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Murray, Lord George

(Encyclopedia)Murray, Lord George, 1694–1760, Scottish general. He took part in the risings of the Jacobites in 1715, 1719, and 1745. Although he foresaw the hopelessness of the 1745 uprising, he was one of Charl...

Lang, Cosmo Gordon

(Encyclopedia)Lang, Cosmo Gordon, 1864–1945, English churchman, archbishop of York (1908–28), archbishop of Canterbury (1928–42), b. Aberdeen, Scotland. From 1901 to 1908, while suffragan bishop of Stepney, L...

Bradwardine, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Bradwardine, Thomas brădˈwərdēn [key], c.1295–1349, English mathematician, natural philosopher, and theologian. He was chaplain to Edward III (c.1338) and later archbishop of Canterbury. As a ma...

Blackbeard

(Encyclopedia)Blackbeard, d. 1718, English pirate. His name was probably Edward Teach, Thatch, or Thach. He probably began as a privateer in the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–14), then turned pirate. In 171...

Stafford, Humphrey, 1st duke of Buckingham

(Encyclopedia)Stafford, Humphrey, 1st duke of Buckingham, 1402–60, English nobleman. He succeeded his father as earl of Stafford in 1403. He inherited the title of earl of Buckingham through his mother, Anne, cou...

Valle, Pietro della

(Encyclopedia)Valle, Pietro della pyĕˈtrō dĕlˈlä välˈlā [key], 1586–1652, Italian traveler in Asia. He sailed (1614) from Venice; spent a year in Constantinople, where he studied Turkish and Arabic; then...

Vare, William Scott

(Encyclopedia)Vare, William Scott, 1867–1934, American political leader, b. Philadelphia. He engaged in machine politics and became (1898) a member of the select council of Philadelphia. He was recorder of deeds ...

Sandys, Edwin

(Encyclopedia)Sandys, Edwin săndz [key], 1516?–1588, English prelate, archbishop of York (1576–88). While a student at Cambridge he turned to Protestantism. On the death (1553) of Edward VI, Sandys supported L...

Ford, Gerald Rudolph

(Encyclopedia)Ford, Gerald Rudolph, 1913–2006, 38th president of the United States (1974–77), b. Omaha, Nebr. He was originally named Leslie Lynch King, Jr., but his parents were divorced when he was two, and w...

abdication

(Encyclopedia)abdication, in a political sense, renunciation of high public office, usually by a monarch. Some abdications have been purely voluntary and resulted in no loss of prestige. For instance, Holy Roman Em...