(Encyclopedia) Exchequer, Court ofExchequer, Court ofĕkschĕkˈər, ĕksˈchĕkˌər [key], in English history, governmental agency. It originated after the Norman Conquest as a financial committee of the…
(Encyclopedia) Fehrbellin, battle ofFehrbellin, battle offĕˌbĕlēnˈ [key], 1675. Allied with France in the third Dutch War, King Charles XI of Sweden invaded Brandenburg but was defeated near the town…
(Encyclopedia) Amboise, conspiracy of, 1560, plot of the Huguenots (French Protestants) and the house of Bourbon to usurp the power of the Guise family, which virtually ruled France during the reign…
(Encyclopedia) Elizabeth of ValoisElizabeth of Valoisvălˈwä, Fr. välwäˈ [key], 1545–68, queen of Spain, daughter of Henry II of France. Originally intended to wed Don Carlos, son of Philip II of…
(Encyclopedia) Ely, Isle of, region, Cambridgeshire, E central England. Ely is the chief town. The region has extensive fens, drained and devoted to the cultivation of sugar beets and vegetables.…
(Encyclopedia) Emancipation, Edict of, 1861, the mechanism by which Czar Alexander II freed all Russian serfs (one third of the total population). All personal serfdom was abolished, and the peasants…