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Jadwiga

(Encyclopedia)Jadwiga yädvēˈgä [key], 1374–99, Polish queen (1384–99), daughter of Louis I of Hungary and Poland. To satisfy Polish demands for autonomy at Louis's death, she reigned in Poland and her siste...

John Paul II, Saint

(Encyclopedia)John Paul II, Saint 1920–2005, pope (1978–2005), a Pole (b. Wadowice) named Karol Józef Wojtyła; successor of John Paul I. He was the first non-Italian pope elected since the Dutch Adrian VI (15...

Olaf II

(Encyclopedia)Olaf II (Saint Olaf), c.995–1030, king of Norway (1015–28). He is also called Olaf the Stout or Olaf the Fat. He spent part of his early life in England and helped Æthelred fight the Danes. He wa...

Saint John, river, United States and Canada

(Encyclopedia)Saint John, river, 418 mi (673 km) long, rising in N Maine and flowing NE to New Brunswick, Canada, then SE below Edmundston, past St. Leonard, Grand Falls, Woodstock, and Fredericton to the Bay of Fu...

Holy Island

(Encyclopedia)Holy Island or Lindisfarne lĭnˈdĭsfärn [key], off the coast of Northumberland, NE England. At low tide the island is connected with the mainland by a stretch of sand. It is partly cultivated, and ...

Schism of East and West

(Encyclopedia)Schism of East and West, division between the Orthodox Eastern Church and the Roman Catholic Church. See Christianity; Ferrara-Florence, Council of; Leo IX, Saint; Lyons, Second Council of; papacy; Ph...

Halloween

(Encyclopedia)Halloween säˈwĭn [key], the beginning of winter and the Celtic new year. Spirits, or fairies, were said to roam the earth on this evening, playing tricks on human beings to mark the season of dimin...

Nestorian Church

(Encyclopedia)Nestorian Church, officially the Assyrian Church of the East, Christian community of Iraq, Iran, and SW India. It represents the ancient church of Persia and is sometimes also called the East Syrian C...

Stott, John Robert Walmsley

(Encyclopedia)Stott, John Robert Walmsley, 1921–2011, Anglican clergyman influential in 20th-century evangelical Christianity, b. London. He attended college and theological school at Cambridge and was ordained i...

Olaf I

(Encyclopedia)Olaf I (Olaf Tryggvason) ōˈläf trügˈväsōn [key], c.963–1000, king of Norway (995–1000), great-grandson of Harold I. His early life of exile and slavery is surrounded with romantic legend, a...