(Encyclopedia) Wycherley, WilliamWycherley, Williamwĭchˈərlē [key], 1640?–1716, English dramatist, b. near Shrewsbury. His first comedy, Love in a Wood (1671), was a huge success and won him the…
(Encyclopedia) Oates, Titus, 1649–1705, English conspirator. An Anglican priest whose whole career was marked with intrigue and scandal, he joined forces with one Israel Tonge to invent the story of…
(Encyclopedia) china clay, one of the purest of the clays, composed chiefly of the mineral kaolinite usually formed when granite is changed by hydrothermal metamorphism. Usage of the terms china clay…
(Encyclopedia) Potteries, the, area, c.9 mi (15 km) long and 3 mi (4.8 km) wide, Staffordshire, W central England, extending northwest-southeast in the upper Trent valley. The area includes Stoke-on-…
(Encyclopedia) Charles II, 1630–85, king of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1660–85), eldest surviving son of Charles I and Henrietta Maria.
Charles was a ruler of considerable political skill. His…
(Encyclopedia) Henry VII, 1457–1509, king of England (1485–1509) and founder of the Tudor dynasty.
Henry was an astute political leader. He established the Tudor tradition of strong rule tempered…
(Encyclopedia) Borgia, LucreziaBorgia, Lucrezial&oomacr;krāˈtsyä [key]Borgia, Lucrezia bōrˈjä [key], 1480–1519, Italian noblewoman, famous figure of the Italian Renaissance; daughter of Pope…
(Encyclopedia) Warbeck, Perkin, 1474?–1499, pretender to the English throne, b. Tournai. He lived in Flanders and later in Portugal and arrived in Ireland in the employ of a silk merchant in 1491.…
(Encyclopedia) Courland or KurlandCourlandboth: kûrˈlănd, Ger. k&oomacr;rˈlänt [key], Latvian Kurzeme, historic region and former duchy, in Latvia, between the Baltic Sea and the Western Dvina…
(Encyclopedia) Allen, Ira, 1751–1814, political leader in early Vermont, b. Cornwall, Conn. He was the younger brother and the assistant of Ethan Allen. Although he was a member of the Green Mountain…
