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Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Samuel, two books of the Bible, originally a single work, called First and Second Samuel in modern Bibles, and First and Second Kingdoms in the Septuagint. They are considered part of “Deuteronomist...

Villehardouin

(Encyclopedia)Villehardouin vēlärdwăNˈ [key], French noble family that ruled the Peloponnesus from 1210 to 1278. Geoffroi I de Villehardouin, d. 1218, nephew of the historian and marshal of Champagne and Romani...

Asch, Sholem

(Encyclopedia)Asch, Sholem or Shalom shōˈləm ăsh, shäˈləm [key], 1880–1957, Jewish novelist and playwright, b. Poland. He first came to the United States in 1909, was naturalized in 1920, and lived in vari...

Shechem, town, West Bank

(Encyclopedia)Shechem shēˈkəm [key], town, central ancient Palestine, the modern Tell Balatan, between Mts. Gerizim and Ebal, near Nablus. Archaeological excavations indicate a village there c.3500 b.c. Shechem'...

Union party

(Encyclopedia)Union party, in American history. 1 Coalition of Republicans and War Democrats in the election of 1864. Abraham Lincoln was renominated for President with Andrew Johnson, the Democratic war governor o...

Pinkerton, Allan

(Encyclopedia)Pinkerton, Allan, 1819–84, American detective, founder of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, b. Glasgow, Scotland. A cooper by trade, he emigrated to the United States in 1842 and opened in We...

Lusignan

(Encyclopedia)Lusignan lüzēnyäNˈ [key], French noble family. The name is derived from a castle in Poitou, built, according to legend, by Mélusine. The family was powerful in the Middle Ages and ruled (13th–1...

Michael VIII, Byzantine emperor

(Encyclopedia)Michael VIII (Michael Palaeologus), c.1225–1282, Byzantine emperor (1261–82), first of the Palaeologus dynasty. Following the murder of the regent for Emperor John IV of Nicaea, he was appointed (...

Chamberlain, Neville

(Encyclopedia)Chamberlain, Neville (Arthur Neville Chamberlain), 1869–1940, British statesman; son of Joseph Chamberlain and half-brother of Sir Austen Chamberlain. The first half of his career was spent in busin...

Charles I, king of Naples and Sicily

(Encyclopedia)Charles I (Charles of Anjou), 1227–85, king of Naples and Sicily (1266–85), count of Anjou and Provence, youngest brother of King Louis IX of France. He took part in Louis's crusades to Egypt (124...