Australia, Flag Of

Thought was given to an all-Australian flag long before confederation was achieved on January 1, 1901. For example, in 1823 a National Colonial Flag displayed four white eight-pointed stars on a red cross on a white field with the Union Jack. From 1831 until as late as the 1920s there was a somewhat similar design known as the Australian Federation Flag, with a blue cross and five white stars.

Windsor

Town, Windsor and Maidenhead unitary authority, historic county of Berkshire, England. Windsor is situated on the south bank of the River Thames and lies to the west of London. The modern town is dominated by Windsor Castle, standing on the outcrop of chalk on which William I the Conqueror (reigned 1066 - 87) built the original fortress. The castle is in regular occupation as a

Faience Parlante

(French: �talking faience�), in French pottery, popular utilitarian 18th-century earthenware, principally plates, jugs, and bowls, that had inscriptions as part of its decoration. The city of Nevers was the outstanding centre for the production of faience parlante. The range of inscriptions included owners' names, coats of arms, bacchic or facetious references, Masonic

Thomas The Rhymer

Also called �Thomas Learmont�, or �Thomas Of Erceldoune� Scottish poet and prophet who was likely the author of the metrical romance Sir Tristrem, a version of the widely diffused Tristan legend. The romance was first printed in 1804 by Sir Walter Scott from a manuscript of about 1300. Thomas is now probably best known through the ballad �Thomas the Rhymer,� included by Scott in his Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (1802). In popular lore

Hugh Iii

Succeeding his cousin Hugh II as king of Cyprus in 1267, he obtained the disputed crown of the dwindling crusader kingdom of Jerusalem two years later. The efforts of his rival, Charles I of Anjou, king of Sicily, who also claimed his rights to be a king of Jerusalem, and the resistance

Frieze

The frieze in

Kamehameha I

First named Paiea, meaning �Hard-Shelled Crab,� the future sovereign was the son of Keoua, a high chief, and of Kekuiapoiwa, a daughter of the former

Szombathely

German �Steinamanger, � town and seat of Vas megye (county), northwestern Hungary. Szombathely is situated on the Gy�ngy�s River, near the frontier with Austria, south-southeast of Vienna and west of Budapest. The town is the successor to the Roman settlement of Savaria (Sabaria), the capital of Pannonia, founded in AD 43 by Claudius I at the intersection of two Roman roads still extant. There is in the

Rourke, Constance Mayfield

After earning an A.B. from Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, N.Y., (1907) and studying at the Sorbonne in Paris, Rourke taught English at Vassar. In 1915 she resigned, thereafter working as a research historian and free-lance writer devoted to defining the historical aspects

Castile-la Mancha

The autonomous community, established in 1982, is bounded by the provinces of C�ceres and Badajoz to the west, C�rdoba, Ja�n, and Murcia to the south, Alicante, Valencia, and Teruel to the east, and Zaragoza,

Muromachi Period

The most successful of the Ashikaga rulers, the third shogun Yoshimitsu, managed

Journal De Gen�ve

Like the German-language Neue Z�rcher Zeitung, the Journal de Gen�ve was a national newspaper, serious in tone and generally liberal in outlook. Its careful and thorough

Narcissus

In Greek mythology, the son of the river god Cephissus and the nymph Leiriope; he was distinguished for his beauty. His mother was told that he would have a long life, provided he never looked upon his own features. His rejection, however, of the love of the nymph Echo or of his lover Ameinias drew upon him the vengeance of the gods. He fell in love with his own reflection in

Farandole

Lively and popular chain dance of Provence and Catalonia. It was mentioned as early as the 14th century and, according to tradition, was taken to Marseille from Greece by Phoenician sailors. Performed on feast days, the farandole is danced by men and women holding hands in a chain. The dancers, following the steps introduced by the chain leader, wind through the streets

Sudan, History Of The, Medieval Christian kingdoms

The 200 years from the fall of Kush to the middle of the 6th century is an unknown age in the Sudan. Nubia was inhabited by a people called the Nobatae by the ancient geographers and the X-Group by modern archaeologists, who are still at a loss to explain their origins. The X-Group were clearly, however, the heirs of Kush, for their whole cultural life was dominated by Meroitic

Sudan, History Of The, Medieval Christian kingdoms

The 200 years from the fall of Kush to the middle of the 6th century is an unknown age in the Sudan. Nubia was inhabited by a people called the Nobatae by the ancient geographers and the X-Group by modern archaeologists, who are still at a loss to explain their origins. The X-Group were clearly, however, the heirs of Kush, for their whole cultural life was dominated by Meroitic

Finland, Education

School attendance in Finland is compulsory beginning at the age of seven. The national and local governments support the schools, and tuition is free. The introduction of a new nine-year comprehensive school system, consisting of a six-year primary stage and a three-year secondary stage, was completed during the 1970s. The English language is taught beginning in the third

Laatste Nieuws, Het

A liberal paper with a serious approach to national and international news, it also publishes such features as comic strips, crossword puzzles, and cartoons. In the 1960s a large and attractive sports section of several pages

Computers, The first computer

By the second decade of the 19th century, a number of ideas necessary for the invention of the computer were in the air. First, the potential benefits to science and industry of being able to automate routine calculations was appreciated, as it had not been a century earlier. Specific methods to make automated calculation more practical, such as doing multiplication

French Literature, The novel between the wars

With a few notable exceptions, novels were less technically innovative in the second quarter of the century. The Surrealists made their contribution with Andr� Breton's Nadja (1928; Eng. trans., Nadja) and Louis Aragon's Le Paysan de Paris (1926; The Night-Walker), and they influenced the works of Raymond Queneau. The tradition of the family novel was continued by Roger Martin du

French Literature, The novel between the wars

Byname �Star Wars� proposed U.S. strategic defensive system against potential nuclear attacks - as originally conceived, from the Soviet Union. The SDI was first proposed by President Ronald Reagan in a nationwide television address on March 23, 1983. Because parts of the defensive system that Reagan advocated would be based in space, the proposed system was dubbed �Star Wars,� after the space

Biblical Literature, Background and overview

In the New Testament canon of 27 books, 21 are called �letters,� and even the Revelation to John starts and ends in letter form. Of the 21, 13 belong to the Pauline corpus; the Letter to the Hebrews is included in the Pauline corpus in the East but not, however, in the West. Three letters of this corpus, the Pastoral Letters, are pseudonymous and thus are not considered here. Of the remaining

Atargatis

Great goddess of northern Syria; her chief sanctuary was at Hierapolis (modern Manbij), northeast of Aleppo, where she was worshiped with her consort, Hadad. Her ancient temple there was rebuilt about 300 BC by Queen Stratonice, wife of Seleucus I, and it was perhaps partly as a result of that Greek patronage that her cult, carried by Greek merchants and mercenaries, spread to

Mugwump

In U.S. politics, member of a reform-oriented faction of the Republican Party that refused to support the candidacy of James G. Blaine for the presidency in 1884. Instead, the Mugwumps supported the Democratic nominee, Grover Cleveland. Their leaders included Theodore Roosevelt, George Curtis, and Henry Cabot Lodge; all returned to Republican ranks after the defeat of Blaine.

Ferdinand I

Because his elder brother, Henry III, was an invalid, Ferdinand took the battlefield against the Muslims of Granada. When Henry III died in 1406, his son John II was an infant and the regency was divided between Henry's widow, Queen Catherine of Lancaster,

Ust-orda Buryat

Also called �Ust-ordynsky Buryat,� autonomous okrug (district) in Irkutsk oblast (province), east-central Russia. It lies west of Lake Baikal and extends across the Angara River. The okrug was created in 1937. Its plateau relief is partly in boreal forest, or taiga, of larch, spruce, fir, pine, and birch and partly in forest-steppe. Coal is mined in the west, where the Trans-Siberian Railroad crosses the okrug. Timber

Magnus V Erlingsson

The son of Erling the Crooked, Magnus became king in 1162 when his supporters, led by his father, defeated the forces of the incumbent king, Haakon II Sigurdsson.