boys Town near Omaha, in...

Flanagan, Hallie (Mae Ferguson)
(1890-1969) US theatre organizer, teacher, and playwright. Her Vassar Experimental Theatre gained a reputation for restaging classical dramas. The works she was involved in as head of the Federal Theatre...

Flanders
Region of the Low Countries that in the 8th and 9th centuries extended from Calais to the Schelde and is now covered by the Belgian provinces of Oost Vlaanderen and West Vlaanderen (East and West...

Flanders, Battle of
In World War I, the series of actions as the British troops advanced into Belgium and northern France September-November 1918, driving the German forces out of the Benelux area and back into...

flannel
Woven woollen fabric with a napped (raised) surface, which gives it a warm, smooth appearance and obscures its underlying plain or twill cloth construction. It is used for suiting materials. The...

Flannery, Kent Vaughn
(1934) US anthropologist and archaeologist. . An expert on prehistoric human ecology and cultural evolution, he joined the University of Michigan faculty. He described the shift from hunting and gathering...

Flash Gordon
Comic strip character created by US cartoonist Alex Raymond in 1934. Flash, a Yale graduate and astronaut, starred in outer space adventures with his female companion Dale Arden. He travelled in Dr...

Flateyjarbok
One of the largest and most important of Icelandic manuscripts, written about 1390, now housed in Reykjavik. It contains the texts of a number of important kings' sagas, including one about St Olaf,...

Flathead
Alternative name for a member of the American Indian Salish people. ...

Flaubert, Gustave
(1821-1880) French writer. One of the major novelists of the 19th century, he was the author of Madame Bovary (1857), Salammbô (1862), L'Education sentimentale/Sentimental Education (1869), and La Tentation de...

Flavin, Dan
(1933-1996) US sculptor and environmental artist. He specializes in the use of light technology. His simple installations using standard coloured or white neon tubes alter the viewer's perceptions of the...

Flaxman, John
(1755-1826) English neoclassical sculptor and illustrator. From 1775 he worked for the Wedgwood pottery as a designer, and later became one of Europe's leading exponents of the neoclassical style. His public...

Fleagle, John Gwynn
(1948) US physical anthropologist. He was a consultant at Harvard (1973-74) before joining the State University of New York at Stony Brook (1975). He wrote extensively on the evolutionary biology and...

fleche
In architecture, a slender wooden spire covered with lead, rising from the ridge of a roof and taking the place of a central tower. There is a good example on the cathedral of Notre-Dame, Paris. ...

Flecker, (Herman) James Elroy
(1884-1915) English poet. During a career in the consular service, he wrote several volumes of lyrical romantic verse, including The Bridge of Fire (1907), Forty-two Poems (1911), The Golden Journey to...

Flecknoe, Richard
(died c. 1678) English poet and dramatist. He published several volumes of epigrams and miscellaneous poems; for example, A Farrago of Several Pieces 1666, two plays, and A Short Treatise of the English Stage...

Fleet prison
Royal prison in the City of London dating from the 12th century. It originally received prisoners committed by the Star Chamber, an offshoot of the king's council, and was later used to house...

Fleetwood, Charles
(1618-1692) English Parliamentary general. Fleetwood climbed the ranks of the Parliamentary army to become a major-general and one of Oliver Cromwell's `lords`. In 1659 he assisted in the overthrow of...

Fleischer, Max
(1889-1972) Austrian-born US cartoonist. With his younger brother, Dave (1894-1972), as director, Fleischer animated and produced cartoon films from 1917. His first major series was Out of the Inkwell...

Fleming, (Robert) Peter
(1907-1971) British journalist and travel writer, remembered for his journeys up the Amazon and across the Gobi Desert recounted in Brazilian Adventure 1933 and News from Tartary 1941. ...

Fleming, Alexander
(1881-1955) Scottish bacteriologist who was awarded a Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1945 for his discovery of the bactericidal effect of penicillin in 1928. In 1922 he had discovered lysozyme, an...

Fleming, Ian Lancaster
(1908-1964) English author. His suspense novels feature the ruthless, laconic James Bond, British Secret Service agent 007. The first novel in the series was Casino Royale (1953); others include From Russia...

Fleming, Margaret
(1803-1811) Scottish child author. Known as `Pet Marjorie`, she wrote verses and a diary which is full of quaint reflections. An essay about her, `Marjorie Fleming` 1863, by John Brown is interesting...

Flemish art
Painting and sculpture of Flanders (now divided between Belgium, the Netherlands, and France). A distinctive Flemish style emerged in the early 15th century based on manuscript illumination and the...

Flemish Brabant
Province of Belgium, part of the Dutch-speaking Flemish community and region, bounded by Antwerp to the north, Limbourg and Liège to the east, Walloon Brabant and Hainaut to the south, and East...