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Concini, Concino

(Encyclopedia)Concini, Concino kōnchēˈnō kōnchēˈnē [key], d. 1617, Florentine adventurer, favorite of Marie de' Medici, queen of France, who exerted great influence after the assassination of Marie's husban...

Abd ar-Rahman I, emir of Córdoba

(Encyclopedia)Abd ar-Rahman I, d. 788, first Umayyad emir of Córdoba (756–88). The only survivor of the Abbasid massacre (750) of his family in Damascus, he fled from Syria and eventually went to Spain. There he...

Mayerling

(Encyclopedia)Mayerling mīˈərlĭng [key], village, Lower Austria prov., E Austria, on the Schwechat River, in the Wienerwald (Vienna Woods). It is the site of the hunting lodge (now a convent) where Crown Prince...

Yusuf ibn Tashfin

(Encyclopedia)Yusuf ibn Tashfin yo͞oso͝ofˈ ĭˈbən täshfēnˈ [key], d. 1106, ruler in the dynasty of the Almoravids (c.1059–1106). A Muslim, he led the Berbers in N Africa, continued the conquest of Morocco...

Struensee, Johann Friedrich

(Encyclopedia)Struensee, Johann Friedrich yōˈhän frēˈdrĭkh shtro͞oˈənzā, stro͞oˈ– [key], 1737–72, Danish politician, b. Germany. As physician to Christian VII he gained complete mastery over the ins...

West Florida Controversy

(Encyclopedia)West Florida Controversy, conflict between Spain and the United States concerning possession of Florida. By the Treaty of Paris of 1763, Britain received Florida from Spain, and from France that porti...

Bidasoa

(Encyclopedia)Bidasoa bēˈdäsōä, Span. bēᵺäsōˈä [key] or Bidassoa, river, 35 mi (56 km) long, Basque Country, N Spain, and Pyrénées Atlantiques dept., SW France. The river rises in Spain on the souther...

John, Augustus Edwin

(Encyclopedia)John, Augustus Edwin, 1879–1961, British painter and etcher, b. Wales. John studied at the Slade School, London. A leading portrait painter, he had many important sitters, among them Queen Elizabeth...

Gálvez, José de

(Encyclopedia)Gálvez, José de gälˈvāth [key], 1720–87, Spanish colonial administrator. Appointed as a governor in the Philippines in 1750, he later became visitor general to New Spain (1765–72), holding m...

Burghley, William Cecil, 1st Baron

(Encyclopedia)Burghley or Burleigh, William Cecil, 1st Baron both: bûrˈlē [key], 1520–98, English statesman. He first rose to prominence during the protectorate of Edward Seymour, duke of Somerset, and he serv...