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Alfonso II, Spanish king of Asturias

(Encyclopedia)Alfonso II (Alfonso the Chaste), 759–842, Spanish king of Asturias (791–842), grandson of Alfonso I. He established his capital at Oviedo, which his father, Fruela I, had founded. Continuing the s...

Alcobaça

(Encyclopedia)Alcobaça əlko͝obäˈsə [key], town, Leiria dist., W central Portugal, in Estremadura. The town, a fruit processing and textile center, became a center of the Cistercia...

Colins, Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Colins, Colin, or Colyn, Alexander älĕksäNˈdrə kôlăNˈ [key], c.1527–1612, Flemish sculptor. He brought European court mannerism to Germany, where he directed the sculpture on the Ottheinrich...

Baring, Maurice

(Encyclopedia)Baring, Maurice, 1874–1945, English author. After a career in the diplomatic service, he turned to journalism in 1904. A war correspondent during the Russo-Japanese War, he wrote several books on Ru...

Sablé, Madeleine de Souvré, marquise de

(Encyclopedia)Sablé, Madeleine de Souvré, marquise de mädəlĕnˈ də so͞ovrāˈ, märkēzˈ də säblāˈ [key], 1599–1678, French woman of letters. Her salon was in vogue after the decline of the salon at t...

Traikov, Georgi

(Encyclopedia)Traikov, Georgi gēôrˈgē trīkôfˈ [key], 1898–1975, Bulgarian politician and agronomist. Active in agrarian politics from the end of World War I, he rose to become minister of agriculture in th...

Rainbow Division

(Encyclopedia)Rainbow Division, nickname of the 42d Division of the U.S. army. The first U.S. combat division to arrive in France in World War I, it participated in the second battle of the Marne, fought in the cou...

Orpen, Sir William

(Encyclopedia)Orpen, Sir William, 1878–1931, British portrait and genre painter, b. Ireland. He is best known for his scenes of Irish daily life, his paintings and sketches of life at the front in World War I, an...

Slough

(Encyclopedia)Slough slou [key], borough and unitary authority (1991 pop. 106,341), central England. After World War I, residential Slough and its outlying area underwent rapid industrial development, owing in part...

Bithynia

(Encyclopedia)Bithynia bĭthĭnˈēə [key], ancient country of NW Asia Minor, in present-day Turkey. The original inhabitants were Thracians who established themselves as independent and were given some autonomy a...