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Saxe, Maurice, comte de

(Encyclopedia)Saxe, Maurice, comte de mōrēsˈ kôNt də säks [key], 1696–1750, marshal of France, one of the greatest generals of his age. He was the illegitimate son of Augustus II of Poland and Saxony and Co...

O'Neill, Shane

(Encyclopedia)O'Neill, Shane, 1530?–1567, Irish chieftain. The eldest son of Con O'Neill, 1st earl of Tyrone, he carried on a bitter feud with his father after Con accepted Henry VIII's nomination of Con's illegi...

Clapham Sect

(Encyclopedia)Clapham Sect, group of English social reformers, active c.1790–1830, so named because their activities centered on the home in Clapham, London, of Henry Thornton and William Wilberforce. Most of the...

Obrecht, Jacob

(Encyclopedia)Obrecht, Jacob yäˈkōp ōˈbrĕkht [key], c.1450–1505, Flemish composer. Obrecht was ordained as a priest in 1480. He wrote an early four-part setting of the St. Matthew Passion. His sacred music ...

Worcester, Noah

(Encyclopedia)Worcester, Noah wo͝osˈtər [key], 1758–1837, American Congregational clergyman, b. Hollis, N.H. He was pastor (1787–1810) at Thornton, N.H. From 1813 to 1818 he was the first editor of the Chris...

Alcestis

(Encyclopedia)Alcestis ălsĕsˈtĭs [key], in Greek mythology, daughter of Pelias. She was won in marriage by Admetus, who fulfilled her father's condition that her suitor come for her in a chariot pulled by a wil...

Glover, Jose

(Encyclopedia)Glover, Jose glŭvˈər [key], d. 1638, English nonconformist minister, generally considered the father of printing in the English colonies of North America. He visited New England c.1634 and on his r...

Roger of Wendover

(Encyclopedia)Roger of Wendover, d. c.1236, English chronicler, a monk of St. Albans. As historiographer of St. Albans, he began the Flores historiarum (see Matthew of Westminster), a general chronicle starting wit...

Abel, son of Adam and Eve, in the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Abel, in the Bible, son of Adam and Eve, a shepherd, killed by his older brother, Cain; in the Gospel of St. Matthew, mentioned as the first martyr. ...

Hoban, James

(Encyclopedia)Hoban, James hōˈbən [key], c.1762–1831, American architect, b. Ireland. By 1789, Hoban had immigrated to the United States. He designed the South Carolina statehouse, which was burned in 1865. In...