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Fish, New York family

(Encyclopedia)Fish, family long prominent in New York politics. Nicholas Fish, 1758–1833, b. New York City. He studied law before serving ably as a major in a New York regiment throughout the American Revolution....

Campbell, Scottish noble family

(Encyclopedia)Campbell kămˈbəl [key], Scottish noble family, the head of which is the duke of Argyll. The Campbells of Lochow (Lochawe) rose to power in W Scotland in the later Middle Ages. In 1445, Sir Duncan C...

Ypsilanti, Greek family

(Encyclopedia)Ypsilanti or Hypsilanti both: ĭpˌsĭlănˈtē [key], prominent Greek family of Phanariots (see under Phanar). An early distinguished member, Alexander Ypsilanti, c.1725–c.1807, was dragoman (minis...

Alamanni, Luigi

(Encyclopedia)Alamanni or Alemanni, Luigi lo͞oēˈjē älämänˈnē, älā– [key], 1495–1556, Italian poet and patriot. He was a friend of Macchiavelli, who may have encouraged his conspiracy (1522) against C...

Stuart, British royal family

(Encyclopedia)Stuart or Stewart, royal family that ruled Scotland and England. The Stuart lineage began in a family of hereditary stewards of Scotland, the earliest of whom was Walter (d. 1177), grandson of a Norma...

Family Compact, in Canadian history

(Encyclopedia)Family Compact, name popularly applied to a small, powerful group of men who dominated the government of Upper Canada (Ontario) from the closing years of the 18th cent. to the beginnings of responsibl...

Bembo, Pietro

(Encyclopedia)Bembo, Pietro pyāˈtrō bĕmˈbō [key], 1470–1547, Italian humanist, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. A favorite of the Medici, he was secretary to Pope Leo X and was made a cardinal by Paul...

Pazzi conspiracy

(Encyclopedia)Pazzi conspiracy pätˈtsē [key], 1478, plot against Lorenzo de' Medici (Lorenzo il Magnifico) and his brother Giuliano, designed to end the hegemony of the Medici in the Florentine state and to enla...

Accademia della Crusca

(Encyclopedia)Accademia della Crusca äk-kädĕˈmēä dĕlˈlä kro͞osˈkä [key] [Ital.,=academy of the chaff], Italian literary society founded in Florence in 1582 to maintain the purity of the language. Leonar...

Varchi, Benedetto

(Encyclopedia)Varchi, Benedetto bānādĕtˈtō värˈkē [key], 1502?–1565, Italian poet and historian. A protégé of Filippo Strozzi and Cosimo de' Medici, he was commissioned to write the history of Florence....