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Bjørnøya

(Encyclopedia)Bjørnøya byörnˈöyä [key], island, 69 sq mi (179 sq km), in the Barents Sea, c.275 mi (440 km) N of Norway; southernmost island of Svalbard. It rises to 1,759 ft (536 m). There are polar fox and ...

Jagiello

(Encyclopedia)Jagiello yägĕˈlō [key], dynasty that ruled Poland and Lithuania from 1386 to 1572, Hungary from 1440 to 1444 and again from 1490 to 1526, and Bohemia from 1471 to 1526. It took its name from Ladis...

Eric XIV

(Encyclopedia)Eric XIV, 1533–77, king of Sweden (1560–68), son and successor of Gustavus I. To strengthen the power of the crown, he limited (1561) the privileges of the royal dukes. He forbade the marriage of ...

Vane, Sir Henry, 1589–1655, English courtier

(Encyclopedia)Vane, Sir Henry, 1589–1655, English courtier; father of the Puritan leader Sir Henry Vane, the younger. He gained the favor of James I, was knighted in 1611, and acquired wealth by the purchase of p...

Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar

(Encyclopedia)Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar săksˈ–wīˈmär, zäksˈə-vīˈmär [key], 1604–39, Protestant general in the Thirty Years War, duke of Weimar. Under Ernst von Mansfeld and the margrave of Baden, Bernh...

Hughes, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Hughes, Richard, 1900–1976, English novelist. After graduating from Oxford in 1922, he helped found the Portmadoc Players and was for a time vice president of the Welsh National Theatre. In addition...

Oshkosh

(Encyclopedia)Oshkosh ŏshˈkŏshˌ [key], city (1990 pop. 55,006), seat of Winnebago co., E Wis., on Lake Winnebago where the Upper Fox River enters; inc. 1846. Its manufactures include automobile parts, wood prod...

Cassini, Oleg

(Encyclopedia)Cassini, Oleg, 1913–2006, American fashion designer, b. Paris as Oleg Cassini Loiewski. Raised in Italy, he came to the United States in 1936, and in the 1940s designed costumes for Twentieth-Centur...

Welsh terrier

(Encyclopedia)Welsh terrier, breed of medium-sized terrier developed in Wales more than a century ago. It stands about 15 in. (38 cm) high at the shoulder and weighs about 20 lb (9 kg). Its close-lying, harsh, wiry...

X

(Encyclopedia)X, 24th letter of the alphabet. In English it has no peculiar sound, but stands for the combination ks as in fox, or gz as in exempt, or, initially, for the sound of z as in xenia. In words from Greek...