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Philip II, king of Spain, Naples, and Sicily

(Encyclopedia)Philip II, 1527–98, king of Spain (1556–98), king of Naples and Sicily (1554–98), and, as Philip I, king of Portugal (1580–98). Philip was not the bloodthirsty tyrant portrayed by his enemi...

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, island nation (2015 est. pop. 109,000), 150 sq mi (388 sq km), West Indies, in the Windward Islands. It comprises the island of Saint Vincent (140 sq mi/363 sq...

Whately, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Whately, Richard hwātˈlē [key], 1787–1863, English prelate and writer. Fellow and tutor of Oriel College, Oxford, he published a witty work aimed at extreme skeptics, Historic Doubts Relative to ...

Bill of Rights, in British history

(Encyclopedia)Bill of Rights, 1689, in British history, one of the fundamental instruments of constitutional law. It registered in statutory form the outcome of the long 17th-century struggle between the Stuart kin...

Decius

(Encyclopedia)Decius (Caius Messius Quintus Decius) dēˈshəs [key], 201–51, Roman emperor (249–51), b. Pannonia. He was sent by Philip (Philip the Arabian) to quell a mutiny, but when the soldiers hailed him ...

Romanesque architecture and art

(Encyclopedia)Romanesque architecture and art, the artistic style that prevailed throughout Europe from the 10th to the mid-12th cent., although it persisted until considerably later in certain areas. The term Roma...

planet

(Encyclopedia)planet [Gr.,=wanderer], a large nonluminous body of rock, gas, or ice that orbits the sun or another star, has a rounded shape due to gravity, and has cleared its orbit of smaller objects. The term, o...

Restoration, in English history

(Encyclopedia)Restoration, in English history, the reestablishment of the monarchy on the accession (1660) of Charles II after the collapse of the Commonwealth (see under commonwealth) and the Protectorate. The ter...

Maurice, duke and elector of Saxony

(Encyclopedia)Maurice, 1521–53, duke (1541–47) and elector (1547–53) of Saxony. A member of the Albertine branch of the ruling house of Saxony, he became duke of Albertine Saxony during the Protestant Reforma...

Brighton and Hove

(Encyclopedia)Brighton and Hove, city and unitary authority and district, SE England. It was formed by the merger of the boroughs of Brighton and Hove in 1997, and be...