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Lancashire

(Encyclopedia)Lancashire lăngˈkəshĭr, –shər [key], county (1991 pop. 1,365,100), 1,878 sq mi (4,864 sq km), N England, on the Irish Sea. The historical county town is Lancaster, but the county's administrati...

impressment

(Encyclopedia)impressment, forcible enrollment of recruits for military duty. Before the establishment of conscription, many countries supplemented their militia and mercenary troops by impressment. In England, imp...

Saxe, Maurice, comte de

(Encyclopedia)Saxe, Maurice, comte de mōrēsˈ kôNt də säks [key], 1696–1750, marshal of France, one of the greatest generals of his age. He was the illegitimate son of Augustus II of Poland and Saxony and Co...

barrow, in archaeology

(Encyclopedia)barrow, in archaeology, a burial mound. Earth and stone or timber are the usual construction materials; in parts of SE Asia stone and brick have entirely replaced earth. A barrow built primarily of st...

Shrewsbury, city, England

(Encyclopedia)Shrewsbury bərē [key], city (1991 pop. 57,731), adminstrative center of Shropshire, W England, on the Severn River. Shrewsbury is a road and rail junction with varied manufactures. It was an ancient...

county

(Encyclopedia)county [Fr., comté,=domain of a count], division of local government in the United States, Great Britain, and many Commonwealth countries. The county developed in England from the shire, a unit of lo...

Charles University

(Encyclopedia)Charles University, at Prague, Czech Republic; also called Univ. of Prague. The oldest and one of the most important universities of central Europe, it was founded in 1348 by Holy Roman Emperor Charle...

epic

(Encyclopedia)epic, long, exalted narrative poem, usually on a serious subject, centered on a heroic figure. The earliest epics, known as primary, or original, epics, were shaped from the legends of an age when a n...

Henry II, Holy Roman emperor and German king

(Encyclopedia)Henry II, 973–1024, Holy Roman emperor (1014–24) and German king (1002–24), last of the Saxon line. He succeeded his father as duke of Bavaria. When Otto III died without an heir, Henry, who was...

Staffordshire

(Encyclopedia)Staffordshire stăfˈərdshĭr [key], county (1991 pop. 1,020,300), 1,157 sq mi (2,997 sq km), W central England. The county seat is Stafford. Administratively, Staffordshire is divided into the distr...