(Encyclopedia) Italian Wars, 1494–1559, series of regional wars brought on by the efforts of the great European powers to control the small independent states of Italy. Renaissance Italy was split…
(Encyclopedia) Cooke, Terence James, 1921–83, American Roman Catholic clergyman, b. New York City. He was ordained in 1945 after earning a B.A. from St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers, N.Y. In 1957,…
(Encyclopedia) Clare or Clara, Saint, 1193?–1253, Italian nun of Assisi, devoted from her youth to St. Francis, to whom she took a vow of poverty. She led a life of great austerity. She organized her…
The Question:
Who said "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus"?
The Answer:
In 1897, Francis P. Church, an editor at The New York Sun, answered eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon's questions…
actorBorn: April 7, 1934Birthplace: EdinburghDied: Feb. 9, 2007 (London) A versatile actor and a founding member of the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1960,…
(aka Francis Kane, Harold Rubin)novelistBorn: 5/21/1916Birthplace: New York City An orphan who never discovered the identity of his parents, Robbins was a prolific though critically under-…
(Encyclopedia) Lowell, John, 1743–1802, American jurist, b. Newburyport, Mass. He became (1762) a lawyer and later served in the provincial assembly (1776, 1778), in the state constitutional…
(Encyclopedia) Giunta PisanoGiunta Pisanoj&oomacr;nˈtä pēzäˈnō [key], fl. 1236–1255, Italian painter of Pisa. Among his signed works are three very large depictions of the Crucifixion executed…
(Encyclopedia) Colomb or Colombe, MichelColomb or Colombe, Michelboth: mēshĕlˈ kôlôNˈ [key], c.1430–1512, French sculptor, one of the masters of the French Renaissance. Few of his works survive. His…
(Encyclopedia) Pressburg, Treaty of, 1805, peace treaty between Napoleon I of France and Holy Roman Emperor Francis II (also emperor of Austria), signed at Pressburg (now Bratislava, Slovakia).…
