Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Inns of Court, collective name of the four legal societies in London that have the exclusive right of admission to the bar. These societies—Lincoln's Inn, Gray's Inn, the Inner Temple, and the Middl...

(Encyclopedia) Alexandra Feodorovna fēôˌdərŏvˈnə, Rus. fyôˈdərəvnə [key], 1872–1918, last Russian czarina, consort of Nicholas II; she was a Hessian princess and a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Neur...

(Encyclopedia) Norfolk, Thomas Howard, 3d duke of, 1473–1554, English nobleman, prominent in the reign of Henry VIII; son of Thomas Howard, the 2d duke. He married (1495) a daughter of Edward IV and thus became br...

(Encyclopedia) Russell, Mary Annette (Beauchamp) Russell, Countess, pseud. Elizabeth, 1866–1941, English novelist, b. Sydney, Australia; cousin of Katherine Mansfield. In 1890 she married Count Henning von Arnim a...

(Encyclopedia) Salisbury, Robert Cecil, 1st earl of, 1563–1612, English statesman; son of William Cecil, Baron Burghley. He entered Parliament and came gradually to rank second only to his father as adviser to Que...

(Encyclopedia) hemophilia hēˌməfĭlˈēə, –fēlˈyə [key], genetic disease in which the clotting ability of the blood is impaired and excessive bleeding results. The disease is transmitted through females but...

(Encyclopedia) Walsingham, Sir Francis wôlˈsĭng-əm [key], 1532?–1590, English statesman. A zealous Protestant, he went abroad during the reign of Queen Mary I but returned on the accession (1558) of Elizabeth ...

(Encyclopedia) Gloucester, Henry William Frederick Albert, duke of glŏsˈstər, glôˈstər [key], 1900–1974, British prince; third son of George V, brother of Edward VIII and George VI, and uncle of Elizabeth II...

(Encyclopedia) Mary, in the Bible, mother of Jesus. Christian tradition reckons her the principal saint, naming her variously the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady, and Mother of God (Gr., theotokos). Her name is the He...

(Encyclopedia) Francis, 1554–84, French prince, duke of Alençon and Anjou; youngest son of King Henry II of France and Catherine de' Medici. Although ill-shapen, pockmarked, and endowed with a curiously formed no...