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Erfurt

(Encyclopedia)Erfurt ĕrˈfo͝ort [key], city, capital of Thuringia, central Germany, on the Gera River. It...

Reformation

(Encyclopedia)Reformation, religious revolution that took place in Western Europe in the 16th cent. It arose from objections to doctrines and practices in the medieval church (see Roman Catholic Church) and ultimat...

Nicholas III, pope

(Encyclopedia)Nicholas III, d. 1280, pope (1277–80), a Roman named Giovanni Gaetano Orsini; successor of John XXI. As a cardinal he made a great reputation in diplomacy, and he was a close confidant of popes for ...

King, William, Irish clergyman and author

(Encyclopedia)King, William, 1650–1729, Irish clergyman and author. He was made archbishop of Dublin in 1702. An ardent believer in the rights of the Church of Ireland, he published in 1691 his State of the Prote...

Wilson, August

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, August, 1945–2005, American playwright and poet, b. Pittsburgh as Frederick August Kittel, Jr. Largely self-educated, Wilson first attracted wide critical attention with his Broadway debut, ...

Carlstadt

(Encyclopedia)Carlstadt, Karlstadt käˈrôlōshtätˌ [key], c.1480–1541, German Protestant reformer, whose original name was Andreas Rudolph Bodenstein. As early as 1516, Carlstadt presented theses denying fre...

Carle, Eric

(Encyclopedia)Carle, Eric, 1929–2021, American children's book author and illustrator, b. Syracuse, N.Y. Although born in the U.S., Carle was raised in Stuttgart, G...

bull, papal letter

(Encyclopedia)bull [Lat. bulla=leaden seal], papal letter. As the diplomatic organization of the papal chancery progressed in the Middle Ages, the papal bull came to be more solemn than the papal brief or encyclica...

Washington, D.C.

(Encyclopedia)Washington, D.C., capital of the United States, coextensive (since 1878, when Georgetown became a part of Washington) with the District of ...

Mencken, H. L.

(Encyclopedia)Mencken, H. L. (Henry Louis Mencken) mĕngˈkən, mĕnˈ– [key], 1880–1956, American editor, author, and critic, b. Baltimore, studied at the Baltimore Polytechnic. Probably America's most influen...