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  • Väinämöinen (Scandinavian mythology)
    ...and rebirth. Thus, legend relates that Hermes made the first lyre from a turtle carapace; similarly, the first Arab lute was modeled after the body of a beloved male child; the Finnish culture hero Väinämöinen made the first zither, kantele, from the body of a giant pike; the Celts made their first legendary harp from whalebones. In e...
  • Vaiont Dam (dam, Italy)
    concrete arch dam across the Vaiont River in Italy with a height of 859 feet (262 m) and crest length of 623 feet (190 m). Completed in 1961, it was severely damaged by a massive landslide into the reservoir in 1963 that claimed the lives of more than 2,500 people....
  • vaipulya (Buddhism)
    9. Vedalla (perhaps meaning “subtle analysis”), teachings in catechetical form, according to the Pāli system. The Sanskrit tradition places here, as vaipulya, a number of important Mahāyāna works, including the Lotus Sūtra, Aṣṭasāhasrikā-prajñāpāramitā, and......
  • vair (heraldry)
    ...white field with black spots), ermines (a black field with white spots), erminois (gold field with black spots), pean (black field with gold spots), or vair (alternating blue and white figures mimicking the fur of a species of squirrel). Two other colours appear occasionally in British heraldry, murrey (a tint between red and......
  • Vair, Guillaume du (French philosopher)
    a highly influential French thinker and writer of the troubled period at the end of the 16th century....
  • vairāgin (Hindu ascetic)
    in Hinduism, a religious ascetic who worships principally one or another form of the god Vishnu. Vairāgins generally wear white robes, in contrast to the ochre-coloured robes worn by Śaiva ascetics, and are also differentiated by their tilak (sect mark on the forehead), which is never made of ash and is always vertical in design....
  • Vairocana (Buddha)
    (“Great Illuminator”), the supreme Buddha, as regarded by many Mahāyāna Buddhists of East Asia and of Tibet, Nepal, and Java....
  • Väisälä, Yrjö (Finnish astronomer)
    Finnish meteorologist and astronomer noted for developing meteorological measuring methods and instruments....
  • Vaiśālī (India)
    city of ancient India, north of Patna, northwestern Bihār state, on the Gandak River. In antiquity Vaiśālī was the capital of the Licchavi republic and was closely associated with the early histories of both Buddhism and Jainism. Roads connected it with Rājagṛha to the south and Kapilavastu and Śrāvastī to the north....
  • Vaisesika (Indian philosophy)
    (“Particular”), one of the six orthodox systems (darshans) of Indian philosophy, significant for its naturalism, a feature that is not characteristic of most Indian thought. The Sanskrit philosopher Kaṇāda Kāśyapa (2nd–3rd century ad?) expounded its theories and is credited with founding the school. Important later c...
  • Vaiśeṣika (Indian philosophy)
    (“Particular”), one of the six orthodox systems (darshans) of Indian philosophy, significant for its naturalism, a feature that is not characteristic of most Indian thought. The Sanskrit philosopher Kaṇāda Kāśyapa (2nd–3rd century ad?) expounded its theories and is credited with founding the school. Important later c...
  • Vaiśeṣika-sūtras (work by Kaṇāda)
    The Vaiśeṣika-sūtras were written by Kaṇāda, a philosopher who flourished c. 2nd–4th centuries. The system owes its name to the fact that it admits ultimate particularities (viśeṣa). The metaphysics is, therefore, pluralistic....
  • Vaishakha (Buddhist festival)
    most important of the Theravada Buddhist festivals, commemorating the birth, enlightenment, and death of the Buddha. The event is observed on the full-moon day of the lunar month Vesakha, which falls in April or May. The day is observed as a public holiday in many Southeast Asian countries. It is marked by special devotional services and various deeds intended to be meritorious, such as the presen...
  • Vaisheshika (Indian philosophy)
    (“Particular”), one of the six orthodox systems (darshans) of Indian philosophy, significant for its naturalism, a feature that is not characteristic of most Indian thought. The Sanskrit philosopher Kaṇāda Kāśyapa (2nd–3rd century ad?) expounded its theories and is credited with founding the school. Important later c...
  • Vaishnava-Sahajiyā (Hindu cult)
    member of an esoteric Hindu cult centred in Bengal that sought religious experience through the world of the senses, specifically human sexual love. Sahaja (Sanskrit: “easy” or “natural”) as a system of worship was prevalent in the Tantric traditions common to both Hinduism and Buddhism in Bengal as early as the 8th–9th centuries. The divine romance of ...
  • Vaishnavism (Hindu sect)
    worship of the god Vishnu and of his incarnations, principally as Rāma and as Krishna. It is one of the major forms of modern Hinduism—with Śaivism and Shaktism (Śāktism)....
  • Vaishravana (Buddhist and Hindu mythology)
    in Hindu mythology, the king of the yakṣas (nature spirits) and the god of wealth. He is associated with the earth, mountains, all treasures such as minerals and jewels that lie underground, and riches in general. According to most accounts he first lived in Laṅkā (Sri Lanka), but his palace was taken away from him by his half brother, Rāvaṇa...
  • Vaishya (Hindu social class)
    third highest in ritual status of the four varnas, or social classes, of Hindu India, traditionally described as commoners. Legend states that the varnas (or colours) sprang from Prajapati, a creator god—in order of status, the Brahman (white) from his head, the Kshatriya (red) from his arms, the Vaishya (yellow) from his thighs, and ...
  • Vaiṣṇava (Hindu sect)
    worship of the god Vishnu and of his incarnations, principally as Rāma and as Krishna. It is one of the major forms of modern Hinduism—with Śaivism and Shaktism (Śāktism)....
  • Vaiṣṇava-Sahajiyā (Hindu cult)
    member of an esoteric Hindu cult centred in Bengal that sought religious experience through the world of the senses, specifically human sexual love. Sahaja (Sanskrit: “easy” or “natural”) as a system of worship was prevalent in the Tantric traditions common to both Hinduism and Buddhism in Bengal as early as the 8th–9th centuries. The divine romance of ...
  • Vaiṣṇavī (Hindu deity)
    ...a group of seven mother-goddesses, each of whom is the śakti, or female counterpart, of a god. They are Brahmāṇī, Māheśvarī, Kaumārī, Vaiṣṇavī, Vārāhī, Indrāṇī, and Cāmuṇḍā, or Yamī. (One text, the Varāha-Purā...
  • Vaiṣṇavism (Hindu sect)
    worship of the god Vishnu and of his incarnations, principally as Rāma and as Krishna. It is one of the major forms of modern Hinduism—with Śaivism and Shaktism (Śāktism)....
  • Vaiśravaṇa (Buddhist and Hindu mythology)
    in Hindu mythology, the king of the yakṣas (nature spirits) and the god of wealth. He is associated with the earth, mountains, all treasures such as minerals and jewels that lie underground, and riches in general. According to most accounts he first lived in Laṅkā (Sri Lanka), but his palace was taken away from him by his half brother, Rāvaṇa...
  • Vaisseau d’or, Le (poem by Nelligan)
    ...childhood, music, and death pervade his work. Nelligan used conventional poetic forms: of his approximately 160 poems, nearly half are sonnets or rondels. The best known are Le Vaisseau d’or (“The Ship of Gold”) and La Romance du vin (“The Song of Wine”)....
  • Vaiśya (Hindu social class)
    third highest in ritual status of the four varnas, or social classes, of Hindu India, traditionally described as commoners. Legend states that the varnas (or colours) sprang from Prajapati, a creator god—in order of status, the Brahman (white) from his head, the Kshatriya (red) from his arms, the Vaishya (yellow) from his thighs, and ...
  • Vaisya (Hindu social class)
    third highest in ritual status of the four varnas, or social classes, of Hindu India, traditionally described as commoners. Legend states that the varnas (or colours) sprang from Prajapati, a creator god—in order of status, the Brahman (white) from his head, the Kshatriya (red) from his arms, the Vaishya (yellow) from his thighs, and ...
  • Vaitarani (Hindu mythology)
    The soul, in its substantial envelope, is meanwhile proceeding on its journey, holding onto a cow’s tail to cross the Vaitarani, a horrible river of blood and filth that marks the boundary of Yama’s kingdom. Throughout, it is sustained by further śrāddhas, during which friends on earth seek to provide it with shoes, umbrellas, clothing, and money. These they give...
  • Vaitown (Liberia)
    city, western Liberia, West Africa. Located in the Bomi Hills former iron-mining district, it is associated with the Liberian Mining Company (LMC; a subsidiary of Republic Steel Corporation), which closed down mining operations in the late 1970s. The firm, first in Liberia to export iron ore, completed a 43-mile (69-kilometre) narrow-gauge railway to the port at Monrovia in 1951...
  • Vajda, János (Hungarian poet)
    ...whose ironic novel in verse, A délibábok hőse (1873; “The Hero of the Mirages”), is representative of the mood of disillusionment. Another poet, János Vajda, bridged the gap between the romantic populism of Petőfi and fin-de-siècle decadence: a gloomy visionary, with equal propensity for self-pity and self-aggrandizement,......
  • vaji (musical instrument)
    Arched harps were prominent in ancient Central Asia, and 1st-century frescoes (Gandhāra culture, in modern Pakistan) show a seemingly archaic variety that survives almost unchanged in the vaji, or Kafir harp, of Nūrestān in Afghanistan. This instrument’s neck pierces and then emerges from the skin belly; the strings run from the neck to the protruding end (in mos...
  • Vajirañāṇavarorasa (prince of Siam)
    prince-patriarch of Buddhism in Siam, who institutionalized Thai Buddhism, spread the faith in the countryside, and was his generation’s leading intellectual....
  • Vajiravudh (king of Siam)
    king of Siam from 1910 to 1925, noted for his progressive reforms and prolific writings....
  • Vajji (Indian tribal confederacy)
    confederacy of the Licchavis and neighbouring peoples in Bihār, India, that existed from the 6th century bc to the 4th century ad. Its capital was at Vaiśālī (in modern Besarh). It was governed as an aristocratic republic. Gautama Buddha is said to have modeled the organizational structure of the Buddhist monastic order, sangha...
  • Vajk (king of Hungary)
    first king of Hungary, who is considered to be the founder of the Hungarian state and one of the most renowned figures in Hungarian history....
  • Vajpayee, Atal Behari (prime minister of India)
    leader of the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and twice prime minister of India (1996; 1998–2004)....
  • Vajpayee, Atal Bihari (prime minister of India)
    leader of the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and twice prime minister of India (1996; 1998–2004)....
  • vajra (Buddhist ritual object)
    five-pronged ritual object extensively employed in Tibetan Buddhist ceremonies. It is the symbol of the Vajrayāna school of Buddhism....
  • vajra-dhātu (Buddhist mandala)
    ...to be separate realms. Thus, one of the most important iconographic images was the ryōkai mandara (“mandala of the two worlds”), which consisted of two parts—the kongō-kai (“diamond world”) and the taizō-kai (“womb world”)—that organized the Buddhist divinities and their relationships in a prescrib...
  • Vajrabhairava (Buddhist deity)
    in northern Buddhism, one of the eight fierce protective deities. See dharmapāla....
  • Vajrabodhi (Buddhist monk)
    ...in 716, and he translated the Mahavairocana-sutra and a closely related ritual compendium, the Susiddhikara, into Chinese. The other two monks, Vajrabodhi and his disciple Amoghavajra, arrived in 720 and produced two abridged translations of the Sarvatathagatatattvasamgraha (“Symposium of Truth of All the......
  • “Vajracchedikā-sūtra” (Buddhist text)
    (“Diamond Cutter Sūtra”), brief and very popular Mahāyāna Buddhist text, widely used in East Asia, and perhaps the best known of the 18 smaller “Wisdom” texts, which together with their commentaries are known as the Prajñāpāramitā. It takes the form of a dialogue in the presence of a company of monks and bodhisatt...
  • Vajradakini (Buddhism)
    in Vajrayāna (Tantric Buddhism), female embodiment of the cognitive function leading to Buddhahood. Vajrayāna emphasizes experience over speculation but uses the terms of speculative philosophical Buddhism in an imaginative way. This practice means that images taken from the ordinary life of the individual become the means to further a deeper understanding of man’s being, whi...
  • vajradhātu (Buddhist mandala)
    ...to be separate realms. Thus, one of the most important iconographic images was the ryōkai mandara (“mandala of the two worlds”), which consisted of two parts—the kongō-kai (“diamond world”) and the taizō-kai (“womb world”)—that organized the Buddhist divinities and their relationships in a prescrib...
  • Vajrahasta III (Gaṅga ruler)
    ...and Cālukyas in the period when the Western Gaṅgas had been forced to abandon this role. Early dynasties of the eastern Gaṅgas ruled in Orissa from the 8th century; but Vajrahasta III, who assumed the title of Trikaliṅgādhipat (ruler of the three Kaliṅgas) in 1028, was probably the first to rule all three divisions of Kaliṅga. His son......
  • Vajrapāṇi (Buddhist mythological figure)
    in Mahāyāna Buddhist mythology, one of the celestial bodhisattvas (“Buddhas-to-be”), the manifestation of the self-born Buddha Akṣobhya....
  • vajrasattva yoga (Buddhism)
    According to Vajrayana traditions, the culmination of this process, called vajrasattva yoga, gives the initiate a diamond-like body beyond all duality. The four stages in the process are described in four different groups of tantras (the Kriya-tantra, Carya-tantra, Yoga-tantra, and......
  • Vajrayāna (Buddhism)
    important development within Buddhism in India and neighbouring countries, notably Tibet. Vajrayāna, in the history of Buddhism, marks the transition from Mahāyāna speculative thought to the enactment of Buddhist ideas in individual life. The term vajra (Sanskrit: “diamond,” or “thunderbolt”) is used to signify the absolutely real and indestr...
  • Vajrayoginī (Buddhism)
    in Vajrayāna (Tantric Buddhism), female embodiment of the cognitive function leading to Buddhahood. Vajrayāna emphasizes experience over speculation but uses the terms of speculative philosophical Buddhism in an imaginative way. This practice means that images taken from the ordinary life of the individual become the means to further a deeper understanding of man’s being, whi...
  • Vak Béla (king of Hungary)
    king of Hungary (1131–41). He was the son of Prince Álmos, the younger brother of King Coloman (Hungarian: Kálmán)....
  • Vākāṭaka dynasty (Indian history)
    Indian ruling house originating in the central Deccan in the mid-3rd century ad, the empire of which is believed to have extended from Mālwa and Gujarāt in the north to the Tungabhadra in the south and from the Arabian Sea in the west to the Bay of Bengal in the east. The Vākāṭakas, like many of the contemporary dynasties of the Deccan, claimed Bra...
  • vakf (Islam)
    ...privately in earlier periods, were almost entirely owned by governments and were managed by departments of awqāf (plural of waqf, a religious endowment). The official appointed to care for a shrine is usually called a mutawallī. In Turkey, where such endowments......
  • Vakh (river, Russia)
    ...River from the left. Successive tributaries along the northwesterly course, after the Chulym, include the Chaya and the Parabel (both left), the Ket (right), the Vasyugan (left), and the Tym and Vakh rivers (both right). Down to the Vasyugan confluence the river passes through the southern belt of the taiga, thereafter entering the middle belt. Below the Vakh confluence the middle Ob changes......
  • Vākhān (mountain corridor, Afghanistan)
    a mountainous region and panhandle in the Pamir Mountains of extreme northeastern Afghanistan. From the demarcation of the Afghan frontier (1895–96), the panhandle formed a political buffer between Russian Turkistan, British India, and China. It is now bounded by Tajikistan (north), China (east), and Pakistan (south). The Vākhān River flows from west to east...
  • Vākhān River (river, Afghanistan)
    ...It is 700 miles (1,125 km) long and constitutes part of the border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan. The Panj River is formed between the Hindu Kush and the Pamir Mountains by the junction of the Vākhān River and the Pamir River along the border between eastern Afghanistan and Tajikistan. The climate of the Panj River valley is arid, averaging less than 8 inches (200 mm) of......
  • Vakhsh River (river, Tajikistan)
    The dense river network that drains the republic includes two large swift rivers, the upper courses of the Syr Darya and the Amu Darya, together with their tributaries, notably the Vakhsh and Kofarnihon. The Amu Darya is formed by the confluence of the Panj and Vakhsh rivers; the Panj forms much of the republic’s southern boundary. Most of the rivers flow east to west and eventually drain i...
  • Vakhtang Gorgaslani (king of Georgia)
    ...the Black Sea (incorporating the ancient Colchis) became closely bound to Byzantium. Iberia passed under Persian control, though toward the end of the 5th century a hero arose in the person of King Vakhtang Gorgaslani (Gorgasal), a ruler of legendary valour who for a time reasserted Georgia’s national sovereignty. The Sāsānian monarch Khosrow I (reigned 531–579) abol...
  • Vakhtang VI (Turkish ruler)
    ...of Iran. There was a period of respite under the viceroys of the house of Mukhran, who governed at Tbilisi under the aegis of the shahs from 1658 until 1723. The most notable Mukhranian ruler was Vakhtang VI, regent of Kartli from 1703 to 1711 and then king, with intervals, until 1723. Vakhtang was an eminent lawgiver and introduced the printing press to Georgia; he had the Georgian annals......
  • Vakhtangov, Yevgeny Bagrationovich (Russian theatrical director)
    Russian theatrical director of the Moscow Art Theatre....
  • väki (Finnish mythology)
    supernatural power believed by the Baltic Finns to reside in those natural sites, objects, and animals that for various reasons attracted popular attention and inspired strong emotional attachments. Väki was often conceived of as an impersonal power, akin to the Polynesian mana, but it also referred to the agents of the power, diffuse spiritual entities that frequent natural sites o...
  • vakk (Scandinavian mythology)
    The tõnni-vakk of the Estonians (also a Finno-Ugric people) was a similar object of worship. The vakkas, or “cases,” were kept by families and in some cases collectively by a village. They contained offerings to St. Antony, to whom sacrifices of sheep and oxen were made on January 17. The tõnni-vakk could be made only by a shaman and cared for only....
  • Vakula the Smith (comic opera by Tchaikovsky)
    ...Maryinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg in April 1874. Despite its initial success, the opera did not convince the critics, with whom Tchaikovsky ultimately agreed. His next opera, Vakula the Smith (1874), later revised as Cherevichki (1885; The Little Shoes), was similarly judged. In his early operas the young composer.....
  • Vākyakāra (Indian philosopher)
    ...he had been preceded by no less an authority than the Bhagavadgītā. In his general philosophical position, he followed the vṛttikāra Bodhāyana, the Vākyakāra (to whom he referred but whose identity is not established except that he advocated a theory of real modification of Brahman), Nāthamuni (c. 1000), and his own......
  • Vākyapadīya (work by Bhartṛhari)
    Hindu philosopher and poet-grammarian, author of the Vākyapadīya (“Words in a Sentence”), regarded as one of the most significant works on the philosophy of language, earning for him a place for all time in the śabdādvaita (word monistic) school of Indian thought....
  • Val-de-Grâce, Church of (church, Paris, France)
    ...the setbacks he began to encounter, the first of which was a royal commission he received in 1645 and lost in 1646. Anne of Austria asked Mansart to draw up plans for the convent and church of the Val-de-Grâce in Paris, which the sovereign had vowed to build if she bore a son. When the costs of laying the foundation exceeded the funds provided, Mansart was replaced by Jacques Lemercier,....
  • Val-de-Marne (department, France)
    ...of France encompassing the north-central départements of Val-d’Oise, Seine-et-Marne, Seine-Saint-Denis, Ville-de-Paris, Hauts-de-Seine, Val-de-Marne, Essonne, and Yvelines. Île-de-France is bounded by the régions of Picardy (Picardie) to the north, Champagne-Ardenne to the east,......
  • Val-d’Oise (department, France)
    région of France encompassing the north-central départements of Val-d’Oise, Seine-et-Marne, Seine-Saint-Denis, Ville-de-Paris, Hauts-de-Seine, Val-de-Marne, Essonne, and Yvelines. Île-de-France is bounded by the régions of Picardy (Picardie) to the no...
  • Val-d’Or (Quebec, Canada)
    city, Abitibi-Témiscamingue region, western Quebec province, Canada. Val-d’Or lies near Lakes Blouin, de Montigny, and Lemoine. Although its name means “valley of gold,” there is no valley in the vicinity. The town was founded by miners in 1934, and its economy depends chiefly on mining (gold, molybdenum, zinc, lead, and copper) and...
  • Val-Saint-Lambert factory (factory, Belgium)
    In Belgium the Val-Saint-Lambert factory was an important producer of heavily cut crystal throughout the period. It is also associated with layered work and was particularly prominent with original work of this nature around 1900. Later Charles Graffart designed for it wares made in a variety of techniques, some of them with engraved decoration....
  • Vala or The Four Zoas (work by Blake)
    ...the matter-of-fact ceiling, ‘clapping its hands for joy,’” as Alexander Gilchrist wrote. The occasion entered into Blake’s psyche and his poetry. In the epic poem Vala or The Four Zoas (manuscript 1796?–1807?), he writes, “Urizen rose up from his couch / On wings of tenfold joy, clapping his hands,” and, in his poem ....
  • Valabhī (ancient city, India)
    city of ancient India that was the capital of the Maitraka dynasty in the 5th–8th century ad. It was situated on an inlet of the Gulf of Cambay (Khambhāt), northwest of the port of Bhavnagar, in Saurāṣṭra (later Gujarāt), western India. The city is thought to have been established about ad 470 by the founder of the dynasty, Sen...
  • Valabhī era (Indian history)
    ...king Īśvarasena and first used in Gujarāt and Mahārāshtra and later (until the 13th century) in Madhya Pradesh and as far north as Uttar Pradesh; the Valabhī era (ad 318, employed in Saurāṣṭra) and the Gupta era (ad 320), used throughout the Gupta Empire and preserved in Nepal until the 13th century. Late...
  • Valachi, Joseph (American gangster)
    American gangster, member of Lucky Luciano’s mob family, who turned informer in 1962....
  • Valachi, Joseph Michael (American gangster)
    American gangster, member of Lucky Luciano’s mob family, who turned informer in 1962....
  • Valachi Papers, The (work by Maas)
    His memoirs were published as The Valachi Papers (1968), by Peter Maas....
  • Valadier, Giuseppe (Italian architect)
    The greatest achievement in urban planning of the period was the design of the Piazza del Popolo in Rome (1813–31) by Giuseppe Valadier, a great open space with three diagonal avenues leading off it....
  • Valadon, Marie-Clémentine (French painter)
    French painter noted for her robust figures and bold use of colour. She was the mother of the painter Maurice Utrillo....
  • Valadon, Suzanne (French painter)
    French painter noted for her robust figures and bold use of colour. She was the mother of the painter Maurice Utrillo....
  • Valahia (historical region, Romania)
    principality on the lower Danube River, which in 1859 joined Moldavia to form the state of Romania. Its name is derived from that of the Vlachs, who constituted the bulk of its population. Walachia was bounded on the north and northeast by the Transylvanian Alps, on the west, south, and east by the Danube River, and on the northeast by the Seret River. Traditionally it is considered to have been f...
  • Valais (canton, Switzerland)
    canton, southern Switzerland. It borders Italy to the south and France to the west and is bounded by the cantons of Vaud and Bern on the north and Uri and Ticino on the east. Its area includes the valley of the upper Rhône River, from its source at the Rhône Glacier to its mouth on Lake Geneva; the valley runs from east to west and then, in a rig...
  • Valākhsh (Sāsānian king)
    Sāsānian king (reigned 484–488), succeeding his brother Fīrūz I. Soon after he ascended the throne, Balāsh was threatened by the dominance of invading Hephthalites, a nomadic eastern tribe. Supported by Zarmihr, a feudal chief, Balāsh suppressed an uprising by his rebel brother Zareh. Later, however, he was abandoned by Zarmihr, and shortly afterwar...
  • Valangiman Sankarana-Rayana Srinivasa Sastri (Indian statesman)
    liberal Indian statesman and founder of the Indian Liberal Federation, who served his country under British colonial rule in many important posts at home and abroad....
  • Valanginian Stage (geology)
    second of six main divisions (in ascending order) in the Lower Cretaceous Series, representing rocks deposited worldwide during the Valanginian Age, which occurred 140.2 to 136.4 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period. Rocks of the Valanginian Stage overlie those of the Berriasian Stage and underlie rocks of the Hauterivian ...
  • Valaorítis, Aristotélis (Greek poet)
    Greek poet and statesman who was memorable chiefly for the ardent patriotism he displayed both in his poetry and in his political career....
  • Vâlcea (county, Romania)
    judeţ (county), south-central Romania. The Transylvanian Alps (Southern Carpathians) and the sub-Carpathians rise above settlement areas in the valleys, and the Olt and Cerna rivers drain southward through the county. Râmnicu Vâlcea (the county capital), Băbeni, and Berzoi are timber production centres. Chemical factories operate in Govora, and...
  • Valdai Hills (region, Russia)
    upland region running north-south, about midway between St. Petersburg and Moscow, Russia. The hills are a northward extension of the Central Russian Upland. The ridge is overlain by deposited glacial materials in the form of terminal moraines and other detritus. The Valdai Hills reach a height, near Vyshny Volochok, of 1,125 feet (343 m). Toward the west the hills decline steeply toward the Lake ...
  • Valday Hills (region, Russia)
    upland region running north-south, about midway between St. Petersburg and Moscow, Russia. The hills are a northward extension of the Central Russian Upland. The ridge is overlain by deposited glacial materials in the form of terminal moraines and other detritus. The Valdai Hills reach a height, near Vyshny Volochok, of 1,125 feet (343 m). Toward the west the hills decline steeply toward the Lake ...
  • Valdayskaya Vozvyshennost (region, Russia)
    upland region running north-south, about midway between St. Petersburg and Moscow, Russia. The hills are a northward extension of the Central Russian Upland. The ridge is overlain by deposited glacial materials in the form of terminal moraines and other detritus. The Valdai Hills reach a height, near Vyshny Volochok, of 1,125 feet (343 m). Toward the west the hills decline steeply toward the Lake ...
  • valdecoxib (drug)
    ...however, that COX-2 inhibitors (which are also NSAIDs) offered superior relief of pain or inflammation. Of the two other COX-2 inhibitors on the market, celecoxib (Celebrex) and valdecoxib (Bextra), valdecoxib had been shown to increase heart-attack risk in patients who had undergone coronary-artery bypass surgery. In mid-December a large NCI trial that was investigating the potential......
  • Valdemar Atterdag (work by Hauch)
    ...Robert Fulton (1853). But his greatest success was as a poet, particularly as a writer of odes. One of his most important poetic works was the ballad cycle Valdemar Atterdag (1861). Collections of his poems include Lyriske digte (1842; “Lyrical Poems”), Lyriske digte og romancer (1861; “Lyrical Poems......
  • Valdemar Birgersson (king of Sweden)
    king of Sweden (1250–75) who governed jointly with his father Birger Jarl until the latter’s death in 1266 and then reigned alone. Because of an extramarital affair with his wife’s sister, a postulant nun, by whom he had a child, Valdemar in 1274 made a pilgrimage to Rome to gain forgiveness. Pope Gregory X exacted concessions, whereby Val...
  • Valdemar I (king of Denmark)
    king of Denmark (1157–82) who ended the Wend (Slav) threat to Danish shipping, won independence from the Holy Roman emperor, and gained church approval for hereditary rule by his dynasty, the Valdemars....
  • Valdemar II (king of Denmark)
    king of Denmark (1202–41) who, between 1200 and 1219, extended the Danish Baltic empire from Schleswig in the west to include lands as far east as Estonia. In his later years he worked to unify Denmark’s legal and administrative systems....
  • Valdemar IV Atterdag (king of Denmark)
    king of Denmark (1340–75) who united his country under his own rule after a brief period of alien domination. His aggressive foreign policy led to conflict with Sweden, North German principalities, and the North German trading centres of the Hanseatic League....
  • Valdemar Magnusson (Swedish duke)
    ...especially by the marsk, Torgils Knutsson; even after Birger’s coronation in 1302, Torgils retained much of his power. The king’s younger brothers Erik and Valdemar, who were made dukes, attempted to establish their own policies and were forced to flee to Norway (1304), where they received support from the Norwegian king; the following year ...
  • Valdemar’s War (Scandinavian history)
    ...following year Valdemar attacked Skåne, and Magnus relinquished Skåne, Blekinge, and Halland in return for Valdemar’s promise of help against Magnus’s Swedish enemies. In 1361 Valdemar attacked Gotland and captured Visby, an important Baltic trading centre. Haakon, who had been made king of Sweden in 1362, and Margaret were married in 1363. Magnus’s opponents ...
  • Valdenses (religious movement)
    members of a Christian movement that originated in 12th-century France, the devotees of which sought to follow Christ in poverty and simplicity. In modern times the name has been applied to members of a Protestant church (centred on the Franco-Italian border) that formed when remnants of the earlier movement became Swiss Protestant Reformers....
  • Valdepeñas (Spain)
    city, Ciudad Real provincia (province), in the comunidad autónoma (autonomous community) of Castile-La Mancha, south-central Spain. The city lies on the left bank of the Jabalón River, southeast of the city of Ciudad Real. Its Gothic Church of the A...
  • Valderrama Blanca, Juan (Spanish singer-songwriter)
    Spanish singer-songwriter (b. May 24, 1916, Torredelcampo, Spain—d. April 12, 2004, Espartinas, Spain), won critical acclaim from the mid-1930s as a performer of flamenco and from the 1950s achieved towering success recording a popular song form known as copla. Simultaneously viewed both as the court performer of dictator Francisco Franco and as Spain’s first protest singer, t...
  • Valderrama, Juanito (Spanish singer-songwriter)
    Spanish singer-songwriter (b. May 24, 1916, Torredelcampo, Spain—d. April 12, 2004, Espartinas, Spain), won critical acclaim from the mid-1930s as a performer of flamenco and from the 1950s achieved towering success recording a popular song form known as copla. Simultaneously viewed both as the court performer of dictator Francisco Franco and as Spain’s first protest singer, t...
  • Valdés, Alfonso de (Spanish writer)
    Humanist satirist, one of the most influential and cultured thinkers in Spain of the early 16th century and twin brother of Juan de Valdés....
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