Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Eliot, Sir John, 1592–1632, English parliamentary leader. He was a staunch defender of parliamentary liberties. Eliot instituted (1626) the impeachment proceedings against Charles I's favorite, the ...

(Encyclopedia) Lanfranc lănˈfrăngk [key], d. 1089, Italian churchman and theologian, archbishop of Canterbury (1070–89), b. Pavia. At first educated in civil law, he turned to theology and became a pupil of Ber...

(Encyclopedia) Stanislaus I, 1677–1766, king of Poland (1704–1709, 1733–35) and duke of Lorraine (1735–66). He was born Stanislaus Leszczynski. Early in the Northern War (1700–1721), Charles XII of Sweden ...

(Encyclopedia) Burghley or Burleigh, William Cecil, 1st Baron both: bûrˈlē [key], 1520–98, English statesman. He first rose to prominence during the protectorate of Edward Seymour, duke of Somerset, and he serv...

(Encyclopedia) Edward the Black Prince, 1330–76, eldest son of Edward III of England. He was created duke of Cornwall in 1337, the first duke to be created in England, and prince of Wales in 1343. Joining his fath...

(Encyclopedia) Warwick, Richard Neville, earl of , wŏrˈĭk [key], 1428–71, English nobleman, called the Kingmaker. Through his grandfather, Ralph Neville, 1st earl of Westmorland, he had connections with the hou...

(Encyclopedia) Schiller, Friedrich von, 1759–1805, German dramatist, poet, and historian, one of the greatest of German literary figures, b. Marbach, Württemberg. The poets of German romanticism were strongly inf...

(Encyclopedia) Houston, city (2020 pop. 2,304,580), seat of Harris co., SE Tex., a deepwater port on the Houston Ship Channel; inc. 1837. Harrisburg (now part of Hou...

(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 ...

(Encyclopedia) Medici mĕˈdĭchē, Ital. māˈdēchē [key], Italian family that directed the destinies of Florence from the 15th cent. until 1737. Of obscure origin, they rose to immense wealth as merchants and ba...