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John of Speyer

(Encyclopedia)John of Speyer spīˈər [key], d. 1470, first printer in Venice, b. Bavaria. He designed and patented the first type purely roman in character. It appears in Cicero's Epistulae ad familiares and Plin...

Wilmès, Sophie

(Encyclopedia)Wilmès, Sophie, 1975–, Belgian political leader. She worked as a financial officer at the European Commission, and was a council member in local government (2007–15). A member of the liberal fran...

Danby, Thomas Osborne, earl of

(Encyclopedia)Danby, Thomas Osborne, earl of, 1631–1712, English statesman. Under the patronage of the 2d duke of Buckingham, he was appointed treasurer of the navy (1668), a privy councilor (1672), and lord trea...

chamber of commerce

(Encyclopedia)chamber of commerce, local association of business people organized to promote the welfare of their community, especially its commercial interests. Each chamber of commerce usually has an elected boar...

Morley, John, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn

(Encyclopedia)Morley, John, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn, 1838–1923, English statesman and man of letters. Educated at Oxford, he made his reputation as a journalist in London and served (1867–82) as editor...

academies of art

(Encyclopedia)academies of art, official organizations of established artists. Lorenzo de' Medici's informal circle of great artists and thinkers was modeled on similar groups formed in classical Greece. The first ...

Virginia, University of

(Encyclopedia)Virginia, University of, mainly at Charlottesville; state supported; coeducational; chartered 1819, opened 1825 with Thomas Jefferson as its rector. Jefferson also planned the organization and curricu...

Baliol, John de, 1249–1315, king of Scotland

(Encyclopedia)Baliol, John de, 1249–1315, king of Scotland (1292–96), son of John de Baliol (d. 1269). He became head of the family after the death of his elder brothers in 1278. At the death of Margaret Maid o...

Pythagoras of Rhegium

(Encyclopedia)Pythagoras of Rhegium rēˈjəm [key], fl. 5th cent. b.c., Greek sculptor. In a signature on a pedestal at Olympia he declares himself a Samian, but the period of his training and work belongs to Rheg...

Amadis of Gaul

(Encyclopedia)Amadis of Gaul ämädēsˈ də gōl [key], famous prose romance of chivalry, first composed in Spain or Portugal and probably based on French sources. Entirely fictional, it dates from the 13th or 14t...