Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Penal Laws, in English and Irish history, term generally applied to the body of discriminatory and oppressive legislation directed chiefly against Roman Catholics but also against Protestant nonconfor...

(Encyclopedia) Douglas, Archibald, 6th earl of Angus, 1489–1557, Scottish nobleman; grandson of Archibald Douglas, 5th earl of Douglas. His marriage (1514) to Margaret Tudor alienated the Scottish noblemen and cau...

(Encyclopedia) Worcester, Edward Somerset, 6th earl and 2d marquess of wo͝osˈtər [key], 1601?–1667, English soldier and inventor. Known as Lord Herbert after 1628, he received the title earl of Glamorgan in 164...

(Encyclopedia) England, the largest and most populous portion of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (2022Se pop. 68,429,595), 50,334 sq mi (130,3...

(Encyclopedia) Charles the Bold, 1433–77, last reigning duke of Burgundy (1467–77), son and successor of Philip the Good. As the count of Charolais before his accession, he opposed the growing power of King Loui...

(Encyclopedia) Sunderland, Robert Spencer, 2d earl of, 1641–1702, English statesman. He succeeded to the earldom in 1643. During the reign of Charles II he served on various diplomatic missions and in 1679 was mad...

(Encyclopedia) Dermot McMurrough or Diarmiud mac Murchada both: dûrˈmət məkmŭrˈə [key], 1110–71, Irish king of Leinster. He became involved in a complicated feud, partly because he abducted a neighbor's wif...

(Encyclopedia) Orangemen, members of the Loyal Orange Institution, familiarly called the Orange Order, a Protestant Irish society founded and flourishing mainly in Ulster. It was established (1795) to maintain the P...

(Encyclopedia) Downing, Sir George, 1623–84, English diplomat. A nephew of Gov. John Winthrop of Massachusetts, he was educated at Harvard. He returned (1646) to England, joined the parliamentarians, and was appoi...

(Encyclopedia) Frederick the Winter King, 1596–1632, king of Bohemia (1619–20), elector palatine (1610–20) as Frederick V. The Protestant diet of Bohemia deposed the Roman Catholic King Ferdinand (Holy Roman E...