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Shaw, Robert Gould

(Encyclopedia)Shaw, Robert Gould, 1837–63, Union hero in the American Civil War, b. Boston. An ardent white abolitionist, he was colonel of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, the first body of black troops raised i...

month

(Encyclopedia)month, in chronology, the conventional period of a lunation, i.e., passage of the moon through all its phases. It is usually computed at approximately 29 or 30 days. For the computation of the month a...

Lepidus

(Encyclopedia)Lepidus lĕpˈĭdəs [key], family of the ancient Roman patrician gens Aemilia. Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, d. 152 b.c., was a consul in 187 and 175 b.c., a censor in 179 b.c., and pontifex maximus [high...

Northern War

(Encyclopedia)Northern War, 1700–1721, general European conflict, fought in N and E Europe at the same time that the War of the Spanish Succession was fought in the west and the south. It arose chiefly from the d...

Fine Gael

(Encyclopedia)Fine Gael fēˈnə gāl [key], Irish political party. Formed in 1933, it was the successor of the party founded by William Cosgrave that held power from the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922 un...

Saxony

(Encyclopedia)Saxony săkˈsənē [key], Ger. Sachsen, Fr. Saxe, state (1994 pop. 4,901,000), 7,078 sq mi (18,337 sq km), E central Germany. Dresden is the capital. In its current form, Saxony is a federal state of...

Königsmark, Countess Maria Aurora

(Encyclopedia)Königsmark, Countess Maria Aurora märēˈä ouro͞oˈrä köˈnĭksmärk [key], 1666–1728, Swedish noblewoman; sister of Count Philipp Christoph Königsmark. She went to Dresden in search of her m...

forum

(Encyclopedia)forum, market and meeting place in ancient Roman towns in Italy and later in the provinces, corresponding to the Greek agora. By extension the word forum often indicates the meeting itself in modern u...

Saxe-Weimar

(Encyclopedia)Saxe-Weimar săks-vīˈmär [key], Ger. Sachsen-Weimar, former duchy, Thuringia, central Germany. The area passed in the division of 1485 to the Ernestine branch of the Wettin dynasty and remained wit...

Cortissoz, Royal

(Encyclopedia)Cortissoz, Royal kôrtēˈsōz [key], 1869–1948, American critic and lecturer on art. He was the New York Herald Tribune art critic from 1891 and was noted for his lectures at the Metropolitan Museu...