Gervase Of Canterbury was a monk at Christ Church, Canterbury, from 1163, compiler of chronicles having considerable value for the reign of Richard I (1189–99) and the first decade of King John’s reign (from 1199). Ordained by Thomas Becket, Gervase was sacristan of the Christ Church monastery for

George Gervin is an American professional basketball player who rose to stardom as a member of the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA) in the 1970s and established himself as one of the greatest guards in the history of the sport. His nickname “The Iceman”—which became

Greta Gerwig is an American actress, writer, and director who became known for the radiant artlessness of her performances in small independent movies before embarking on a successful career as a filmmaker. In 2023, she made history when her summer blockbuster film Barbie (which she wrote with her

Greta Gerwig is an American actress, writer, and director who became known for the radiant artlessness of her performances in small independent movies before embarking on a successful career as a filmmaker. In 2023, she made history when her summer blockbuster film Barbie (which she wrote with her

Heracles: …cattle of the three-bodied giant Geryon, who ruled the island Erytheia (meaning red) in the far west; (11) the bringing back of the golden apples kept at the world’s end by the Hesperides; and (12) the fetching up from the underworld of the triple-headed dog Cerberus, guardian of its gates.

Armenia: Settlement patterns: Alexandropol (Gyumri), Kamo, and Goris—accounted for about one-tenth of the total population. Two-thirds of the population are now urbanized.

Al-Jazīrah, region, central-southeast Sudan. Al-Jazīrah lies just southeast of the confluence of the Blue and White Nile rivers; the Blue Nile runs northwestward through the central part of the region, and the White Nile lies to the west. The Blue Nile is joined by the Dinder River at the southern

Gerzean culture, predynastic Egyptian cultural phase given the sequence dates 40–65 by Sir Flinders Petrie and later dated c. 3400–c. 3100 bce. Evidence indicates that the Gerzean culture was a further development of the culture of the Amratian period, which immediately preceded the Gerzean.

Kanagaki Robun: …Bunkyō, a writer in the gesaku tradition (writing intended for the entertainment of the merchant and working classes of Edo). Eventually Robun was recognized as a leading gesaku writer, noted for such works as Kokkei Fuji mōde (1860–61; “A Comic Mount Fuji Pilgrimage”), a satire of popular works on pilgrimages…

Nikolaus Lenau: His later poems, Gesammelte Gedichte (1844; “Collected Poems”) and the religious epics Savonarola (1837) and Die Albigenser (1842; “The Albigensians”), deal with his relentless and unsuccessful search for order and constancy in love, nature, and faith. Following Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s death in 1832, the appearance in 1833…

property law: Concurrent individual owners: …a form of cotenancy (Gesamthandeigentum) in which the cotenants cannot partition the tenancy property, although they may alienate their shares. This form of cotenancy is used for many kinds of partnerships, including the partnership of coheirs that exists until the deceased’s estate is settled and divided.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe: Early training and influence: …then give birth to a Gesamtkultur, that is, a new universal culture in a totally reformed man-made environment. These ideas motivated the “modern” movement in architecture that would soon culminate in the so-called International Style of modern architecture.

Claude Debussy: Middle period: Wagner’s conception of Gesamtkunstwerk (“total art work”) encouraged artists to refine upon their emotional responses and to exteriorize their hidden dream states, often in a shadowy, incomplete form; hence the more tenuous nature of the work of Wagner’s French disciples. It was in this spirit that Debussy wrote…

Germany: Preschool, elementary, and secondary: Many so-called Gesamtschulen (equivalent to British comprehensive schools), which were established beginning in the 1960s, are now operated in each state, though conservative areas were generally resistant to them. These Gesamtschulen are intended as an alternative to the previously rigid division into three levels, often criticized for…

Franz Schubert: Maturity of Franz Schubert: …Geister über den Wassern (Song of the Spirits over the Water) for male-voice octet with accompaniment for bass strings, D. 714, completed in February 1821.

Peter Weiss: …Gesang vom lusitanischen Popanz (1967; The Song of the Lusitanian Bogey); and American policy in the Vietnam War, Viet Nam Diskurs (1968; Discourse on Viet Nam).

Bertolt Brecht: …des Herrn Julius Caesar (1957; The Business Affairs of Mr. Julius Caesar). It concerns a scholar researching a biography of Caesar several decades after his assassination.

Josef Dobrovský: …three most important works was Geschichte der böhmischen Sprache und Literatur (1792; “History of the Bohemian Language and Literature”), which included considerations of many earlier works long suppressed because of their Protestant religious content. His grammar of Czech, Lehrgebäude der böhmischen Sprache (1809; “Learning System of the Bohemian Language”), codified…

Julius von Sachs: His Geschichte der Botanik vom 16. Jahrhundert bis 1860 (1875; History of Botany 1530–1860) remains an indispensable guide to the history of botany and to the first stages in the emergence of plant physiology as a separate discipline. Sachs was also influential in establishing the importance…

Hermann Franz Moritz Kopp: …most notable achievements, the great Geschichte der Chemie, 4 vol. (1843–47; “History of Chemistry”). Although he spent his life gathering material for a second edition, it was never finished.

Eduard Devrient: …development of the German theatre, Geschichte der deutschen Schauspielkunst (1848; “History of German Dramatic Art”).

Brothers Grimm: The Berlin period: …history of the German language, Geschichte der deutschen Sprache, in which he attempted to combine the historical study of language with the study of early history. Research into names and dialects was stimulated by Jacob Grimm’s work, as were ways of writing and spelling—for example, he used roman, rather than…

Heinrich Graetz: …English version was published as History of the Jews, 6 vol. (1891–98).

Johann Winckelmann: His general Geschichte der Kunst des Altertums (1764; “History of the Art of Antiquity”) is virtually the first work to define in ancient art an organic development of growth, maturity, and decline; to include such cultural and technical factors as climate, freedom, and craftsmanship in explaining the…

August Wilhelm Ambros: His Geschichte der Musik, incomplete at his death, covered antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance. Scholars completed the work from his notes.

Ludwig Pastor, baron von Campersfelden: (1886–1933; History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages).

Johann Gustav Droysen: …years on his great work, Geschichte der preussischen Politik, 14 vol. (1855–86; “History of Prussian Politics”). This history, unfinished at Droysen’s death, ends at the year 1756.

Friedrich Leopold, Graf zu Stolberg-Stolberg: …final work was the immense Geschichte der Religion Jesu Christi, 15 vol. (1806–18; “History of the Religion of Jesus Christ”), which covered the development of Christianity up until the year 430. It was continued (53 vol., 1825–64) by F. von Kerz and J.N. Brischar.

Jacob Burckhardt: Works of Jacob Burckhardt: …found only partial fulfillment in Die Geschichte der Renaissance in Italien (1867; “History of the Renaissance in Italy”), which deals with architecture only. If eventually Burckhardt’s study of the Renaissance provided a basic model for the treatment of cultural history in general, the implications for art history were best realized…

Leopold von Ranke: Early career.: …produced his maiden work, the Geschichte der romanischen und germanischen Völker von 1494 bis 1514 (History of the Latin and Teutonic Nations from 1494 to 1514), which treats the struggle waged between the French and the Habsburgs for Italy as the phase that ushered in the new era. The appended…

Pavel Josef Šafařík: …and languages of the Slavs: Geschichte der slavischen Sprache und Literatur nach allen Mundarten (1826; “History of the Slavic Languages and Literature in All Dialects”); Slovanské starožitnosti (1837; “Slavic Antiquities”), better known in the German translation Slawische Altertümer (1843); Über den Ursprung und die Heimat des Glagolitismus (1858; “Concerning the…

Rudolf Bultmann: Early career: …Geschichte der synoptischen Tradition (History of the Synoptic Tradition), an analysis of the traditional material used by the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke and an attempt to trace its history in the tradition of the church prior to their use of it. This proved to be a seminal work,…

Friedrich Schiller: Historical studies: …the requisite credentials in his Geschichte des Abfalls der vereinigten Niederlande von der spanischen Regierung (1788; “History of the Revolt of the United Netherlands against the Spanish Government”). His Geschichte des dreissigjährigen Krieges (1791–93; “History of the Thirty Years’ War”) further enhanced his prestige as a historian; later it also…

bildungsroman: …Wieland’s Geschichte des Agathon (1766–67; History of Agathon). It was followed by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (1795–96; Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship), which remains the classic example of the genre. Other examples are Adalbert Stifter’s Nachsommer (1857; Indian Summer) and Gottfried Keller’s Der

Simon Markovich Dubnow: This work appeared in Geschichte des Chassidismus (1931; “History of Ḥasidism”). The mature fruit of Dubnow’s historical studies is his monumental Die Weltgeschichte des jüdischen Volkes, 10 vol. (1925–30; “The World History of the Jewish People”; Eng. trans. History of the Jews), which was translated into several languages. The…

Johannes Janssen: …Janssen decided to write his Geschichte des deutschen Volkes seit dem Ausgang des Mittelalters, 8 vol. (1876–94; “History of the German People from the Close of the Middle Ages”). His work, which ended on the eve of the Thirty Years’ War (1618), was based on the thesis that the harmonious…

Friedrich Schiller: Historical studies: His Geschichte des dreissigjährigen Krieges (1791–93; “History of the Thirty Years’ War”) further enhanced his prestige as a historian; later it also provided him with the material for his greatest drama, Wallenstein, published in 1800.

Sophie von La Roche: …first and most important work, Geschichte des Fräuleins von Sternheim (1771; History of Lady Sophia Sternheim), was the first German novel written by a woman and is considered to be among the best works from the period in which English novels, particularly those of Samuel Richardson, had great influence on…

Ludwig Tieck: …early German Romanticism are Tieck’s Die Geschichte des Herrn William Lovell, 3 vol. (1795–96; “The Story of Mr. William Lovell”), a novel in letter form that describes the moral self-destruction of a sensitive young intellectual; Karl von Berneck (1797), a five-act tragedy set in the Middle Ages; and Franz Sternbalds…

Friedrich Karl von Savigny: Legal philosophy: …year, he began publishing his Geschichte des römischen Rechts im Mittelalter (1815–31; “History of Roman Law in the Middle Ages”). This monumental work, in which Savigny used rigorous critical techniques and consulted a vast body of primary sources, became the foundation of the modern study of medieval law.

Engelbert Kämpfer: …first published in English (The History of Japan, 1727) after his death and appeared in the original German only after additional translations into Latin, Dutch, and French had already appeared. Kämpfer’s manuscripts are in the British Museum.

György Lukács: During this period he wrote History and Class Consciousness (1923), in which he developed a unique Marxist philosophy of history and laid the basis for his critical literary tenets by linking the development of form in art with the history of the class struggle. Turning his back on the claims…

Clemens Brentano: …dem schönen Annerl (1817; The Story of the Just Casper and Fair Annie) displays themes from German folklore within a fantasy atmosphere. His other major works include the dramas Ponce de Leon (1801) and Die Gründung Prags (1815; “The Foundation of Prague”) and the novel Godwi (1801), which forms an…

František Palacký: Published as Geschichte von Böhmen, 5 vol. (1836–67), and Dějiny národu českého (1848–76), the work lucidly presents Palacký’s conception of the nature of Czech history as “the constant contact and conflict between the Slavs on the one hand and Rome and the Germans on the other.” Thus…

Karl Otfried Müller: His most important work, Geschichten hellenischer Stämme und Städte (1820; “History of Greek Peoples and Cities”), provides a cultural history of the civilizations of ancient Greece and emphasizes the study of myths, successfully combining the historical and allegorical methods. His other works include numerous archaeological papers, historical surveys on…

Johannes von Müller: His most important work was Geschichten Schweizerischer Eidgenossenschaft (1786–1808; “History of the Swiss Confederation”). In it he combined a comprehensive knowledge of chronicle sources (especially Aegidius Tschudi) with a terse elegance that earned him the title of the Swiss Tacitus; Tacitus, the 1st-century-ad Roman historian, was indeed his model. His…

Johann Fischart: Fischart’s principal work is the Affentheurliche und ungeheurliche Geschichtsschrift (1575)—renamed Geschichtklitterung in later editions (1582, 1590)—a greatly expanded prose version of François Rabelais’s Gargantua. Also noteworthy is his Das glückhafft Schiff von Zürich (1576; “The Ship of Good Fortune from Zurich”), one of the most carefully constructed 16th-century narrative poems,…

Adobe Illustrator: …American mathematicians John Warnock and Chuck Geschke and burst onto the Silicon Valley scene with PostScript, a vector-based program—using lines defined by mathematical formulas, as opposed to individual bit- or pixel-based descriptions—that vastly improved publishing quality and was instrumental in the so-called desktop publishing revolution. PostScript’s success allowed Adobe to…

Adobe Illustrator: …American mathematicians John Warnock and Chuck Geschke and burst onto the Silicon Valley scene with PostScript, a vector-based program—using lines defined by mathematical formulas, as opposed to individual bit- or pixel-based descriptions—that vastly improved publishing quality and was instrumental in the so-called desktop publishing revolution. PostScript’s success allowed Adobe to…

Otto Weininger: …work, Geschlecht und Charakter (1903; Sex and Character), served as a sourcebook for anti-Semitic propagandists.

Fritz von Unruh: …mythical level, in the tragedy Ein Geschlecht (1916; “A Family”)—strengthened his antimilitaristic attitude and led to such later works as Heinrich von Andernach (1925), a festival play and a great plea for love among men.

Johann Gottlieb Fichte: Years in Berlin: …conscious of himself in individuals; Der geschlossene Handelsstaat (also 1800), an intensely socialistic treatise in favour of tariff protection; two new versions of the Wissenschaftslehre (composed in 1801 and in 1804; published posthumously), marking a great change in the character of the doctrine; Die Grundzüge des gegenwärtigen Zeitalters (1806; lectures…

Ludwig van Beethoven: Beethoven and the theatre: …Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus (The Creatures of Prometheus). Two years later he was offered a contract for an opera on a classical subject with a libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder, who had achieved fame and wealth as the librettist of Mozart’s The Magic Flute and who was then impresario of…

Louise Bates Ames: …Ames and colleagues cofounded the Gesell Institute of Child Development in New Haven, Connecticut, to continue and promote Gesell’s work. There Ames served as director of research, as associate director, and later as director. After retirement she was president of the institute’s board.

Arnold Gesell was an American psychologist and pediatrician, who pioneered the use of motion-picture cameras to study the physical and mental development of normal infants and children and whose books influenced child rearing in the United States. As director of the Clinic of Child Development at

Arnold Gesell was an American psychologist and pediatrician, who pioneered the use of motion-picture cameras to study the physical and mental development of normal infants and children and whose books influenced child rearing in the United States. As director of the Clinic of Child Development at

communitarianism: The common good versus individual rights: …liberating but impersonal societies (Gesellschaft). They warned of the dangers of anomie (normlessness) and alienation in modern societies composed of atomized individuals who had gained their liberty but lost their social moorings. Essentially the theses of Tönnies and Durkheim were supported with contemporary social-scientific data in Bowling Alone: The…

Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft, ideal types of social organizations that were systematically elaborated by German sociologist Ferdinand Tönnies in his influential work Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft (1887; Community and Society). Tönnies’s conception of the nature of social systems is based on his

Johannes Brahms: The young pianist and music director: …was principal conductor of the Society of Friends of Music (Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde), and for three seasons he directed the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. His choice of music was not as conservative as might have been expected, and though the “Brahmins” continued their war against Wagner, Brahms himself always spoke of…

Karl, Reichsfreiherr vom und zum Stein: Last years. of Karl, Reichsfreiherr vom und zum Stein: …für ältere deutsche Geschichtskunde (Society for Earlier German History) was founded on Jan. 20, 1819, at his house in Frankfurt am Main, with him as its head and its coordinating force. The Gesellschaft has remained the most important organization for the publication of source materials on German medieval history.…

Vienna Circle: …of a cognate group, the Gesellschaft für empirische Philosophie (“Society for Empirical Philosophy”), which met in Berlin, were Carl Hempel and Hans Reichenbach. A formal declaration of the group’s intentions was issued in 1929 with the publication of the manifesto Wissenschaftliche Weltauffassung: Der Wiener Kreis (“Scientific Conception of the World:…

copernicium: In 1996 scientists at the Institute for Heavy Ion Research (Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung [GSI]) in Darmstadt, Ger., announced the production of atoms of copernicium from fusing zinc-70 with lead-208. The atoms of copernicium had an atomic weight of 277 and decayed after 0.24 millisecond by emission of an alpha particle…

Tankred Dorst: His 1960 drama Gesellschaft im Herbst (“Party in Autumn”), about a crafty businessman who fools the owner of an ancestral castle into thinking that the castle holds buried treasure, is a satire on contemporary German society’s obsession with romantic myths. During the mid- to late 1960s, Dorst introduced…

Wilhelm Gesenius was a German biblical critic and an important figure in Hebrew and other Semitic language studies. He was a pioneer of critical Hebrew lexicography and grammar. Educated at Helmstedt and at Göttingen, in 1811 Gesenius became professor of theology at Halle. Though accused of

Wilhelm Gesenius was a German biblical critic and an important figure in Hebrew and other Semitic language studies. He was a pioneer of critical Hebrew lexicography and grammar. Educated at Helmstedt and at Göttingen, in 1811 Gesenius became professor of theology at Halle. Though accused of

Paul Kammerer: …in the scientific community, was Das Gesetz der Serie (1919; “The Law of Seriality”), an attempt to explain coincidence as the manifestation of a natural principle operating independently of known physical causation laws.

Nürnberg Laws: ” The other, the Gesetz zum Schutze des Deutschen Blutes und der Deutschen Ehre (“Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honour”), usually called simply the Blutschutzgesetz (“Blood Protection Law”), forbade marriage or sexual relations between Jews and “citizens of German or kindred blood.” These measures were…

David Levy: In 1995 Levy founded the Gesher (“Bridge”) party, with a secular Sephardic base, and in 1999 he was named minister of foreign affairs and deputy prime minister in Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet. He resigned both posts the following year over differences with Netanyahu but in 2002 served briefly as minister without…

Ivan Evstatiev Geshov was a Bulgarian statesman and founder of the Bulgarian National Bank. He was prime minister from March 1911 to July 1913. After being educated at Robert College in Constantinople (modern Istanbul) and Owens College in Manchester, Eng., Geshov took an active part in the

Tammuz: His sister, Geshtinanna, eventually finds him, and the myth ends with Inanna decreeing that Tammuz and his sister may alternate in the netherworld, each spending half of the year among the living.

kerosene: Abraham Gesner in the late 1840s, kerosene was initially manufactured from coal tar and shale oils. However, following the drilling of the first oil well in Pennsylvania by E.L. Drake in 1859, petroleum quickly became the major source of kerosene. Because of its use in…

Conrad Gesner was a Swiss physician and naturalist best known for his systematic compilations of information on animals and plants. Noting his learning ability at an early age, his father, an impecunious furrier, placed him for schooling in the household of a great-uncle, who augmented his income

botanical garden: History: In the early 1800s Jean Gesner, a Swiss physician and botanist, noted that by the end of the 18th century there were 1,600 botanical gardens in Europe. During the 18th and 19th centuries, the science of botany took form, and many of the important botanists of the period were…

Johann Sebastian Bach: Nonmusical duties: …tact of the new rector, Johann Matthias Gesner, who admired Bach and had known him at Weimar; but Gesner stayed only until 1734 and was succeeded by Johann August Ernesti, a young man with up-to-date ideas on education, one of which was that music was not one of the humanities…

Conrad Gesner was a Swiss physician and naturalist best known for his systematic compilations of information on animals and plants. Noting his learning ability at an early age, his father, an impecunious furrier, placed him for schooling in the household of a great-uncle, who augmented his income

Gesneriaceae, one of 23 families in the flowering plant order Lamiales, consisting of 147 genera and about 3,200 species of mostly tropical and subtropical herbaceous or slightly woody plants. Many are of economic importance as horticultural ornamentals. Among these are the African violets

Gesneriaceae, one of 23 families in the flowering plant order Lamiales, consisting of 147 genera and about 3,200 species of mostly tropical and subtropical herbaceous or slightly woody plants. Many are of economic importance as horticultural ornamentals. Among these are the African violets

Ulrich von Hutten: …translated into German in his Gesprächbüchlein (1522; “Little Conversation Book”).

Johann Peter Eckermann: von Goethe; his Gespräche mit Goethe in den letzten Jahren seines Lebens, 1823–32, 3 vol. (1836–48; “Conversations with Goethe in the Last Years of His Life”), is comparable in importance with James Boswell’s Life of Johnson.

Romolo Gessi was an Italian soldier and explorer who served in the Egyptian Sudan under Gen. Charles George Gordon (governor general of the Sudan) and participated in the final stages of the exploration of the Nile River. By becoming the first person to circumnavigate and map Lake Albert Nyanza (in

Otto Gessler was a German minister of war during the Weimar Republic who was instrumental in rebuilding the country’s armed forces after World War I. A student of law, Gessler became mayor of Regensburg (1910–11) and Nürnberg (1913–19). After the German revolution of November 1918, he helped found

Otto Gessler was a German minister of war during the Weimar Republic who was instrumental in rebuilding the country’s armed forces after World War I. A student of law, Gessler became mayor of Regensburg (1910–11) and Nürnberg (1913–19). After the German revolution of November 1918, he helped found

Conrad Gesner was a Swiss physician and naturalist best known for his systematic compilations of information on animals and plants. Noting his learning ability at an early age, his father, an impecunious furrier, placed him for schooling in the household of a great-uncle, who augmented his income

Joy Adamson was a conservationist who pioneered the movement to preserve African wildlife. Following an education in Vienna, she relocated to Kenya (1939), where she married George Adamson (1944), a British game warden who had worked in Kenya as a gold prospector, goat trader, and safari hunter

Conrad Gesner was a Swiss physician and naturalist best known for his systematic compilations of information on animals and plants. Noting his learning ability at an early age, his father, an impecunious furrier, placed him for schooling in the household of a great-uncle, who augmented his income

Salomon Gessner was a Swiss writer, translator, painter, and etcher, known throughout Europe for literary works of pastoral themes and rococo style. Gessner was a town councillor and a forestry superintendent who also ran an important publishing house, from which he published his books with his own

gesso, fluid white coating, composed of plaster of paris, chalk, gypsum, or other whiting mixed with glue, applied to smooth surfaces such as wood panels, plaster, stone, or canvas to provide the ground for tempera and oil painting or for gilding and painting carved furniture and picture frames. In

gest, a story of achievements or adventures. Among several famous medieval collections of gests are Fulcher of Chartres’s Gesta Francorum, Saxo Grammaticus’s Gesta Danorum, and the compilation known as the Gesta Romanorum. The term was also used to refer to a romance in verse. The word is

John Of Fordun: …of book 5 is his Gesta annalia (Scotland, 1153–1363). These were all completed by 1363; thereafter John travelled until 1383, wrote books 1–3 (legendary) and book 4 (814–1057), and brought the Gesta annalia down to 1384. Walter Bower’s Scotichronicon, completed 1447, is in part an expansion and continuation of John’s…

St. Augustine: Controversial writings: …most effectively, but the stenographic Gesta Collationis Carthaginensis (411; “Acts of the Council of Carthage”) offers a vivid view of the politics and bad feelings of the schism.

Hamlet: …story is narrated in the Gesta Danorum, Saxo Grammaticus’s late 12th-century history of Denmark. But the character’s famous hesitation—his reluctance or unreadiness to avenge his father’s murder—is central and peculiar to Shakespeare’s conception of Hamlet. This hesitation has fascinated critics, but none of the explanations offered, such as unconscious Oedipal…

Jacques Bongars, seigneur de Bauldry et de La Chesnaye: …by the far more important Gesta Dei per Francos (“God’s Work Through the Franks”), a collection of contemporary accounts of the Crusades. An edition of his letters, in Latin, appeared in 1647, a French translation in 1668–70. His diary of his journey to Constantinople was printed in 1874.

Fulcher Of Chartres: His Gesta Francorum Jherusalem peregrinantium (written in three installments, 1101, 1106, and 1124–27) is a vivid and reliable account of the First Crusade, Baldwin’s journey to Jerusalem, and the kingdom of Jerusalem to 1127.

Germanic religion and mythology: Early medieval records: …Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum (History of the Archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen), which included a description of the lands in the north, then part of the ecclesiastical province of Hamburg. Adam’s work is particularly rich in descriptions of the festivals and sacrifices of the Swedes, who were still largely pagan in…

Innocent III: Early pontificate: …registers and in a chronicle, Gesta Innocentii III (“The Deeds of Innocent III”), written about 1208 by an anonymous member of Innocent’s curia who apparently knew the pope very well. In one of his first letters, Innocent ordered King Philip Augustus of France to take back his wife, whom the…

Charlemagne legend: A Gesta Karoli magni, written by the monk Notker of St. Gall (in Switzerland) in 884–887, seems to owe as much to popular anecdotes and oral tradition as to Charlemagne’s biographer, Einhard. By the 12th century, lives of Charlemagne were attributing miracles to him before and…

Rigord: The first section of the Gesta Philippi Augusti (1196; “The Deeds of Philip Augustus”) began with Philip’s coronation in 1179 and showed enthusiastic partiality toward him. An addition to the work, continuing to 1207, marked a shift in Rigord’s attitude to one of rather severe censure, probably a result of…

Gervase Of Canterbury: A second history, the Gesta regum, traces in less detail the political and military fortunes of Britain from the 1st century bc to 1209 or 1210. The earlier portions of both works are derivative, but Gervase is an independent authority for events from 1188 or 1189.

Gesta Romanorum, Latin collection of anecdotes and tales, probably compiled early in the 14th century. It was one of the most popular books of the time and the source, directly or indirectly, of much later literature, including that of Chaucer, John Gower, Thomas Hoccleve, Shakespeare, and many

Gestalt psychology, school of psychology founded in the 20th century that provided the foundation for the modern study of perception. Gestalt theory emphasizes that the whole of anything is greater than its parts. That is, the attributes of the whole are not deducible from analysis of the parts in