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Valla, Lorenzo

(Encyclopedia)Valla, Lorenzo lōrānˈtsō välˈlä [key], c.1407–57, Italian humanist. Valla knew Greek and Latin well and was chosen by Pope Nicholas V to translate Herodotus and Thucydides into Latin. From hi...

Hincmar

(Encyclopedia)Hincmar hĭngkˈmär [key], 806–82, Frankish canonist and theologian, archbishop of Reims (from 845). He was a supporter of Carolingian Emperor Louis I and a counselor of his son Charles II (Charles...

Burgess, John William

(Encyclopedia)Burgess, John William, 1844–1931, American educator and political scientist, b. Tennessee. He served in the Union army in the Civil War and after the war graduated from Amherst (1867). He was admitt...

Ward, William George

(Encyclopedia)Ward, William George, 1812–82, English Roman Catholic apologist, educated at Oxford. He became (1834) a fellow at Balliol College, Oxford, and was ordained in the Church of England. At first a Broad...

Rasputin, Grigori Yefimovich

(Encyclopedia)Rasputin, Grigori Yefimovich răspyo͞oˈtĭn, Rus. grĭgôˈrē yĭfēˈməvĭch rəspo͞oˈtyĭn [key], 1869–1916, Russian holy man and courtier, a notorious figure at the court of Czar Nicholas I...

Vanbrugh, Sir John

(Encyclopedia)Vanbrugh, Sir John vănbro͞oˈ, vănˈbrə [key], 1664–1726, English dramatist, architect, soldier, and adventurer, b. London, of Flemish descent. In 1686 he obtained a commission in the army. He w...

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...

Caen

(Encyclopedia)Caen käN [key], city, capital of Calvados dept., N France, in Normandy, on the Orne River. I...

Yekaterinburg

(Encyclopedia)Yekaterinburg or Ekaterinburg svyĭrdlôfskˈ [key], city (1989 pop. 1,365,000), capital of the Sverdlovsk region and the administrative center of the Ural federal district, E European Russia, in the ...

Westminster Abbey

(Encyclopedia)Westminster Abbey, originally the abbey church of a Benedictine monastery (closed in 1539) in London. One of England's most important Gothic structures, it is also a national shrine. The first church ...