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papal election

(Encyclopedia)papal election, election of the pope by the college of cardinals meeting in secret conclave in the Sistine Chapel not less than 15 nor more than 18 days after the death of the previous pontiff. In the...

Anna, czarina of Russia

(Encyclopedia)Anna (Anna Ivanovna) änˈnə ĭväˈnôvnə [key], 1693–1740, czarina of Russia (1730–40), daughter of Ivan V and niece of Peter I (Peter the Great). On the death of her distant cousin, Peter II,...

Philip the Bold, duke of Burgundy

(Encyclopedia)Philip the Bold, 1342–1404, duke of Burgundy (1363–1404); a younger son of King John II of France. He fought (1356) at Poitiers and shared his father's captivity in England. He was first made duke...

Colette

(Encyclopedia)Colette (Sidonie Gabrielle Colette) sēdōnēˈ gäbrēĕlˈ kōlĕtˈ [key], 1873–1954, French novelist. Colette achieved popularity with numerous novels, characterized by sensitive observations—...

Amin, Idi

(Encyclopedia)Amin, Idi ēˈdē amēnˈ [key], c.1925–2003, Ugandan army officer and dictator. From the small Kakwa ethnic group, he advanced in the Ugandan armed forces from private (1946) to major general (1968...

Bacon, Francis, English painter

(Encyclopedia)Bacon, Francis, 1910–92, English painter, b. Dublin. A self-taught artist, Bacon rejected abstraction in painting to explore a repertoire of strange, fractured, and often bizarre figurative images, ...

Thomas of Erceldoune

(Encyclopedia)Thomas of Erceldoune ûrˈsəldo͞onˌ [key], fl. 1220?–1297?, Scottish seer and poet, also known as Thomas the Rhymer and Thomas Learmont. Evidence of his existence is founded on the mention of his...

Cyzicus

(Encyclopedia)Cyzicus sĭzˈĭkəs [key], ancient city, NW Turkey, at the neck of the Cyzicus Peninsula. Strategically located, it rivaled Byzantium in commercial importance. Founded (756 b.c.) by Greek colonists f...

Fish, Carl Russell

(Encyclopedia)Fish, Carl Russell, 1876–1932, American historian, b. Central Falls, R.I. From 1900 to his death he taught history at the Univ. of Wisconsin. Fish considered the Univ. of Wisconsin the “most democ...

Urraca

(Encyclopedia)Urraca o͞oräˈkä [key], d. 1126, Spanish queen of Castile and León (1109–26), daughter and successor of Alfonso VI. Her first husband, Raymond of Burgundy, died in 1107, and in 1109 she was marr...