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pragmatic sanction

(Encyclopedia)pragmatic sanction, decision of state dealing with a matter of great importance to a community or a whole state and having the force of fundamental law. The term originated in Roman law and was used o...

Visconti

(Encyclopedia)Visconti vēskônˈtē [key], Italian family that ruled Milan from the 13th cent. until 1447. In the 12th cent. members of the family received the title of viscount, from which the name is derived. Ot...

Canby, Henry Seidel

(Encyclopedia)Canby, Henry Seidel, 1878–1961, American editor and critic, b. Wilmington, Del., grad. Yale, 1899. He taught at Yale for over 20 years, achieving professorial rank in 1922. He established and edited...

Cambrai, Treaty of

(Encyclopedia)Cambrai, Treaty of, called the Ladies' Peace, treaty negotiated and signed in 1529 by Louise of Savoy, representing her son Francis I of France, and Margaret of Austria, representing her nephew Holy R...

Hewlett, Maurice Henry

(Encyclopedia)Hewlett, Maurice Henry hyo͞oˈĭt [key], 1861–1923, English novelist, essayist, and poet. He is best known for his historical romances, such as The Forest Lovers (1898; based on Malory), The Life a...

Regulus, in Roman history

(Encyclopedia)Regulus (Marcus Atilius Regulus) rĕgˈyo͝oləs [key], d. c.250 b.c., Roman general in the First Punic War. While consul (267 b.c.) he conquered the Sallentini and captured Brundisium (now Brindisi)....

Sylvester II

(Encyclopedia)Sylvester II, c.945–1003, pope (999–1003), a Frenchman (b. Auvergne) named Gerbert; successor of Gregory V. In his youth he studied at Muslim schools in Spain and became learned in mathematics and...

Cambrai, League of

(Encyclopedia)Cambrai, League of, 1508–10, alliance formed by Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, King Louis XII of France, Pope Julius II, King Ferdinand V of Aragón, and several Italian city-states against the re...

Orsini

(Encyclopedia)Orsini ōrsēˈnē [key], powerful Roman family that included three popes and numerous other churchmen, soldiers and statesmen. The eponymous ancestor was one Ursus. Giacinto Orsini, who became Pope C...

Hilliard, Henry Washington

(Encyclopedia)Hilliard, Henry Washington hĭlˈyərd [key], 1808–92, American statesman and diplomat, b. Fayetteville, N.C. After teaching English literature (1831–34) at the Univ. of Alabama, he began to pract...