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Bruce

(Encyclopedia)Bruce, Scottish royal family descended from an 11th-century Norman duke, Robert de Brus. He aided William I in his conquest of England (1066) and was given lands in England. His son was granted fiefs ...

Wallace, Sir William

(Encyclopedia)Wallace, Sir William, 1272?–1305, Scottish soldier and national hero. The first historical record of Wallace's activities concerns the burning of Lanark by Wallace and 30 men in May, 1297, and the s...

Robert II, king of Scotland

(Encyclopedia)Robert II, 1316–90, king of Scotland (1371–90), nephew and successor of David II. He was the first sovereign of the house of Stuart, or Stewart (see Stuart, family), which eventually succeeded to ...

Calais

(Encyclopedia)Calais kälāˈ [key], city, Pas-de-Calais dept., N France, in Picardy, on the Straits of Dov...

Seymour, Jane

(Encyclopedia)Seymour, Jane, 1509?–1537, third queen consort of Henry VIII of England. She served as a lady in waiting to both of Henry's first two queens, Katharine of Aragón and Anne Boleyn. Henry became inter...

Montfort, Simon de, earl of Leicester

(Encyclopedia)Montfort, Simon de, earl of Leicester, 1208?–1265, leader of the baronial revolt against Henry III of England. By 1258 Simon was an active member of the baronial opposition that forced the king to...

Philip IV, king of France

(Encyclopedia)Philip IV (Philip the Fair), 1268–1314, king of France (1285–1314), son and successor of Philip III. The policies of his reign greatly strengthened the French monarchy and increased the royal reve...

Tudor

(Encyclopedia)Tudor, royal family that ruled England from 1485 to 1603. Its founder was Owen Tudor, of a Welsh family of great antiquity, who was a squire at the court of Henry V and who married that king's widow, ...

Chaucer, Geoffrey

(Encyclopedia)Chaucer, Geoffrey jĕfˈrē chôˈsər [key], c.1340–1400, English poet, one of the most important figures in English literature. To Chaucer's final period, in which he achieved his fullest artist...

Boys Town

(Encyclopedia)Boys Town, village, Douglas co., E Nebr.; inc. 1936. The noted community was founded in 1917 by Father Edward J. Flanagan (1886–1948) for homeless or abandoned boys. The village is governed by the b...