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Oldcastle, Sir John

(Encyclopedia)Oldcastle, Sir John, 1378?–1417, English leader of Lollardry. He married the heiress of Lord Cobham in 1408 and was known as “the good Lord Cobham.” Under the rule of Henry IV he performed valua...

Peter II, king of Portugal

(Encyclopedia)Peter II, 1648–1706, king of Portugal (1683–1706), younger son of John IV; brother and successor of Alfonso VI. In 1667, he seized power from his incompetent brother and ruled the country as princ...

Philip III, king of France

(Encyclopedia)Philip III (Philip the Bold), 1245–85, king of France (1270–85), son and successor of King Louis IX. He secured peaceful possession of Poitou, Auvergne, and Toulouse by a small cession (1279) to E...

Castracani, Castruccio

(Encyclopedia)Castracani, Castruccio kästro͞otˈchō kästräkäˈnē [key], 1281–1328, duke of Lucca. His early life was spent in exile. After his return he was made captain (1316), then lord of Lucca (1320) f...

Roses, Wars of the

(Encyclopedia)Roses, Wars of the, traditional name given to the intermittent struggle (1455–85) for the throne of England between the noble houses of York (whose badge was a white rose) and Lancaster (later assoc...

investiture

(Encyclopedia)investiture, in feudalism, ceremony by which an overlord transferred a fief to a vassal or by which, in ecclesiastical law, an elected cleric received the pastoral ring and staff (the symbols of spiri...

Navarre

(Encyclopedia)Navarre näväˈrä [key], autonomous community and province (2011 pop. 640,129), 4,012 sq mi (10,391 sq km), N Spain, bordering on France, between the W Pyrenees and the Ebro River. Pamplona is the c...

Norfolk, John Howard, 1st duke of

(Encyclopedia)Norfolk, John Howard, 1st duke of nôrˈfək [key], 1430?–1485, English nobleman. The grandson of Thomas Mowbray, 1st duke of Norfolk, he held considerable estates in Norfolk. A faithful adherent of...

Rawlinson, Henry Seymour Rawlinson, 1st Baron

(Encyclopedia)Rawlinson, Henry Seymour Rawlinson, 1st Baron, 1864–1925, British general; son of Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson. He served in the Myanmar expedition of 1886–87, in the Sudan campaign (1898), and i...

Richardson, Sir Ralph

(Encyclopedia)Richardson, Sir Ralph, 1902–83, English stage and film actor. Since his first professional stage appearance in The Merchant of Venice (1921), Richardson has played a variety of classic and modern ro...