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Bancroft, Edward

(Encyclopedia)Bancroft, Edward, 1744–1821, spy in the American Revolution, b. Westfield, Mass. He studied medicine and natural history, producing a book (1769) on Guiana's flora and fauna, a defense of the coloni...

Vernon, Edward

(Encyclopedia)Vernon, Edward, 1684–1757, British admiral. He entered the navy in 1700 and rose steadily in rank. A member of Parliament from 1722, he opposed the government of Sir Robert Walpole and urged war wit...

Villella, Edward

(Encyclopedia)Villella, Edward, 1936–, American ballet dancer, b. Long Island, N.Y. Villella studied at George Balanchine's School of American Ballet, joining the New York City Ballet in 1957. He soon became a pr...

Stratford, John de

(Encyclopedia)Stratford, John de, d. 1348, English ecclesiastic, archbishop of Canterbury, 1333–48. A doctor of civil and canon law, he was a legal adviser to the court of Edward II and several times an emissary ...

Perrers, Alice

(Encyclopedia)Perrers, Alice pĕrˈərz [key], d. 1400, mistress of Edward III of England. She entered the service of Edward's queen, Philippa of Hainaut, and married a courtier, Sir William de Windsor. Becoming th...

Stuart, James Francis Edward

(Encyclopedia)Stuart or Stewart, James Francis Edward, 1688–1766, claimant to the British throne, son of James II and Mary of Modena; called the Old Pretender. His birth, falsely rumored by Whigs at the time to b...

Langham, Simon

(Encyclopedia)Langham, Simon lăngˈəm [key], d. 1376, English prelate and statesman, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He ruled the abbey of Westminster with such skill that Edward III appointed (1360) him t...

Alexander III, pope

(Encyclopedia)Alexander III, d. 1181, pope (1159–81), a Sienese named Rolandus [Bandinelli?], successor of Adrian IV. He was a canonist who had studied law under Gratian and had taught at Bologna. He came to Rome...

Frederick William III

(Encyclopedia)Frederick William III, 1770–1840, king of Prussia (1797–1840), son and successor of Frederick William II. Well-intentioned but weak and vacillating, he endeavored to maintain neutrality in the Nap...

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