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Rough Riders

(Encyclopedia)Rough Riders, popular name for the 1st Regiment of U.S. Cavalry Volunteers, organized largely by Theodore Roosevelt in the Spanish-American War (1898). Its members were mostly ranchers and cowboys fro...

Desiderius

(Encyclopedia)Desiderius dēsĭdērˈēəs [key], d. after 774, last Lombard king in Italy (756–74). The duke of Tuscany, he was chosen king with the support of the pope and of Pepin the Short, who was king of th...

Guibert of Ravenna

(Encyclopedia)Guibert of Ravenna gwĭbˈərt, gēbĕrˈ [key], d. 1100, Italian churchman, antipope (1080–1100) Clement III, b. Parma. As imperial chancellor of Italy (1057–63), he consistently supported the Ho...

Lombard League

(Encyclopedia)Lombard League, an alliance formed in 1167 among the communes of Lombardy to resist Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I when he attempted to assert his imperial authority in Lombardy. Previously the commun...

limbo

(Encyclopedia)limbo, in Roman Catholic theology, an afterlife realm between heaven and hell where there is no punishment but where souls are denied the presence of God. Never part of Catholic dogma, the concept of ...

Legionaries of Christ

(Encyclopedia)Legionaries of Christ, Roman Catholic order est. 1941 in Mexico by Father Marcial Maciel Degollado. The conservative order, which became wealthy and influential, was noted for successfully recruiting ...

Porter, Fitz-John

(Encyclopedia)Porter, Fitz-John, 1822–1901, Union general in the American Civil War, b. Portsmouth, N.H.; nephew of David Porter. He saw service in the Mexican War and was an instructor at West Point (1849–55)....

Vienne, Council of

(Encyclopedia)Vienne, Council of, 1311–12, 15th ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church, held at Vienne, France. It was convened by Pope Clement V at the behest of Philip IV of France as a further move in...

coronation

(Encyclopedia)coronation, ceremony of crowning and anointing a sovereign on his or her accession to the throne. Although a public ceremony inaugurating a new king or chief had long existed, a new religious service ...

Patrick, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Patrick, Saint, c.385–461, Christian missionary, the Apostle of Ireland, b. Bannavem Taberniae (an unknown place in Britain, possibly near the Severn or in Pembroke). He was one of the most successf...