Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Settlement, Act of, 1701, passed by the English Parliament, to provide that if William III and Princess Anne (later Queen Anne) should die without heirs, the succession to the throne should pass to So...

(Encyclopedia) Marlborough, Sarah Churchill, duchess of, 1660–1744, confidante of Queen Anne of England. Born Sarah Jennings, she was a childhood friend of Princess Anne. In 1677 she married John Churchill, later ...

(Encyclopedia) Westminster, City of, inner borough (1991 pop. 181,500) of Greater London, SE England, on the Thames River. Westminster is the location of the principal offices and residences of Great Britain's natio...

(Encyclopedia) Covenanters kəvənănˈtərz [key], in Scottish history, groups of Presbyterians bound by oath to sustain each other in the defense of their religion. The first formal Covenant was signed in 1557, si...

(Encyclopedia) Wight, Isle of wīt [key], island and county (1991 pop. 126,600), 147 sq mi (381 sq km), S England, across the Solent and Spithead channels from Hampshire. The administrative center is Newport. The is...

(Encyclopedia) Arundel, Thomas Howard, earl of, 1585–1646, first great English art collector and patron of arts. Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, he married a goddaughter of Queen Elizabeth and was always c...

(Encyclopedia) Albert I, 1875–1934, king of the Belgians (1909–34), nephew and successor of Leopold II. He married (1900) Elizabeth, a Bavarian princess. In World War I his heroic resistance (1914) to the German...

(Encyclopedia) Kilkenny kĭlkĕnˈē [key], Gaelic Cill Chainnigh, town (1991 pop. 8,515), seat of Co. Kilkenny, S Republic of Ireland, on the Nore River. The districts of Irishtown and Englishtown, separated by a s...

(Encyclopedia) Shaw, Richard Norman, 1831–1912, English architect. Breaking away from contemporary Victorian house designs and returning to the Queen Anne and Georgian styles and to traditional English craftsmansh...

(Encyclopedia) Bertrada bĕrträˈdə [key], d. 783, Frankish queen, wife of Pepin the Short and mother of Charlemagne. She tried without success to reconcile Charlemagne and his brother Carloman. Also called Bertha...