roman Typeface used most widely in Western typography, the general term for the type of this book’s text. Characterized by simple, unembel¬ lished shapes, roman was developed by 15th-century printers as an alter¬ native to the heavy-bodied, spiky black letter script. Models for a new type that was easier to cut and read were found in the scriptoria, where scribes, probably at the urging of humanist scholars, were experimenting with a letter face they believed had been used in ancient Rome. Historians now trace its ancestry instead to the letter forms developed for Charlemagne’s decrees by Alcuin in the 9th century. Within a century, roman had super¬ seded all other typefaces throughout Europe; the sole exception was Ger¬ many, where black letter continued to hold sway into the 20th century.
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1636 I roman a clef ► Roman religion
roman a clef \ro-man-a-'kla\ French "novel with a key" Novel that has the extraliterary interest of portraying identifiable people more or less thinly disguised as fictional characters. The tradition dates to 17th- century France, when members of aristocratic literary coteries included in their historical romances representations of well-known figures in the court of Louis XIV. A more recent example is W. Somerset Maugham’s Cakes and Ale (1930), widely held to portray Thomas Hardy and Hugh Walpole. A more common type of roman a clef is one in which the dis¬ guised characters are easily recognized only by a few insiders, as in Simone de Beauvoir’s The Mandarins (1954).
Roman Africa See Roman Africa Roman alphabet See Latin alphabet
Roman Catholicism Largest denomination of Christianity, with more than one billion members. The Roman Catholic Church has had a pro¬ found effect on the development of Western civilization and has been responsible for introducing Christianity in many parts of the world. It regards itself as the only legitimate inheritor of the ministry of Jesus, by virtue of an unbroken succession of leaders beginning with St. Peter the Apostle and continuing to the present day. It holds that the pope is the infallible interpreter of divine revelation. Church organization is strictly hierarchical. The pope appoints and presides over the cardinals, whose numbers grew dramatically in the late 20th century, reaching 182 under John Paul II (1978-2005). Each of the church’s 500 archbishops is the head of an archdiocese. These in turn are divided into about 1,800 dioceses, each headed by a bishop. Within dioceses are parishes, each served by a church and a priest. Only men can enter the priesthood, but women who wish to enter holy orders can become nuns, who are organized into orders and convents. The basic form of worship is the mass, which celebrates the sacrament of the Eucharist. Theologically, Roman Catholicism differs from Protestantism with regard to its understanding of the sources of revelation and the channels of grace. With Eastern Orthodoxy it asserts that both scripture and church tradition are revelatory of the basis of Christian belief and church polity. It sets the number of sacraments at seven (baptism, rec¬ onciliation [formerly known as penance], the Eucharist, matrimony, ordi¬ nation, confirmation, and anointing of the sick); its rich sacramental life is supplemented by other devotions, chiefly eucharistic services and devo¬ tions to the saints. The Second Vatican Council (1962-65) promoted the role of the laity in the church, approved the use of the vernacular in the mass, and strove to improve relations with other religions. Pope John Paul II actively pursued better relations with other faiths, especially Judaism, and remained popular despite various controversies. Although faced with many challenges, the church remained one of the largest and most sig¬ nificant religious bodies in the world at the start of its third millennium.
Roman Curia Group of Vatican bureaus that assist the pope in exer¬ cising his jurisdiction over the Roman Catholic Church. The work of the Curia is traditionally associated with the College of Cardinals. A cardinal named as secretary of state coordinates the activities of the Curia, and various sacred congregations handle administrative matters—for example, the Sacred Congregation for the Causes of Saints is concerned with beatification and canonization and with the preservation of relics. The judicial branch of the Curia consists of three tribunals, of which the highest is the Apostolic Signatura.
Roman de la Rose \r6- , ma n -d3-la- , ros\ French "Romance of the
Rose" One of the most popular French poems of the late medieval period. Modeled on Ovid’s Art of Love, it survives in more than 300 manuscripts. Its first 4,058 lines were written c. 1225-30 by Guillaume de Lorris; they form a charming dream allegory drawing on traditions of courtly love. About 1280 Jean de Meun wrote the rest of the more than 21,000 lines, incorporating a vast mass of encyclopaedic information and opinions on many contemporary topics, which secured the poem’s fame. The Roman was translated by Geoffrey Chaucer and was one of the most important literary influences on his writings.
Roman law Law of the Roman Republic and Empire. Roman law has influenced the development of law in most of Western civilization. It dealt with matters of succession (or inheritance), obligations (including con¬ tracts), property (including slaves), and persons. Most laws were passed by assemblies dominated by the patrician families, though the rulings of magistrates were also important. Later emperors bypassed these forms and issued their own decrees. The interpretations of jurists also came to have the weight of law. Though various attempts were made to gather and sim¬ plify existing laws (beginning with the Law of the Twelve Tables), by far
the most successful effort was that of Justinian I, whose code superseded all previous laws and formed the Roman Empire’s legal legacy (see Code of Justinian). Roman legal procedure is the basis for modern procedure in civil - law countries. In the early Republic, the plaintiff was required to call the defendant to court or to bring him by force. A magistrate then decided whether the case should go before a judex, or prominent layman. The judex heard arguments from advocates and questioned witnesses; he made a decision but had no power to execute it. In the later Republic, much greater power was placed in the hands of the magistrates and courts: the summons was issued by the court, the trial was held only before a mag¬ istrate, and the court became responsible for the execution of the sentence.
Roman mythology Oral and literary traditions of the ancient Romans concerning their gods and heroes and the nature and history of the cos¬ mos. Much of what became Roman mythology was borrowed from Greek mythology at a later date, as Greek gods were associated with their Roman counterparts. As in Greek mythology, legendary Roman heroes (such as Romulus and Remus and Aeneas) were given semidivine status. See also Roman religion.
Roman numerals System of representing numbers devised by the ancient Romans. The numbers are formed by combinations of the sym¬ bols I, V, X, L, C, D, and M, standing, respectively, for 1,5, 10, 50, 100, 500, and 1,000 in the Hindu-Arabic numeral system. A symbol placed after another of equal or greater value adds its value; for example, II = 2 and LX = 60. A symbol placed before one of greater value subtracts its value; for example, IV = 4 and XL = 40. A bar over a symbol indicates that its value should be multiplied by 1,000.
1
1
8
VIII
40
XL
900
CM
2