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bluestocking

(Encyclopedia)bluestocking, derisive term originally applied to certain 18th-century women with pronounced literary interests. During the 1750s, Elizabeth Vesey held evening parties, at which the entertainment cons...

Dumas, Alexandre (Dumas père), 1802–70, French novelist and dramatist

(Encyclopedia)Dumas, Alexandre pĕr [key], 1802–70, French novelist and dramatist. His father, Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, was a general in the Revolution. Dumas delighted many generations of readers with his highly ...

Capetians

(Encyclopedia)Capetians kəpēˈshənz [key], royal house of France that ruled continuously from 987 to 1328; it takes its name from Hugh Capet. Related branches of the family (see Valois; Bourbon) ruled France unt...

Balthus

(Encyclopedia)Balthus bôlˈthəs, bălˈ– [key], 1908–2001, Polish-French painter, b. Paris as Count Balthasar Klossowski de Rola. Balthus is sometimes regarded as one of the most important figurative painters...

Conrad, Latin king of Jerusalem

(Encyclopedia)Conrad, d. 1192, Latin king of Jerusalem (1192), marquis of Montferrat, a leading figure in the Third Crusade (see Crusades). He saved Tyre from the Saracens and became (1187) its lord. In 1189 he joi...

Goremykin, Ivan Longinovich

(Encyclopedia)Goremykin, Ivan Longinovich ēvänˈ lən-gēˈnəvĭch gəryĭmĭˈkĭn [key], 1839–1917, Russian statesman. A conservative, he was (1895–99) interior minister under Czar Nicholas II and succeede...

vampire

(Encyclopedia)vampire, in folklore, animated corpse that sucks the blood of humans. Belief in vampires has existed from the earliest times and has given rise to an amalgam of legends and superstitions. They were mo...

Francis Ferdinand

(Encyclopedia)Francis Ferdinand, 1863–1914, Austrian archduke, heir apparent (after 1889) of his uncle, Emperor Francis Joseph. In 1900 he married a Czech, Sophie Chotek. She was made duchess of Hohenberg, but be...

Frankland, William

(Encyclopedia)Frankland, William (Alfred William Frankland), 1912–2020, British allergist and immunologist. He studied medicine at Queens College, Oxford, and St. Mary's Hospital Medical School (now part of Imper...

Hohenzollern, former province, Germany

(Encyclopedia)Hohenzollern, former province of Germany. After 1945 it became part of the temporary state of Württemberg-Hohenzollern, which was included in the state of Baden-Württemberg in 1952. Its chief city w...