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king snake

(Encyclopedia)king snake, name for a number of species of the genus Lampropeltis, nonvenomous, egg-laying, constricting snakes of North America which show much variation in color and markings. The common king snake...

Oliver, King

(Encyclopedia)Oliver, King (Joseph Oliver), 1885–1938, American jazz musician, b. Abend, La. Oliver began his professional career in 1904 with the Onward Brass Band. After playing with leading bands in New Orlean...

Storm King

(Encyclopedia)Storm King, mountain, 1,355 ft (413 m) high, SE N.Y., on the west shore of the Hudson River near West Point. It is included in the Palisades Interstate Parks. ...

Murray, Thomas Randolph, 1st earl of

(Encyclopedia)Murray or Moray, Thomas Randolph, 1st earl of both: mûrˈē [key], d. 1332, Scottish nobleman; nephew of Robert I. He joined Robert's revolt against Edward I of England in 1306 but was captured at th...

Roger of Loria

(Encyclopedia)Roger of Loria, c.1245–1304, Sicilian-Aragonese admiral. An adherent of Manfred, last Hohenstaufen king of Sicily, he left Sicily for Aragón after Manfred's defeat (1266) by the Angevin claimant to...

Abd ar-Rahman I, emir of Córdoba

(Encyclopedia)Abd ar-Rahman I, d. 788, first Umayyad emir of Córdoba (756–88). The only survivor of the Abbasid massacre (750) of his family in Damascus, he fled from Syria and eventually went to Spain. There he...

Peter I, duke or count of Brittany

(Encyclopedia)Peter I (Pierre Mauclerc), d. 1250, duke or count of Brittany (1213–37). The son of Robert II, count of Dreux, he married Alix, half-sister and heiress of Arthur I duke of Brittany. His surname, mea...

Douglas, Sir James de, lord of Douglas

(Encyclopedia)Douglas, Sir James de, lord of Douglas, 1286?–1330, Scottish nobleman, called the Black Douglas and Douglas the Good; eldest son of William de Douglas, lord of Douglas. In the war of independence ag...

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