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Henry IV, Spanish king of Castile and León

(Encyclopedia)Henry IV, 1425–74, Spanish king of Castile and León (1454–74), son and successor of John II. His weakness opened the way to civil strife and anarchy. The Castilian nobles refused to recognize Hen...

Woollcott, Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Woollcott, Alexander, 1887–1943, American author and critic, b. Phalanx, N.J., grad. Hamilton College, 1909. Woollcott's flamboyant personality combined sharpness of wit with sentimentality. He was ...

James, P. D.

(Encyclopedia)James, P. D. (Phyllis Dorothy James White, Baroness James of Holland Park), 1920–2014, English mystery novelist, b. Oxford. From 1964 to 1979 she worked in the forensic science and criminal law divi...

Douglas, James, 2d earl of Douglas and Mar

(Encyclopedia)Douglas, James, 2d earl of Douglas and Mar, 1358?–1388, Scottish nobleman; son of William Douglas, 1st earl of Douglas and Mar. In 1373 he married Isabel Stuart, daughter of Robert II. With the aid ...

James II, king of England, Scotland, and Ireland

(Encyclopedia)James II, 1633–1701, king of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1685–88); second son of Charles I, brother and successor of Charles II. James made an effort to restore himself by landing in Irel...

Thomson, James , 1834–82, Scottish poet and essayist

(Encyclopedia)Thomson, James, 1834–82, Scottish poet and essayist. He is remembered for his darkly pessimistic poem The City of Dreadful Night. He was raised in an orphan asylum and became (1851) an army teacher ...

short story

(Encyclopedia)short story, brief prose fiction. The term covers a wide variety of narratives—from stories in which the main focus is on the course of events to studies of character, from the “short short” sto...

Döblin, Alfred

(Encyclopedia)Döblin, Alfred älˈfrĕt döblĭnˈ [key], 1878–1957, German novelist and physician. His experiences as a psychiatrist in the workers' district of Berlin served as the basis for his experimental n...

Hamilton, James Douglas, 4th duke of

(Encyclopedia)Hamilton, James Douglas, 4th duke of, 1658–1712, Scottish nobleman. He served at the courts of Charles II and James II and remained, after his grudging acceptance of William III, a sympathizer with ...

Richardson, Henry Handel

(Encyclopedia)Richardson, Henry Handel, pseud. of Ethel Richardson Robertson, 1870–1946, Australian novelist, b. Melbourne. Her years of study at the Presbyterian Ladies' College, Melbourne, were reflected in her...