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Catherine I

(Encyclopedia)Catherine I, 1683?–1727, czarina of Russia (1725–27). Of Livonian peasant origin, Martha Skavronskaya was a domestic when she was captured (1702) by Russian soldiers. As mistress of Aleksandr D. M...

Bestuzhev-Ryumin, Aleksey Petrovich, Count

(Encyclopedia)Bestuzhev-Ryumin, Aleksey Petrovich, Count əlyĭksyāˈ pētrôˈvĭch byĭsto͞oˈzhĕv-rēo͞oˈmyĭn [key], 1693–1766, Russian statesman. With the accession (1741) of Czarina Elizabeth, he was a...

Agassiz, Louis

(Encyclopedia)Agassiz, Louis (Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz) ăgˈəsē [key], 1807–73, Swiss-American zoologist and geologist, b. Môtiers-en-Vuly, Switzerland. He studied at the universities of Zürich, Erlangen ...

Arundel, Thomas Howard, earl of

(Encyclopedia)Arundel, Thomas Howard, earl of, 1585–1646, first great English art collector and patron of arts. Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, he married a goddaughter of Queen Elizabeth and was always c...

Maitland, William

(Encyclopedia)Maitland, William (Maitland of Lethington), 1528?–1573, Scottish statesman. In 1559 he deserted the regent Mary of Guise and joined the revolt of the Protestant nobles. When Mary Queen of Scots retu...

San Francisco Opera

(Encyclopedia)San Francisco Opera, opera company, founded 1923 by Italian-American conductor Gaetano Merola, who oversaw its early years as a touring company. In 1932 it established a permanent home at the War Memo...

Paul IV

(Encyclopedia)Paul IV, 1476–1559, pope (1555–59), a Neapolitan named Gian Pietro Carafa; successor of Marcellus II. First superior of the Theatines (see Cajetan, Saint), he was sternly ascetic. A leading reform...

Tower of London

(Encyclopedia)Tower of London, ancient fortress in London, England, just east of the City and on the north bank of the Thames, covering about 13 acres (5.3 hectares). Now used mainly as a museum, it was a royal res...

Chertoff, Michael

(Encyclopedia)Chertoff, Michael, 1953–, U.S. government official, b. Elizabeth, N.J., grad. Harvard (B.A., 1975, J.D., 1978). A lawyer, Chertoff was an assistant federal prosecutor in New York (1983–87) and New...

Diniz

(Encyclopedia)Diniz, Port. Dinis dēnēshˈ [key], 1261–1325, king of Portugal (1279–1325), son and successor of Alfonso III. Like his grandfather, Alfonso X of Castile, whose legal works he had translated into...