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John of Gaunt

(Encyclopedia)John of Gaunt [Mid. Eng. Gaunt=Ghent, his birthplace], 1340–99, duke of Lancaster; fourth son of Edward III of England. He married (1359) Blanche, heiress of Lancaster, and through her became earl (...

Louis IX, king of France

(Encyclopedia)Louis IX or Saint Louis, 1214–70, king of France (1226–70), son and successor of Louis VIII. His mother, Blanche of Castile, was regent during his minority (1226–34), and her regency probably la...

Seville

(Encyclopedia)Seville səvĭlˈ, sĕˈ– [key], Span. Sevilla, city (1990 pop. 678,218), capital of Seville prov. and leading city of Andalusia, SW Spain, on the Guadalquivir River. Connected with the Atlantic by ...

Day, Dorothy

(Encyclopedia)Day, Dorothy, 1897–1980, American journalist and social activist, b. New York City. After studying at the Univ. of Illinois (1914–16), where she joined the Socialist party, she returned to New Yor...

Ferdinand I, king of Portugal

(Encyclopedia)Ferdinand I, 1345–83, king of Portugal (1367–83), son and successor of Peter I. His ambitions and his private life plunged the realm into disaster, although during his reign agricultural reform wa...

Hauser, Kaspar

(Encyclopedia)Hauser, Kaspar käsˈpär houˈzər [key], 1812?–1833, mysterious German foundling. He appeared in Nuremberg in 1828 in a state of semi-idiocy, producing dubious documents and giving an incoherent a...

Hamill, Pete

(Encyclopedia)Hamill, Pete (Wlliam Peter Hamill Jr.), 1935–2020, American journalist and author, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. He served in the U.S. Navy (1952–56) and worked as a graphic designer (1957–60) before being ...

Harper, Stephen

(Encyclopedia)Harper, Stephen, 1959–, prime minister (2006–15) of Canada. A founding member of the conservative Reform party (later the Canadian Alliance), he won a seat in the federal parliament in 1993, but b...

narthex

(Encyclopedia)narthex närˈthĕks [key], entrance feature peculiar to early Christian and Byzantine churches, although also found in some Romanesque churches, especially in France and Italy. Usually extending acro...

La Tour, Georges de

(Encyclopedia)La Tour, Georges de zhôrzh də lä to͞or [key], 1593–1652, French painter. By 1618 he was settled at Lunéville, in his native Lorraine. He bore the title of painter to the king in 1639. La Tour p...