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Caldwell, Taylor

(Encyclopedia)Caldwell, Taylor (Janet Taylor Caldwell), 1900–1985, American novelist, b. London, England. Her best-selling works ranged from romance to satire to fictionalized biography, often reflecting her Chri...

Turpin, Dick

(Encyclopedia)Turpin, Dick, 1706–39, English robber. After a short and brutal career of horse stealing and general crime he was hanged at York. The fame—or notoriety—that he later achieved derives mainly from...

Dressler, Marie

(Encyclopedia)Dressler, Marie, 1869–1934, American actress, b. Coburg, Ont., Canada. She appeared on stage and in vaudeville before making her first film, Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914). Although she gained fa...

King Horn

(Encyclopedia)King Horn, probably the earliest English-language romance, written c.1250 and containing about 1,500 lines. It is by an anonymous author and is based on an earlier work in French. Emphasizing action a...

Johnston, Mary

(Encyclopedia)Johnston, Mary, 1870–1936, American novelist, b. Buchanan, Va. Her books combine romance with history. She is chiefly remembered for To Have and to Hold (1900), a story of colonial Virginia, and its...

Havelok the Dane

(Encyclopedia)Havelok the Dane, English 13th-century metrical romance. It concerns a prince brought up as a scullion, who, after discovering his true identity, wins the kingdoms of Denmark and England. The poem's e...

Bevis of Hampton

(Encyclopedia)Bevis of Hampton bēˈvĭs [key], English metrical romance of the early 14th cent. that also appears in Anglo-Norman, French, Italian, Scandinavian, Celtic, and Slavonic versions. Although its adventu...

Vulgar Latin

(Encyclopedia)Vulgar Latin, vernacular form of the Latin language spoken in ancient Rome and the Roman Empire, as distinguished from classical or literary Latin. Vulgar Latin, rather than classical Latin, is the tr...

Sandeau, Jules

(Encyclopedia)Sandeau, Jules zhül säNdōˈ [key], 1811–83, French novelist. His best-known work is the romance Mademoiselle de la Seiglière (1848), dramatized in 1851. He collaborated several times with author...

Du Cange, Charles du Fresne, sieur

(Encyclopedia)Du Cange, Charles du Fresne, sieur shärl dü frĕn syör dü käNzh [key], 1610–88, French medieval historian and philologist. He is principally known for his Glossarium mediae et infimae Latinitat...