Articles from the 1911 Encyclopedia beginning with the letter B

In Paris, Bacon acquired considerable renown, took the degree of doctor of theology, and seems to have received the complimentary title of doctor mirabilis.

Bailiffs are of various kinds and their offices and duties vary greatly.

Baldwin was originally a clerk in orders, and held several prebends; but in 1096 he joined the first crusade.

Baldwin was one of the most prominent leaders of the fourth crusade, and became the first Latin emperor of the East Roman empire.

Baldwin II. had much of the churchmanship of Godfrey and Baldwin I.; but he appears most decidedly as an incessant warrior.

The realm which Baldwin governed was little more than Constantinople.

Baldwin III came to the throne at a time when the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem may be said to be slowly declining.

The problems of the reign of Baldwin IV. may be said to have been two - his sister Sibylla and the fiery Raynald of Chatillon.

Baliol was the name of a family which played an important part in the history of Scotland.

John Ball was an English priest who took a prominent part in the peasant revolt.

The Confession of Basel was one of the many statements of faith produced by the Reformation.

The Council of Basel was set for 1431, but low attendance and heretical activity triggered numerous difficulties.

The term Bastide was applied to the fortified towns founded in south-western France in the middle ages.

The Bayeux Tapestry has been described as The noblest monument in the world relating to our old English history.

Thomas Becket was English chancellor and archbishop of Canterbury under Henry II.

Almost all that we know of Bede is contained in the short autobiographical notice which he has appended to his Ecclesiastical History.

Belisarius was one of the most famous generals of the later Roman empire

Popes named Benedict through the Middle Ages.

It is possible to reconstruct the outlines of St Benedict's career from St Gregory's Dialogues.

The Benedictines, or Black Monks, were monks living according to the Rule of St Benedict of Nursia.

The epic of Beowulf, the most precious relic of Old English, and, indeed, of all early Germanic literature, has come down to us in a single MS.

Bernard of Chartres maintained that ideas are really existent and are laid up for ever in the mind of God.

Bernard's desire to enter a monastery was opposed by his relations, but his resolution to become a monk was not shaken.

In Scandinavian mythology, Berserker was the name of the twelve sons of the hero Berserk, grandson of the eight-handed Starkadder and Alfhilde.

Blanche served as regent of France for her husband as well as her son, the future Louis IX.

Giovanni Boccaccio was an Italian author, whose Decameron is one of the classics of literature.

Bogomils is the name of an ancient religious community which had its origin in Bulgaria.

Anne had no intention of being the king's mistress; she meant to be his queen, and her conduct seems to have been governed entirely by motives of ambition