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Juana la Beltraneja

(Encyclopedia)Juana la Beltraneja hwäˈnä lä bĕltränāˈhä [key], 1462–1530, Castilian princess, daughter of Juana of Portugal, queen of Henry IV of Castile. Her paternity was generally attributed to the co...

Celestine V, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Celestine V, Saint, 1215–96, pope (elected July 5, resigned Dec. 13, 1294), an Italian (b. Isernia) named Pietro del Murrone; successor of Nicholas IV. Celestine's election ended a two-year deadlock...

Rafa

(Encyclopedia)Rafa or Rafah both: räˈfä [key], town in the present Gaza Strip on the Egyptian border. The ancient name was Raphia. There in 217 b.c., Ptolemy IV defeated Antiochus III. ...

Tommaso da Modena

(Encyclopedia)Tommaso da Modena, c.14th–15th cent., Italian painter. He painted 40 panels for a Dominican chapter house (San Nicolo, Treviso) that depicted monks engaged in reading, writing, and prayer. On a comm...

Langdon, Harry

(Encyclopedia)Langdon, Harry, 1884–1944, American silent film comedian and director, b. Council Bluffs, Iowa. He repeatedly ran away from home to join traveling shows and circuses as a youngster, and later develo...

Alexander Balas

(Encyclopedia)Alexander Balas bāˈləs [key], d. 145 b.c., ruler of Syria, putative son of Antiochus IV. He seized power from his uncle Demetrius I (c.152 b.c.); Jonathan the Maccabee supported him. He died in bat...

Gadshill

(Encyclopedia)Gadshill gădzˈhĭl [key], low hill, Kent, SE England, near Rochester. In Shakespeare's Henry IV it was the scene of Falstaff's robberies. Charles Dickens lived there, at Gadshill Place, from 1856 un...

Apollonius

(Encyclopedia)Apollonius ăpˌəlōˈnēəs [key], in the books of the Maccabees. 1 Governor of Coele-Syria and Phoenicia for Seleucus IV. He oppressed the Jews and was killed by Judas Maccabaeus. 2 Governor of Coe...

Sorø

(Encyclopedia)Sorø sôˈrö [key], town (1992 pop. 6,454), Vestsjælland co., E Denmark. It is a cultural and resort center. There is an academy founded by Christian IV in 1623 and other educational institutions e...

Nicholas V, pope

(Encyclopedia)Nicholas V, 1397–1455, pope (1447–55), an Italian named Tommaso Parentucelli, b. probably Sarzana, Liguria; successor of Eugene IV. From Eugene IV he inherited the antipapal enactments of the Coun...