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John III, king of Poland

(Encyclopedia)John III (John Sobieski) sôbyĕˈskē [key], 1624–96, king of Poland (1674–96), champion of Christian Europe against the Ottomans. Born to an ancient noble family, he was appointed (1668) command...

De Morgan, William Frend

(Encyclopedia)De Morgan, William Frend, 1839–1917, English artist and novelist; son of Augustus De Morgan. A famous potter, he designed glass and tiles and rediscovered an old process of making colored lusterware...

Miseno, Cape

(Encyclopedia)Miseno, Cape mēzĕˈnō [key], S Italy, at the northwest end of the Bay of Naples. Augustus founded (1st cent. b.c.) a naval station (Misenum) there, which was destroyed by the Arabs (9th cent. a.d.)...

pragmatic sanction

(Encyclopedia)pragmatic sanction, decision of state dealing with a matter of great importance to a community or a whole state and having the force of fundamental law. The term originated in Roman law and was used o...

Epirus

(Encyclopedia)Epirus ĕpīˈrəs [key], ancient country of Greece, on the Ionian Sea and W of Macedon and Thessaly, a region now occupied by NW Greece and S Albania. At the time of Homer, Epirus was known as the ho...

American

(Encyclopedia)American, river, 30 mi (48 km) long, rising in N central Calif. in the Sierra Nevada and flowing SW into the Sacramento River at Sacramento. The discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill (see Sutter, John Au...

Phaedrus

(Encyclopedia)Phaedrus fēˈdrəs [key], fl. 1st cent. a.d., Latin writer, a Thracian slave, possibly a freedman of Augustus. He wrote fables in verse based largely on those of Aesop. The prose collections of fable...

quaestor

(Encyclopedia)quaestor kwĕsˈtôr [key], Roman magistrate, with responsibility for the treasury; in early times a quaestor also had judicial powers. At first there were two quaestors. Sulla named 20, and Caesar se...

Hanover, house of

(Encyclopedia)Hanover, house of, ruling dynasty of Hanover (see Hanover, province), which was descended from the Guelphs and which in 1714 acceded to the British throne in the person of George I. George was the gra...

Gap

(Encyclopedia)Gap gäp [key], city, capital of Hautes-Alpes dept., SE France, on the Luye River at the foot...