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patron

(Encyclopedia)patron [Lat.,=like a father], one who lends influential support to some person, cause, art or institution. Patronage existed in various ancient cultures but was primarily a Roman institution. In Roman...

Rossini, Gioacchino Antonio

(Encyclopedia)Rossini, Gioacchino Antonio jōäk-kēˈnō äntôˈnyō rōs-sēˈnē [key], 1792–1868, Italian operatic composer, one of the great masters of the Italian opera buffa. His parents were both musicia...

Crosby

(Encyclopedia)Crosby, town, Sefton metropolitan district, NW England, on Liverpool Bay. Formed in 1937 from the urban districts of Great Crosby and Waterloo-with-Seaf...

North, Roger

(Encyclopedia)North, Roger, 1653–1734, English biographer. A lawyer, he wrote excellent biographies of his brothers: Francis North, Lord Guilford, Keeper of the Great Seal (1742); Dudley North, a merchant (1744);...

plateresque

(Encyclopedia)plateresque plătərĕskˈ [key] [Span.,=silversmith], earliest phase of Spanish Renaissance architecture and decoration, in the early 16th cent. Its richness of effect was primarily based upon the wo...

Henry III, king of England

(Encyclopedia)Henry III, 1207–72, king of England (1216–72), son and successor of King John. Henry III has suffered at the hands of many historians, in part, because of the hostility of contemporary chronicl...

Van Cortlandt, Stephen

(Encyclopedia)Van Cortlandt, Stephen or Stephanus văn kôrtˈlənd [key], 1643–1700, colonial American merchant and politician, b. New Amsterdam (later New York City); brother of Jacobus Van Cortlandt. A succes...

Turenne, Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, vicomte de

(Encyclopedia)Turenne, Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, vicomte de äNrēˈ də lä to͞or dōvĕrˈnyə vēkôNtˈ də tərĕnˈ [key], 1611–75, marshal of France, one of the greatest of French commanders. The son o...

ransom

(Encyclopedia)ransom, price of redemption demanded by the captor of a person, vessel, or city. In ancient times cities frequently paid ransom to prevent their plundering by captors. The custom of ransoming was form...

Desiderio da Settignano

(Encyclopedia)Desiderio da Settignano dāzēdĕˈrēō dä sĕtˌtēnyäˈnō [key], c.1429–64, Florentine sculptor, a follower of Donatello. His exquisitely delicate marble carving is best seen in his church dec...