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Congreve, William

(Encyclopedia)Congreve, William, 1670–1729, English dramatist, b. near Leeds, educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and studied law in the Middle Temple. After publishing a novel of intrigue, Incognita (1692), and...

Vehmgericht

(Encyclopedia)Vehmgericht fāˈmĭk [key], in medieval Germany, a type of criminal tribunal. The inability of the Holy Roman emperors to exercise effective central control over their lands and the extensive feudal ...

Richard II

(Encyclopedia)Richard II, 1367–1400, king of England (1377–99), son of Edward the Black Prince. Richard is possibly the most enigmatic of the English kings. Some historians have attributed his behavior in ...

Permian period

(Encyclopedia)Permian period pûrˈmēən [key] [from Perm, Russia], sixth and last period of the Paleozoic era (see Geologic Timescale, tablegeologic timescale, table) from 250 to 290 million years ago. Many ma...

Howard

(Encyclopedia)Howard, English noble family. Landowners in Norfolk from the 13th cent., the Howards obtained the duchy of Norfolk through the marriage of Sir Robert Howard to Margaret Mowbray, daughter of Thomas Mow...

Quebec, city, Canada

(Encyclopedia)Quebec, Fr. Québec, city (1991 pop. 167,517), provincial capital, S Que., Canada, at the confluence of the St. Lawrence and St. Charles rivers. The population is largely French speaking, and the town...

George IV, king of Great Britain and Ireland

(Encyclopedia)George IV, 1762–1830, king of Great Britain and Ireland (1820–30), eldest son and successor of George III. In 1785 he married Maria Anne Fitzherbert, a Roman Catholic. The marriage was illegal, ho...

Stuart, James Francis Edward

(Encyclopedia)Stuart or Stewart, James Francis Edward, 1688–1766, claimant to the British throne, son of James II and Mary of Modena; called the Old Pretender. His birth, falsely rumored by Whigs at the time to b...

diary

(Encyclopedia)diary [Lat.,=day], a daily record of events and observations. As distinguished from memoir (an account of events placed in perspective by the author long after they have occurred), the diary derives i...
 

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