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Leicester, Robert Dudley, earl of

(Encyclopedia)Leicester, Robert Dudley, earl of lĕsˈtər [key], 1532?–1588, English courtier and favorite of Queen Elizabeth I. A younger son of John Dudley, duke of Northumberland, he was early brought into th...

Russell, Mary Annette (Beauchamp) Russell, Countess

(Encyclopedia)Russell, Mary Annette (Beauchamp) Russell, Countess, pseud. Elizabeth, 1866–1941, English novelist, b. Sydney, Australia; cousin of Katherine Mansfield. In 1890 she married Count Henning von Arnim a...

Sanders, Nicholas

(Encyclopedia)Sanders or Sander, Nicholas, 1530–81, English Roman Catholic churchman. He became prominent at Oxford as an ally of Cardinal Pole and had to flee on the accession of Elizabeth I. He attended the Cou...

Walsingham, Sir Francis

(Encyclopedia)Walsingham, Sir Francis wôlˈsĭng-əm [key], 1532?–1590, English statesman. A zealous Protestant, he went abroad during the reign of Queen Mary I but returned on the accession (1558) of Elizabeth ...

Sheba, region, Arabian Peninsula

(Encyclopedia)Sheba, biblical name of a region, called in Arabic Saba, of S Arabia, including present-day Yemen and the Hadhramaut. Its inhabitants were called Sabaeans or Sabeans. According to some passages in Gen...

Norfolk, Thomas Howard, 4th duke of

(Encyclopedia)Norfolk, Thomas Howard, 4th duke of, 1536–72, English nobleman, son of Henry Howard, earl of Surrey. He succeeded his grandfather, the 3d duke, in 1554. He was favored by Queen Elizabeth I, although...

bluestocking

(Encyclopedia)bluestocking, derisive term originally applied to certain 18th-century women with pronounced literary interests. During the 1750s, Elizabeth Vesey held evening parties, at which the entertainment cons...

Taylor, Elizabeth, English novelist and short-story writer

(Encyclopedia)Taylor, Elizabeth, 1912–1975, English novelist and short-story writer. Born Elizabeth Coles, she married John Taylor in 1936. She wrote a dozen novels and numerous short stories. In language that is...

George VI, king of Great Britain and Ireland

(Encyclopedia)George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George), 1895–1952, king of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1936–52), second son of George V; successor of his elder brother, Edward VIII. He attended the ro...

tundra

(Encyclopedia)tundra tŭnˈdrə [key], treeless plains of N North America and N Eurasia, lying principally along the Arctic Circle, on the coasts and islands of the Arctic Ocean, and to the north of the coniferous ...