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Welsh Marches

(Encyclopedia)Welsh Marches, lands in Wales along the English border. After the Norman conquest of England in the 11th cent., William I established the border earldoms of Chester, Shrewsbury, and Hereford to protec...

spiritism

(Encyclopedia)spiritism or spiritualism, belief that the human personality continues to exist after death and can communicate with the living through the agency of a medium or psychic. The advocates of spiritism ar...

Melfi

(Encyclopedia)Melfi mĕlˈfē [key], town (1991 pop. 15,757), in Basilicata, S Italy. It is an agricultural and tourist center noted for its wine. In 1041 it was made the first capital of the Norman county of Apuli...

Northampton, city, England

(Encyclopedia)Northampton, city (1991 pop. 154,172) and district, Northamptonshire, central England, on the Nene River. The city of Northampton is the county seat. Shoemaking has long been the chief industry; engin...

Hilliard, Nicholas

(Encyclopedia)Hilliard, Nicholas, 1537–1619, English miniature painter, son of a goldsmith. Trained first as a jeweler, he was court painter to Elizabeth and to James I. The first true miniaturist in England, Hil...

Walker, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Walker, Robert, d. 1658?, English painter, a follower of Van Dyck and favorite portraitist of Oliver Cromwell. His portraits of Cromwell and his family and followers are convincing studies of Puritan ...

Robert of Jumièges

(Encyclopedia)Robert of Jumièges zhümyĕzhˈ [key], fl. 1037–52, Norman churchman in England, b. Normandy. As abbot of Jumièges he won the favor of Edward (later Edward the Confessor) during Edward's exile in ...

Roger I

(Encyclopedia)Roger I (Roger Guiscard), c.1031–1101, Norman conqueror of Sicily; son of Tancred de Hauteville (see Normans). He went to Italy in 1058 to join his brother, Robert Guiscard, in conquering Apulia and...

Leicester

(Encyclopedia)Leicester lĕsˈtər [key], city and unitary authority (1991 pop. 324,394), central England. The city is connected by canals with the Trent River and London, and it is also a railway center. Leicester...

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