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short story

(Encyclopedia)short story, brief prose fiction. The term covers a wide variety of narratives—from stories in which the main focus is on the course of events to studies of character, from the “short short” sto...

short waves

(Encyclopedia)short waves, radio waves whose frequencies range from about 3 to 25 megahertz (Mhz), corresponding roughly to the high-frequency band (see radio frequency). When they impinge on certain layers of the ...

Adrian I, pope

(Encyclopedia)Adrian I, d. 795, pope (772–95), a Roman; successor of Stephen IV. At Adrian's urging, Charlemagne crossed the Alps and defeated the Lombard king, Desiderius, who had annexed papal territory. That d...

Marche, region, Italy

(Encyclopedia)Marche märˈkā [key] or the Marches, region (1991 pop. 1,429,205), 3,742 sq mi (9,692 sq km), E central Italy, extending from the eastern slopes of the Apennines to the Adriatic Sea. Ancona is the c...

coronation

(Encyclopedia)coronation, ceremony of crowning and anointing a sovereign on his or her accession to the throne. Although a public ceremony inaugurating a new king or chief had long existed, a new religious service ...

Willibrord, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Willibrord, Saint wĭˈlĭbrôrd [key], 658–739, English Benedictine missionary, called the Apostle to the Frisians. He was brought up at Ripon by St. Wilfrid and studied further (678–90) in Irela...

Merovingians

(Encyclopedia)Merovingians, dynasty of Frankish kings, descended, according to tradition, from Merovech, chief of the Salian Franks, whose son was Childeric I and whose grandson was Clovis I, the founder of the Fra...

Wilder, Laura Elizabeth Ingalls

(Encyclopedia)Wilder, Laura Elizabeth Ingalls, 1867–1957, American author of the classic Little House series of children's books, b. Pepin, Wis. She and her pioneer family traveled (1869–79) throughout the Midw...
 

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