Skip this Advertisement

A-Z Browse

  • Baldwin of Boulogne (king of Jerusalem)
    king of the Crusader state of Jerusalem (1100–18) who expanded the kingdom and secured its territory, formulating an administrative apparatus that was to serve for 200 years as the basis for Frankish rule in Syria and Palestine....
  • Baldwin of Bourcq (king of Jerusalem)
    count of Edessa (1100–18), king of Jerusalem (1118–31), and Crusade leader whose support of the religious-military orders founded during his reign enabled him to expand his kingdom and to withstand Muslim attacks....
  • Baldwin of Courtenay (Byzantine emperor)
    the last Latin emperor of Constantinople, who lost his throne in 1261 when Michael VIII Palaeologus restored Greek rule to the capital....
  • Baldwin of Flanders (Byzantine emperor)
    count of Flanders (as Baldwin IX) and of Hainaut (as Baldwin VI), a leader of the Fourth Crusade, who became the first Latin emperor of Constantinople (now Istanbul)....
  • Baldwin of Le Bourcq (king of Jerusalem)
    count of Edessa (1100–18), king of Jerusalem (1118–31), and Crusade leader whose support of the religious-military orders founded during his reign enabled him to expand his kingdom and to withstand Muslim attacks....
  • Baldwin of Lille (count of Flanders)
    In 1049 William negotiated with Baldwin V of Flanders for the hand of his daughter, Matilda. Baldwin, an imperial vassal with a distinguished lineage, was in rebellion against the emperor, Henry III, and was in desperate need of allies. At the Council of Reims in October 1049, the emperor’s cousin, Pope Leo IX, condemned the proposed marriage as incestuous (William and Matilda were evidentl...
  • Baldwin of Mons (Byzantine emperor)
    count of Flanders (as Baldwin IX) and of Hainaut (as Baldwin VI), a leader of the Fourth Crusade, who became the first Latin emperor of Constantinople (now Istanbul)....
  • Baldwin of Trier (German archbishop)
    The princes, released from Albert’s heavy hand, sought a servant, not a master. Archbishop Baldwin of Trier sponsored the candidacy of his brother, Count Henry of Luxembourg, who was elected at Frankfurt am Main in 1308 as Henry VII. The house of Luxembourg (Luxemburg) was not a major territorial power, and Henry lost no time in exploiting his new status to extend its possessions. Under his...
  • Baldwin, Robert (Canadian statesman)
    statesman who was joint leader with Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine of the first and second Reform administrations in Canada, which established the principle of responsible, or cabinet, government in Canada....
  • Baldwin, Roger Nash (American activist)
    American civil-rights activist, cofounder of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)....
  • Baldwin, Stanley (prime minister of United Kingdom)
    British Conservative politician, three times prime minister between 1923 and 1937; he headed the government during the General Strike of 1926, the Ethiopian crisis of 1935, and the abdication crisis of 1936....
  • Baldwin the Bald (count of Flanders)
    second ruler of Flanders, who, from his stronghold at Bruges, maintained, as his father Baldwin I before him, a vigorous defense of his lands against the incursions of the Norsemen. On his mother’s side a descendant of Charlemagne, he strengthened the dynastic importance of his family by marrying Aelfthryth, daughter of Alfred the Great, of Wessex, Eng....
  • Baldwin the Bearded (count of Flanders)
    count of Flanders (988–1035) who greatly expanded the Flemish dominions. He fought successfully both against the Capetian king of France, Robert II, and the Holy Roman emperor Henry II. Henry found himself obliged to grant to Baldwin IV in fief Valenciennes, the burgraveship of Ghent, the land of Waes, and Zeeland. The count of Flanders thus became a fe...
  • Baldwin the Leper (king of Jerusalem)
    king of Jerusalem (1174–85), called the “leper king” for the disease that afflicted him for most of his short life. His reign saw the growth of factionalism among the Latin nobility that weakened the kingdom during the years when its greatest adversary, the Muslim leader Saladin, extended his influence from Egypt to Syria....
  • Baldwin V (count of Flanders)
    In 1049 William negotiated with Baldwin V of Flanders for the hand of his daughter, Matilda. Baldwin, an imperial vassal with a distinguished lineage, was in rebellion against the emperor, Henry III, and was in desperate need of allies. At the Council of Reims in October 1049, the emperor’s cousin, Pope Leo IX, condemned the proposed marriage as incestuous (William and Matilda were evidentl...
  • Baldwin V (king of Jerusalem)
    nominal king of Jerusalem who reigned from March 1185 until his death a year and a half later. The son of William Longsword of Montferrat and Sybil, the sister of King Baldwin IV, Baldwin V came to the throne when his uncle died of leprosy at the age of 24. The able knight Raymond III, count of Tripoli, acted as regent for the young king, in 1185 managing to obtain with Saladin ...
  • Baldwin VI (Byzantine emperor)
    count of Flanders (as Baldwin IX) and of Hainaut (as Baldwin VI), a leader of the Fourth Crusade, who became the first Latin emperor of Constantinople (now Istanbul)....
  • Baldwin VI (count of Flanders)
    His right to Imperial Flanders, however, was disputed by his elder brother, Baldwin VI, who had succeeded to the countship of Flanders. War broke out between the two brothers, and Baldwin was killed in battle in 1070. Robert then claimed the tutelage of Baldwin’s children and obtained the support of the German emperor Henry IV, while Richilde, Baldwin’s widow, appealed to Philip I of...
  • Baldwin VII (count of Flanders)
    ...refuge in Flanders, taking with her her son. Charles was brought up by his mother and grandfather, Robert the Frisian, on whose death he did great services to his uncle, Robert II, and his cousin, Baldwin VII, counts of Flanders. Baldwin died of a wound received in battle in 1119 and, having no issue, left by will the succession to his countship to Charles. Charles did not secure his heritage.....
  • Baldwin, William (American singer)
    ...later members included David Marks (b. 1948Newcastle, Pa.) and Bruce Johnston (original name William Baldwin; b. June 24, 1944Chicago, Ill.). Initially perceived as......
  • Baldy, Mount (mountain, California, United States)
    ...the city, contains some 90 other incorporated cities, including Beverly Hills, Pasadena, and Long Beach. The county also encompasses two of the Channel Islands, Santa Catalina and San Clemente; Mount San Antonio, familiarly known as Mount Baldy or Old Baldy, 10,046 feet (3,062 metres) high; more than 900 square miles (2,330 square km) of desert; and 75 miles (120 km) of seacoast....
  • Baldy Mountain (mountain, Manitoba, Canada)
    highest peak in Manitoba, Can., in the southeastern part of Duck Mountain Provincial Park, 36 miles (58 km) northwest of Dauphin. At 2,730 feet (832 metres) above sea level, it is also the highest peak in the 350-mile- (560-km-) long Manitoba Escarpment. An observation tower at the summit offers a spectacular view of the surrounding countryside....
  • Baldy Mountain (mountain, Arizona, United States)
    summit (11,403 feet [3,476 metres]) in the White Mountains, Apache county, eastern Arizona, U.S. Springs on the mountain’s northern slope form the headwaters of the Little Colorado River. Also called Dzil Ligai (Apache: “Mountain of White Rock”), Baldy is located within a 7,000-acre (2,833 hectare) wilderness area; the summit and southern flank lie within th...
  • Baldy, Old (mountain, California, United States)
    ...the city, contains some 90 other incorporated cities, including Beverly Hills, Pasadena, and Long Beach. The county also encompasses two of the Channel Islands, Santa Catalina and San Clemente; Mount San Antonio, familiarly known as Mount Baldy or Old Baldy, 10,046 feet (3,062 metres) high; more than 900 square miles (2,330 square km) of desert; and 75 miles (120 km) of seacoast....
  • Baldy Peak (mountain, New Mexico, United States)
    county, northeastern New Mexico, U.S., bordered on the north by Colorado. Its westernmost section is in the Southern Rocky Mountains and includes the Cimarron range, topped by 12,441-foot (3,782-m) Baldy Peak, and the Sangre de Cristo range, which rises to more than 10,000 feet (3,000 m) and includes the Carson National Forest. Between the two mountain ranges is Eagle Nest Lake, the county’...
  • Bâle (Switzerland)
    capital of the Halbkanton (demicanton) of Basel-Stadt (with which it is virtually coextensive), northern Switzerland. It lies along the Rhine River, at the mouths of the Birs and Wiese rivers, where the French, German, and Swiss borders meet, at the entrance to the Swiss Rhineland....
  • Bale, Christian (Welsh actor)
    Welsh film actor Christian Bale had a mixed year in 2008. He drew international acclaim for his role as Batman/Bruce Wayne in The Dark Knight, which, upon its July release, immediately set box-office records amid the intense publicity surrounding the sudden, unexpected death in January of his costar, Heath Ledger. Bale also began filming the fourth futuristic Terminator movie, in whi...
  • Bale, Christian Charles Philip (Welsh actor)
    Welsh film actor Christian Bale had a mixed year in 2008. He drew international acclaim for his role as Batman/Bruce Wayne in The Dark Knight, which, upon its July release, immediately set box-office records amid the intense publicity surrounding the sudden, unexpected death in January of his costar, Heath Ledger. Bale also began filming the fourth futuristic Terminator movie, in whi...
  • Bale, John (English bishop and author)
    bishop, Protestant controversialist, and dramatist whose Kynge Johan is asserted to have been the first English history play. He is notable for his part in the religious strife of the 16th century and for his antiquarian studies, including the first rudimentary history of English literature....
  • Bâle-Campagne (Halbkanton, Switzerland)
    Halbkanton (demicanton), northern Switzerland, traversed by the Jura Mountains and drained by the Ergolz and Birs rivers. It was formed in 1833 by the division of Basel canton into two half cantons, or demicantons, and its early history is linked with Basel city. Its present constitution dates from 1892, and its capital is Liest...
  • Bâle-Ville (Halbkanton, Switzerland)
    Halbkanton (demicanton), northern Switzerland, consisting of the city of Basel and two small villages north of the Rhine. Occupying an area of 14 square miles (37 square km), it was formed in 1833 by the division of Basel canton into two half cantons, or demicantons. Its present constitution dates from 1889. The population is mainly German speaking and ...
  • Balearic Basin (basin, Mediterranean Sea)
    ...western and eastern parts. The western part in turn is subdivided into three principal submarine basins. The Alborán Basin is east of Gibraltar, between the coasts of Spain and Morocco. The Algerian (sometimes called the Algero-Provençal or Balearic) Basin, east of the Alborán Basin, is west of Sardinia and Corsica, extending from off the coast of Algeria to off the coast.....
  • Balearic Beat (music)
    Britain’s rave culture and the sound that powered it were the product of a cornucopia of influences that came together in the late 1980s: the pulse of Chicago house music and the garage music of New York City, the semiconductor technology of northern California and the drug technology of southern California, the early electronic music of Munich and Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and the surge ...
  • Balearic Islands (region and province, Spain)
    archipelago in the western Mediterranean Sea and a comunidad autónoma (autonomous community) of Spain coextensive with the Spanish provincia (province) of the same name. The archipelago lies 50 to 190 miles (80 to 300 km) east of the Spanish mainland. There are two groups of islands. The easte...
  • Balearica pavonina (bird)
    ...companion, or brolga (G. rubicunda), lives in Australia and southern New Guinea. The demoiselle crane (Anthropoides virgo) breeds in Algeria, southeastern Europe, and Central Asia; the crowned crane (Balearica pavonina [regulorum]), over nearly all of Africa; and the wattled crane (Bugeranus carunculatus), in eastern and southern Africa....
  • Balearis Major (island, Spain)
    island, Balearic Islands provincia (province) and comunidad autónoma (autonomous community), Spain. Majorca is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which lie in the western Mediterranean Sea. It contains two mountainous regions, each about 50 miles (80 km) in length and occu...
  • baleen (anatomy)
    series of stiff keratinous plates in the mouths of baleen whales, used to strain plankton from seawater. Whalebone was once important in the production of corsets, brushes, and other goods....
  • baleen plate (anatomy)
    series of stiff keratinous plates in the mouths of baleen whales, used to strain plankton from seawater. Whalebone was once important in the production of corsets, brushes, and other goods....
  • baleen whale (mammal)
    any cetacean possessing unique epidermal modifications of the mouth called baleen, which is used to filter food from water....
  • Balenciaga, Cristóbal (Spanish designer)
    Spanish dress designer who created elegant ball gowns and other classic designs....
  • baler (mollusk)
    largest living snail, a species of conch....
  • baler (farm machine)
    Balers compress hay or straw into tightly packed rectangular or cylindrical bales weighing 50 to 100 pounds (22.5 to 45 kg) and tied with wire or twine. Pickup balers have a rotary toothed pickup mechanism to lift the windrows and deliver the hay to a feeding device that places it in the baling chamber on each stroke of the compressing plunger. Two twines or wires are automatically tied around......
  • Bales, Peter (English calligrapher)
    English calligrapher who devised one of the earliest forms of shorthand, published in his book Arte of Brachygraphie (1590)....
  • Baleshwar (India)
    town, northeastern Orissa state, eastern India. Balasore lies on the Burhābalang River, 7 miles (11 km) from the Bay of Bengal. It was the site of a British settlement in 1633; Dutch, Danish, and French merchants followed later in the 17th century. The Dutch and Danish settlements were ceded to the British in 1846, but the French holding remained until 1947. In the 18th century Balasore bec...
  • Balesius, Peter (English calligrapher)
    English calligrapher who devised one of the earliest forms of shorthand, published in his book Arte of Brachygraphie (1590)....
  • Balestier, Wolcott (American author and publisher)
    In 1892 Kipling married Caroline Balestier, the sister of Wolcott Balestier, an American publisher and writer with whom he had collaborated in The Naulahka (1892), a facile and unsuccessful romance. That year the young couple moved to the United States and settled on Mrs. Kipling’s property in Vermont, but their manners and attitudes were considered objectionable by...
  • Balestrini, Nanni (Italian poet)
    ...author of disconcertingly noncommunicative works such as Laborintus (1956) and Erotopaegnia (1960) and thereafter a prolifically undeterred creative experimentalist; Nanni Balestrini, who would subsequently publish the left-wing political collage Vogliamo tutto (1971; “We Want It All”); and Antonio Porta (pseudonym of Leo Paolazzi), whose......
  • Baleswar River (river, Bangladesh)
    distributary of the upper Padma River (Ganges [Ganga] River), flowing through southwestern Bangladesh. It leaves the Padma just north of Kushtia and flows 190 miles (306 km) southeast before turning south across the swampy Sundarbans region to empty into the Bay of Bengal. In its upper...
  • “Balet comique de la royne” (dance by Beaujoyeulx)
    court entertainment that is considered the first ballet. Enacted in 1581 at the French court of Catherine de Médicis by the Queen, her ladies, and the nobles of the court to celebrate the betrothal of her sister, it fused the elements of music, dance, plot (the escape of Ulysses from Circe), and design into a dramatic whole....
  • Balet Imeni Kirova (Russian ballet company)
    prominent Russian ballet company, part of the Mariinsky Theatre of Opera and Ballet in St. Petersburg. Its traditions, deriving from its predecessor, the Imperial Russian Ballet, are based on the work of such leading 19th-century choreographers as Jules Perrot, Arthur Saint-Léon, and Marius Petipa and such dancers as Marie Taglioni, Olga Preobrajenska, Mathilde Kschessinskaya, Anna Pavlova,...
  • Balewa, Sir Abubakar Tafawa (prime minister of Nigeria)
    Nigerian politician, leader in the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC), and the first federal prime minister. A commoner by birth, an unusual origin for a political leader in the NPC, Balewa was both a defender of northern special interests and an advocate of reform and Nigerian unity....
  • Balfe, Michael William (Irish musician)
    singer and composer, best known for the facile melody and simple ballad style of his opera The Bohemian Girl....
  • Balforeus, Robertus (Scottish philosopher)
    philosopher accomplished in Latin and Greek who spent his career teaching these languages in France....
  • Balfour Act (United Kingdom [1902])
    ...1899 an advance was made toward the development of a national system encompassing both elementary and secondary education by creating a Board of Education as the central authority for education. The Balfour Act of 1902 established a comprehensive system of local government for both secondary and elementary education. It created new local education authorities and empowered them to provide......
  • Balfour, Arthur James Balfour, 1st earl of (prime minister of United Kingdom)
    British statesman who maintained a position of power in the British Conservative Party for 50 years; he was prime minister from 1902 to 1905, and as foreign secretary from 1916 to 1919 he is perhaps best remembered for his World War I statement (the Balfour Declaration) expressing official British approval of Zionism....
  • Balfour Declaration (United Kingdom [1917])
    (Nov. 2, 1917), statement of British support for “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.” It was made in a letter from Arthur James Balfour, the British foreign secretary, to Lionel Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild (of Tring), a leader of British Jewry. Though the precise meaning of the ...
  • Balfour, Francis Maitland (British zoologist)
    British zoologist, younger brother of the statesman Arthur James Balfour, and a founder of modern embryology....
  • Balfour of Pittendreich, Sir James (Scottish judge)
    Scottish judge who, by frequently shifting his political allegiances, influenced the course of events in the early years of the Protestant Reformation in Scotland....
  • Balfour of Whittingehame, Arthur James Balfour, 1st earl of (prime minister of United Kingdom)
    British statesman who maintained a position of power in the British Conservative Party for 50 years; he was prime minister from 1902 to 1905, and as foreign secretary from 1916 to 1919 he is perhaps best remembered for his World War I statement (the Balfour Declaration) expressing official British approval of Zionism....
  • Balfour Report (United Kingdom [1926])
    ...South Africa’s autonomy, aided local capital, and protected white workers against black competition. Hertzog also played a leading role at the Imperial Conference in London that issued the Balfour Report (1926), establishing autonomy in foreign affairs for the dominions. When he returned from Britain, Hertzog turned his attention to creating the symbols of nationalism—flag and......
  • Balfour, Robert (Scottish philosopher)
    philosopher accomplished in Latin and Greek who spent his career teaching these languages in France....
  • Balfour, Sir James (Scottish judge)
    Scottish judge who, by frequently shifting his political allegiances, influenced the course of events in the early years of the Protestant Reformation in Scotland....
  • Balgrad (Romania)
    city, capital of Alba judeţ (county), west-central Romania. It lies along the Mureş River, 170 miles (270 km) northwest of Bucharest. One of the oldest settlements in Romania, the site was selected by the Romans for a military camp. The remains of Apulum, an important city in Roman Dacia mentioned by Ptolemy in the 2nd century bc, are 6 miles (10 km) from Alba Iu...
  • Bali (African people)
    ...worked leather goods and ornate calabashes (gourds used as containers), and the Kirdi and the Matakam of the western mountains produce distinctive types of pottery. The powerful masks of the Bali, which represent elephants’ heads, are used in ceremonies for the dead, and the statuettes of the Bamileke are carved in human and animal figures. The Tikar people are famous for beautifully......
  • Bali (island and province, Indonesia)
    island and propinsi (“province”) in the Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia, 1 mile (1.6 km) east of the island of Java. Most of Bali is mountainous (essentially an extension of the central mountain chain in Java), the highest point being Mount Agung, or Bali Peak, 10,308 feet (3,142 metres...
  • bali (Sri Lankan dance)
    ...ceremonies, most picturesque and important are the kohomba kankariya (or “ritual of the god Kohomba”), performed to ensure prosperity and to get rid of pestilence, and the bali, danced to propitiate the heavenly beings....
  • Bali (India)
    city, southeastern West Bengal state, northeastern India. Bally lies just west of the Hooghly River. A part of the Howrah urban agglomeration, it is connected by road and rail with Howrah, Kharagpur, and Burdwān and is a steamer station for traffic along the Hooghly. Major industries in the city include jute, paper, and bone milling, iron- and steel-rolling works, and the manufacture of che...
  • Bali cattle (mammal)
    (species Bos banteng), a species of wild Southeast Asian cattle, family Bovidae (order Artiodactyla), found in hill forests. A shy animal resembling a domestic cow, the banteng attains a shoulder height of about 1.5–1.75 m (60–69 inches). It has a slight ridge on the back, a white rump, white “stockings” on the legs, and slender, curving horns. Bulls are dark br...
  • Bali Museum (museum, Denpasar, Indonesia)
    A network of roads links Denpasar with Singaraja and other cities on the island. Denpasar also has an international airport. A branch of the National Archaeological Research Centre; the Bali Museum, built by the Dutch government in 1932 and containing specimens of Balinese art from prehistoric times to the early 20th century; and Universitas Udayana (founded 1962) are located at Denpasar. Sites......
  • Bali Peak (volcano, Indonesia)
    volcano, northeastern Bali, Indonesia. The highest point in Bali and the object of traditional veneration, it rises to a height of 9,888 feet (3,014 m). In 1963 it erupted after being dormant for 120 years; some 1,600 people were killed and 86,000 left homeless....
  • Bali, Piek van (volcano, Indonesia)
    volcano, northeastern Bali, Indonesia. The highest point in Bali and the object of traditional veneration, it rises to a height of 9,888 feet (3,014 m). In 1963 it erupted after being dormant for 120 years; some 1,600 people were killed and 86,000 left homeless....
  • Bali tiger (mammal)
    ...at about 1,500. Three subspecies have gone extinct within the past century: the Caspian (P. tigris virgata) of central Asia, the Javan (P. tigris sondaica), and the Bali (P. tigris balica) tigers. Because the tiger is so closely related to the lion, they can be crossbred in captivity. The offspring of such matings are called tigons when the male......
  • balìa (Florentine politics)
    ...upon each other. In the third week of July, new outbreaks of violence, probably fomented by Salvestro, brought spectacular change: the appointment of a ruling committee (balìa) composed of a few patricians, a predominating number of small masters, and 32 representatives of the ciompi. Michele di Lando,......
  • Balian of Ibelin (noble of Jerusalem)
    ...the ports south of Tripoli Jubayl and Botron (Al-Batrūn) in the county of Tripoli and Tyre in the kingdom. On October 2 Jerusalem, then defended by only a handful of men under the command of Balian of Ibelin, capitulated to Saladin, who agreed to allow the inhabitants to leave once they had paid a ransom. Though Saladin’s offer included the poor, several thousand apparently were n...
  • Balıkesir (Turkey)
    city, northwestern Turkey, situated on rising ground above a fertile plain that drains to the Sea of Marmara. It lies about where the ancient Roman town of Hadrianutherae lay. In the early 14th century, Balıkesir was an important town of the Turkmen Karası emirate, which was soon absorbed into the Ottoman Empire. The old town and its bazaar, which occupy the upper slopes, contain num...
  • Balıkesir (province, Turkey)
    ...Ottoman period. Below the old town are the modern administrative buildings, the railway station, a teacher-training school, and residential districts. The centre of a rich agricultural province, Balıkesir is linked by rail with İzmir and Ankara by way of Kütahya. Industries produce cotton textiles, flour, rugs, and leather goods....
  • Balīkh River (river, Middle East)
    ...few miles wide. The Euphrates Dam (completed in 1973) impounds a large reservoir, Lake Al-Asad, above the city of Al-Thawrah (Ṭabaqah). Below the dam, the reduced flow is supplemented by the Balīkh and the Khābūr rivers. Ample rainfall in the northern reaches of both these tributaries allowed the creation of major cities in ancient times and now supports intensive......
  • Balikhisar (Turkey)
    ancient Greek town, located on the southern coast of the Sea of Marmara in what is now Balikhisar, Tur. It was probably founded as a colony of Miletus in 756 bc, and its advantageous position soon gave it commercial importance....
  • Balikpapan (Indonesia)
    bay and seaport, East Kalimantan propinsi (province), Indonesia. It is situated on the eastern coast of Indonesian Borneo, facing the Makassar Strait, and is the site of a major oil refinery that processes both imported and local crude oils. There are producing oil fields—which are operated, though they are no longer controlled, b...
  • Bālin (Hindu mythology)
    The story of Rama, like that of Krishna, also has a shadowy side. Rama’s killing of the monkey king Valin (or Balin) in violation of all rules of combat and his banishment of the innocent Sita are troublesome to subsequent tradition. These problems of the “subtlety” of dharma and the inevitability of its violation, central themes in bot...
  • Baline, Israel (American composer)
    American composer who played a leading role in the evolution of the popular song from the early ragtime and jazz eras through the golden age of musicals. His easy mastery of a wide range of song styles, for both stage and motion pictures, made him perhaps the greatest and most enduring of American songwriters....
  • Balinese (people)
    people of the island Bali, Indonesia. They differ from other Indonesians in adhering to the Hindu religion, though their culture has been heavily influenced by the Javanese. Their language belongs to the Austronesian (Malayo-Polynesian) linguistic family....
  • Balinese language
    ...include Cebuano, Tagalog, Ilokano, Hiligaynon, Bikol, Waray, Kapampangan, and Pangasinan of the Philippines; Malay, Javanese, Sundanese, Madurese, Minangkabau, the Batak languages, Acehnese, Balinese, and Buginese of western Indonesia; and Malagasy of Madagascar. Each of these languages has more than one million speakers. Javanese alone accounts for about one-quarter of all speakers of......
  • Bálint, Endre (Hungarian artist)
    Hungarian painter and printmaker....
  • Bálint, Miklós (Hungarian diplomat)
    Count Miklós Bálint (1740–1806), whose father, József Bálint, was Count Antal’s son, had entered the service of France. Miklós Bálint became a favourite of Marie Antoinette and also stood in favour with the Count d’Anjou (later Charles X of France). During the French Revolution Miklós Bálint helped many royalists emigrate...
  • Balinus (Roman mystic)
    a Neo-Pythagorean who became a mythical hero during the time of the Roman Empire. Empress Julia Domna instructed the writer Philostratus to write a biography of Apollonius, and it is speculated that her motive for doing so stemmed from her desire to counteract the influence of Christianity on Roman civilization. The biography portrays a figure much like Christ in temperament and...
  • Baliol, Edward de (king of Scotland)
    son of King John de Balliol of Scotland and claimant to the title of King of Scots, who was crowned in September 1332. Expelled in December 1332, he was restored in 1333–56, having acknowledged Edward III of England as his lord....
  • Baliol family (British family)
    medieval family that played an important part in the history of Scotland and came originally to England from Bailleul (Somme) in Normandy. Guy de Balliol already possessed lands in Northumberland and elsewhere during the reign of William II of England (1087–1100). Guy’s nephew and successor, Bernard (d. c. 1167) built Barnard Castle and was the first of his ...
  • Baliol, John de (Scottish magnate)
    Scottish magnate of Norman descent, one of the richest landowners of his time in Britain, who is regarded as the founder of Balliol College, Oxford; he was the father of John de Balliol, king of Scots. The elder John served (1251–55) as guardian of the young Scottish king Alexander III. His loyalty to King Henry III of England in the Barons...
  • Baliol, John de (king of Scotland [1250-1313])
    king of Scotland from 1292 to 1296, the youngest son of John de Balliol and his wife Dervorguilla, daughter and heiress of the lord of Galloway. ...
  • Balistes vetula (fish)
    ...are found among reefs and marine plants. Although generally considered edible, some cause food poisoning. The largest triggerfishes grow about 60 cm (2 feet) long. Common species include the queen triggerfish (Balistes vetula), a tropical Atlantic fish brightly striped with blue, and Rhinecanthus aculeatus, a grayish, Indo-Pacific fish patterned with bands of blue, black,......
  • Balistidae (fish)
    any of about 30 species of shallow-water marine fishes of the family Balistidae, found worldwide in tropical seas. Triggerfishes are rather deep-bodied, usually colourful fishes with large scales, small mouths, and high-set eyes. Their common name refers to the triggering mechanism in the first two of their three dorsal fin spines. The first spine can be erected by the fish and locked in place by ...
  • Baljian, Levon Garabet (Armenian cleric)
    (LEVON GARABET BALJIAN), Armenian cleric (b. Oct. 3 [Sept. 20, Old Style], 1908, Bucharest, Rom.--d. Aug. 18, 1994, Yerevan, Armenia), as head of the Armenian Orthodox Church for nearly 40 years, was both the spiritual leader and the symbol of national unity for Armenians throughout the world. Levon Garabet Baljian graduated from the University of Bucharest’s faculty of philosophy and liter...
  • balk (billiards)
    ...either 14 or 18 in (36 or 46 cm) away from them. The object of the games is to score caroms by driving a cue ball against both object balls. The eight areas between the lines and cushions are called balks, and, when both object balls are within one of them, a player may score only once or twice (depending on the game played) before driving at least one of the balls out of the balk. The large......
  • balk (baseball)
    ...lead or even “pick off” the runner (catch him off base) by making throws over to the runner’s base. The pitcher attempting to pick off a runner must be careful not to commit a “balk.” A balk occurs when (1) the pitcher, in pitching the ball to the batter, does not have his pivoting foot in contact with the pitching plate, (2) the pitcher does not hold the ball...
  • Balka (Khaljī ruler)
    ...authority in Lakhnauti (northern Bengal) and was encroaching on the province of Bihar. ʿIwāz Khaljī was defeated and slain in 1226, and in 1229 Iltutmish invaded Bengal and slew Balka, the last of the Khaljī chiefs to claim independent power. Iltutmish’s campaigns in Rajasthan and central and western India were ultimately less successful, although he temporari...
  • Balkan Alliance (1912–13)
    (1912–13), alliance of Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, and Montenegro, which fought the First Balkan War against Turkey (1912–13). Ostensibly created to limit increasing Austrian power in the Balkans, the league was actually formed at the instigation of Russia in order to expel the Turks from the Balkans. The league members declared...
  • Balkan Crises (European history)
    The Balkan crises and the outbreak of war, 1907–14...
  • Balkan Entente (Europe [1934])
    (Feb. 9, 1934), mutual-defense agreement between Greece, Turkey, Romania, and Yugoslavia, intended to guarantee the signatories’ territorial integrity and political independence against attack by another Balkan state (i.e., Bulgaria or Albania). The agreement provided for a Permanent Council, composed of the members’ fo...
  • Balkan grippe (pathology)
    acute, self-limited, systemic disease caused by the rickettsia Coxiella burnetii. Q fever spreads rapidly in cows, sheep, and goats, and in humans it tends to occur in localized outbreaks. The clinical symptoms are those of fever, chills, severe headache, and pneumonia. The disease is usually mild, and complicat...
Skip this Advertisement

Link to this article and share the full text with the readers of your Web site or blog-post.

If you think a reference to this article on "" will enhance your Web site, blog-post, or any other web-content, then feel free to link to this article, and your readers will gain full access to the full article, even if they do not subscribe to our service.

You may want to use the HTML code fragment provided below.

copy link

We welcome your comments. Any revisions or updates suggested for this article will be reviewed by our editorial staff. Contact us here.

Regular users of Britannica may notice that this comments feature is less robust than in the past. This is only temporary, while we make the transition to a dramatically new and richer site. The functionality of the system will be restored soon.

The Britannica Store
A-Z Browse

Image preview