(Encyclopedia) Hereward the WakeHereward the Wakehĕrˈĭwərd [key], fl. 1070, Anglo-Saxon rebel against William I. A thane, he apparently held land in Lincolnshire. In 1070 he sacked Peterborough with…
(Encyclopedia) Cato the Younger or Cato of Utica, 95 b.c.–46 b.c., Roman statesman, whose full name was Marcus Porcius Cato; great-grandson of Cato the Elder. Reared by his uncle Marcus Livius Drusus…
(Encyclopedia) Eric the Red, fl. 10th cent., Norse chieftain, discoverer and colonizer of Greenland according to the sagas. He left (c.950) Norway with his exiled father and settled in Iceland. A…
(Encyclopedia) Canute the Saint, d. 1086, king (1080–86) and patron saint of Denmark. He built churches and cathedrals and raised the bishops to the rank of prince. In 1085 he made an unsuccessful…
(Encyclopedia) Hugh the Great, d. 956, French duke; son of King Robert I and father of Hugh Capet. Excluded from the succession on his father's death by his brother-in-law Raoul, he supported the…
(Encyclopedia) Agrippina the ElderAgrippina the Elderăgˌrĭpīˈnə [key], d. a.d. 33, Roman matron; daughter of Agrippa and Julia and granddaughter of Augustus. She was the wife of Germanicus Caesar and…
(Encyclopedia) will-o'-the-wisp, phenomenon known also as ignis fatuus and jack-o'-lantern. It is seen at night as a pale, flickering light over marshland. There is no generally accepted explanation…
(Encyclopedia) Agrippina the Younger, d. a.d. 59, Roman matron; daughter of Germanicus Caesar and Agrippina the Elder. By her first husband, Cneius Domitius Ahenobarbus, she was the mother of Nero.…
(Encyclopedia) Billy the Kid, 1859–81, American outlaw, b. New York City. His real name was probably Henry McCarty; he was known as William H. Bonney. His family moved to Kansas and then to New…
