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Golden Bull

(Encyclopedia)Golden Bull, term translated from the Latin bulla aurea and generally referring to a bull (edict) with a golden seal. Golden bulls were promulgated by medieval Byzantine rulers and by Western European...

Andersen, Hans Christian

(Encyclopedia)Andersen, Hans Christian, 1805–75, Danish poet, novelist, and writer of fairy tales. Born to an illiterate washerwoman and reared in poverty, he left Odense at 14 for Copenhagen, where he lived with...

Hudson River school

(Encyclopedia)Hudson River school, group of American landscape painters, working from 1825 to 1875. The 19th-century romantic movements of England, Germany, and France were introduced to the United States by such w...

Hardenberg, Karl August, Fürst von

(Encyclopedia)Hardenberg, Karl August, Fürst von kärl ouˈgo͝ost fürst fən härˈdənbĕrk [key], 1750–1822, Prussian administrator and diplomat, b. Hanover. After service for Hanover and Brunswick, he enter...

Wilson, August

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, August, 1945–2005, American playwright and poet, b. Pittsburgh as Frederick August Kittel, Jr. Largely self-educated, Wilson first attracted wide critical attention with his Broadway debut, ...

benefit of clergy

(Encyclopedia)benefit of clergy, term originally applied to the exemption of Christian clerics from criminal prosecution in the secular courts. The privilege was established by the 12th cent., and it extended only ...

Besançon

(Encyclopedia)Besançon bəzäNsôNˈ [key], city, capital of Doubs dept., E France, in Franche-Comté, on ...

Chatham, William Pitt, 1st earl of

(Encyclopedia)Chatham, William Pitt, 1st earl of chătˈəm [key], 1708–78, British statesman, known as the Great Commoner. Proud, dramatic, and patriotic, Chatham excelled as a war minister and orator. He was th...

Lower Saxony

(Encyclopedia)Lower Saxony, Ger. Niedersachsen nēˈdərsäkˌsən [key], state (1994 pop. 7,480,000), 18,295 sq mi (47,384 sq km), NW Germany. Hanover is the capital. The state was formed in 1946 by the merger of ...

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