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Spontini, Gaspare

(Encyclopedia)Spontini, Gaspare gäsˈpärā spōntēˈnē [key], 1774–1851, Italian opera composer. Spontini studied music in Naples. He went to Paris in 1803, was soon backed by the Empress Josephine, won a pri...

Leopold I, king of the Belgians

(Encyclopedia)Leopold I, 1790–1865, king of the Belgians (1831–65); youngest son of Francis Frederick, duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. After serving as a page at the court of Napoleon I and as a general of the Ru...

Marburg an der Lahn

(Encyclopedia)Marburg an der Lahn märˈbo͝ork än dĕr län [key] or Marburg, city (1994 pop. 76,582), Hesse, Germany, on the Lahn River. It is chiefly known for its Protestant university, founded in 1527 by Phil...

Menninger, Karl Augustus

(Encyclopedia)Menninger, Karl Augustus mĕnˈĭngər [key], 1893–1990, and William Claire Menninger, 1899–1966, American psychiatrists, brothers, b. Topeka, Kans. The Menninger Clinic, conceived with the idea o...

Holyrood Palace

(Encyclopedia)Holyrood Palace hŏlˈēro͞od [key] [i.e., holy cross], royal residence, Edinburgh, SE Scotland. In 1128, David I founded Holyrood Abbey on this site, where according to legend he was saved from an i...

Catherine of Braganza

(Encyclopedia)Catherine of Braganza brəgănˈzə [key], 1638–1705, queen consort of Charles II of England, daughter of John IV of Portugal. She was married to Charles in 1662. As part of her dowry England secure...

John IV, Byzantine emperor of Nicaea

(Encyclopedia)John IV (John Lascaris) lăsˈkərĭs [key], b. c.1250, d. after 1273, Byzantine emperor of Nicaea (1258–61), son and successor (under a regency) of Theodore II and last of the Lascarids. Michael Pa...

Baldwin IV, Latin king of Jerusalem

(Encyclopedia)Baldwin IV (Baldwin the Leper), c.1161–1185, Latin king of Jerusalem (1174–85), son and successor of Amalric I. Raymond, count of Tripoli, was regent from 1174 to 1176. Baldwin was constantly enga...

Des Barres, Joseph Frederick Wallet

(Encyclopedia)Des Barres or Desbarres, Joseph Frederick Wallet dābärˈ [key], 1721?–1824, British army officer, surveyor, and artist. He was born of French parents (probably in Switzerland), was educated at Bas...

Hall, Sir Peter Reginald Frederick

(Encyclopedia)Hall, Sir Peter Reginald Frederick, 1930–2017, British theatrical director, b. Bury St. Edmonds, grad. Cambridge, 1953. He directed several acclaimed plays at Cambridge, and one production was trans...