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Creusa

(Encyclopedia)Creusa krēo͞oˈsə [key], in Greek mythology. 1 Daughter of Erechtheus and wife of Xuthus. Her sons, Achaeus by Xuthus, and Ion by Xuthus or Apollo, are the ancestors of the Achaeans and the Ionians...

Charles XVI Gustavus

(Encyclopedia)Charles XVI Gustavus (Carl Gustaf), 1946–, king of Sweden (1973–), grandson and successor of Gustavus VI; son of Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden and Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Brought up...

Fausta

(Encyclopedia)Fausta (Flavia Maximiana Fausta) fôsˈtə [key], d. c.326, Roman princess. She was the wife of Constantine I, the daughter of Maximian, and the mother of Constantine II, Constantius II, and Constans ...

Barker, James Nelson

(Encyclopedia)Barker, James Nelson, 1784–1858, American playwright, b. Philadelphia. In 1838, Van Buren appointed him comptroller of the Treasury, and with slight interruptions he worked in the Treasury Dept. unt...

Bluebeard

(Encyclopedia)Bluebeard, nickname of the chevalier Raoul in a story by Charles Perrault. In the story Bluebeard's seventh wife, Fatima, yielding to curiosity, opens a locked door and discovers the slain bodies of h...

Bethesda, in the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Bethesda bĕthĕzˈdə, –thĕsˈ– [key], pool in Jerusalem, perhaps the one discovered under the Crusaders' Church of St. Anne near St. Stephen's Gate in the northeast corner of the city. Accordin...

Savery, William

(Encyclopedia)Savery, William sāˈvərē [key], 1721–87, American cabinetmaker. He is believed to have lived in Philadelphia from c.1740. Savery is noted for his artistic and original interpretation of 18th-cent...

novena

(Encyclopedia)novena nōvēˈnə [key] [Lat.,=a group of nine], in the Roman Catholic Church, primarily a series of public or private prayers extending over nine consecutive days, especially nine days preceding a f...

William II, emperor of Germany and king of Prussia

(Encyclopedia)William II, 1859–1941, emperor of Germany and king of Prussia (1888–1918), son and successor of Frederick III and grandson of William I of Germany and of Queen Victoria of England. After the out...

Elizabeth, empress of Austria and queen of Hungary

(Encyclopedia)Elizabeth, 1837–98, empress of Austria and queen of Hungary. A Bavarian princess, she was married (1854) to her cousin, Emperor Francis Joseph. Despite her exceptional beauty, intelligence, and kind...