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Gratian, Italian legal scholar

(Encyclopedia)Gratian, fl. 1140, Italian legal scholar, founder of the science of canon law. Almost nothing is known of his life beyond the fact that he was a monk, almost certainly Camaldolite, and that he taught ...

Bezborodko, Aleksandr Andreevich, Prince

(Encyclopedia)Bezborodko, Aleksandr Andreevich, Prince əlyĭksänˈdər əndrāˈəvĭch bĕzbôrôdˈkô [key], 1747–99, Russian statesman. He became secretary of petitions under Catherine II in 1775 and from 1...

Vries, David Pietersen de

(Encyclopedia)Vries, David Pietersen de də vrēs [key], b. c.1593, Dutch merchant captain and colonizer. An experienced mariner, Vries, in partnership with directors of the Dutch West India Company, founded (1631...

Prince of Wales, Cape

(Encyclopedia)Prince of Wales, Cape, at the tip of the Seward Peninsula, NW Alaska, on the Bering Strait; westernmost point of North America. Cape Dezhnev, Siberia, is only 55 mi (89 km) to the west. ...

Montluc, Blaise de Lasseran-Massencôme, seigneur de

(Encyclopedia)Montluc or Monluc, Blaise de Lasseran-Massencôme, seigneur de blĕz də läsräNˈ-mäsäNkômˈ, sānyörˈ də môNlükˈ [key], c.1502–1577, marshal of France. A Gascon soldier of fortune, he fo...

Castillejo, Cristóbal de

(Encyclopedia)Castillejo, Cristóbal de krēstōˈbäl dā kästēlyāˈhō [key], c.1490–1550, Spanish poet of the Renaissance. As secretary to the king of Bohemia, Castillejo visited Vienna and other European c...

Saint-Exupéry, Antoine de

(Encyclopedia)Saint-Exupéry, Antoine de (Antoine-Marie-Roger de Saint-Exupéry) äNtwänˈ-märēˈ-rôzhāˈ də săNtĕgzüpārēˈ [key], 1900–1944, French aviator and writer. He became a commercial pilot and...

Mena, Juan de

(Encyclopedia)Mena, Juan de hwän dā māˈnä [key], 1411–56, Spanish poet and scholar. Influenced by the Italian school, he modeled his chief work Laberinto de Fortuna (1444) upon Dante. This 300-stanza allegor...

Poniatowski, Józef Anton, Prince

(Encyclopedia)Poniatowski, Józef Anton, Prince yo͞oˈzĕf änˈtôn pônyätôfˈskē [key], 1763–1813, Polish general and marshal of France; nephew of Stanislaus II. He fought (1792) the Russians in the campai...

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