Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) chemin de fer shəmănˈ də fûr, Fr. shəmăNˈ də fĕr [key] [Fr.,=railroad], the most popular gambling card game in Europe. The present day versions are variations of Italian baccara which Charle...

(Encyclopedia) Benedict XI, d. 1304, pope (1303–4), an Italian (b. Treviso) named Niccolo Boccasini; successor of Boniface VIII. Prior to his election he had been master general of the Dominican order. As pope he ...

(Encyclopedia) Tilbury tĭlˈbərē [key], part of the borough of Thurrock, Essex, E England. Tilbury Fort originated under Henry VIII; it was rebuilt and strengthened in the 17th cent. Queen Elizabeth I, in 1588, r...

(Encyclopedia) Bulwer-Lytton, Edward George Earle Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton, 1803–73, English novelist. The son of Gen. William Bulwer and Elizabeth Lytton, he assumed the name Bulwer-Lytton in 1843 when he inherit...

(Encyclopedia) Morton, John, 1420?–1500, English prelate and statesman, archbishop of Canterbury (1486–1500). He studied law at Oxford and practiced in the London ecclesiastical courts. A supporter of the Lancas...

(Encyclopedia) Palsgrave, John pălzˈgrāv, pôlzˈ– [key], d. 1554, English scholar, educated at Oxford and at the Univ. of Paris. Palsgrave was tutor to Henry VIII's daughter Mary (later Mary I), who used her i...

(Encyclopedia) Peter II, 1174–1213, king of Aragón (1196–1213) and count of Barcelona, son and successor of Alfonso II. He had himself crowned (1204) at Rome by Pope Innocent III, whom he accepted as overlord o...

(Encyclopedia) Hyde Park, 615 acres (249 hectares) in Westminster borough, London, England. Once the manor of Hyde, a part of the old Westminster Abbey property, it became a deer park under Henry VIII. Races were he...

(Encyclopedia) Kildare, Thomas Fitzgerald, 10th earl of, 1513–37, Irish nobleman, called Silken Thomas. When his father, the 9th earl and lord deputy of Ireland, was summoned to London on charges of maladministrat...

(Encyclopedia) Giocondo, Fra Giovanni frä jōvänˈnē jōkônˈdō [key], c.1435–1515, Italian architect, engineer, and antiquary. A Franciscan friar, he was accomplished in philosophy, archaeology, and classica...