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Constantinople, Third Council of

(Encyclopedia)Constantinople, Third Council of, 680, regarded by Roman Catholic and Orthodox Eastern churches as the sixth ecumenical council. It was convoked by Byzantine Emperor Constantine IV to deal with Monoth...

Bible Christians

(Encyclopedia)Bible Christians, denomination of Methodists in England founded by William O'Bryan. They seceded from the Wesleyan Methodist Church (1815–19) and in 1907 were merged with two other branches in the U...

Cleves, duchy of

(Encyclopedia)Cleves, duchy of, former state, W Germany, on both sides of the lower Rhine, bordering on the Netherlands. Cleves was the capital. A county from late Carolingian times, it acquired (late 14th cent.) t...

Gloucester, Robert, earl of

(Encyclopedia)Gloucester, Robert, earl of, d. 1147, English nobleman; illegitimate son of Henry I. Henry created (c.1121) the earldom of Gloucester for him. After his father's death (1135), Robert appeared to accep...

Higginson, Francis

(Encyclopedia)Higginson, Francis, 1586–1630, American colonial clergyman, b. Leicestershire, England, M.A. Cambridge, 1613. Admitted (1614) to the ministry of the Church of England, he later became a nonconformis...

Presbyterianism

(Encyclopedia)Presbyterianism, form of Christian church organization based on administration by a hierarchy of courts composed of clerical and lay presbyters. Holding a position between episcopacy (government by bi...

Blair, James

(Encyclopedia)Blair, James, 1656–1743, Church of England clergyman, missionary to colonial Virginia, and founder of the College of William and Mary, b. Scotland. At the request of the bishop of London, Blair trav...

Blanche of Castile

(Encyclopedia)Blanche of Castile bläNsh, kăstēlˈ [key], 1185?–1252, queen of Louis VIII of France and regent during the minority (1226–34) of their son Louis IX. A forceful and capable ruler, she checked th...

Gloucester, Thomas of Woodstock, duke of

(Encyclopedia)Gloucester, Thomas of Woodstock, duke of, 1355–97, English nobleman; youngest son of Edward III. He was betrothed (1374) to Eleanor, heiress of Humphrey de Bohun, earl of Hereford, and became earl o...

Murray, John

(Encyclopedia)Murray, John, 1741–1815, founder of the Universalist denomination in America, b. England. He was excommunicated by the Methodists after he had openly accepted Universalism as taught by James Relly (...