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Whittington, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Whittington, Richard, 1358–1423, English merchant and lord mayor of London. He made his fortune as a mercer and then entered London politics to become successively councilman, alderman, sheriff, and...

York, house of

(Encyclopedia)York, house of, royal house of England, deriving its name from the creation of Edmund of Langley, fifth son of Edward III, as duke of York in 1385. The claims to the throne of Edmund's grandson, Richa...

Valois, royal house of France

(Encyclopedia)Valois välwäˈ [key], royal house of France that ruled from 1328 to 1589. At the death of Charles IV, the last of the direct Capetians, the Valois dynasty came to the throne in the person of Philip ...

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...

Velázquez, Diego Rodríguez de Silva y

(Encyclopedia)Velázquez, Diego Rodríguez de Silva y rôᵺrēˈgāth ᵺā sēlˈvä ē vāläthˈkāth [key], 1599–1660, b. Seville. He was the most celebrated painter of the Spanish school. Velázquez's dev...

factory

(Encyclopedia)factory, place of production characterized by wage labor, the use of machinery, and the division of labor. The large-scale use of machinery differentiates factory production from simple manufacture, a...

local government

(Encyclopedia)local government, political administration of the smallest subdivisions of a country's territory and population. The British system of local government, which has been the model for most of that cou...

Chatham, town, England

(Encyclopedia)Chatham, town, Kent, SE England, on the Medway River. Chatham, Rochester, and Gillingham form a contiguous urban area that is now the unitary borough of Medway. Chatham was a major naval station, with...

Kannur

(Encyclopedia)Kannur kănˈənōrˌ, –nôrˌ [key], town (1991 urban agglomeration pop. 463,962), Kerala state, SE India. Formerly the capital of the Kolattiri Raja, it traded with Arabia and Persia in the 12th a...

Banjul

(Encyclopedia)Banjul băthˈərst [key], port city, capital of The Gambia, situated on St. Mary's Island wh...