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Livonian Brothers of the Sword

(Encyclopedia)Livonian Brothers of the Sword or Livonian Knights lĭvōˈnēən [key], German military and religious order, founded in 1202 by Bishop Albert of Livonia for the purpose of conquest and Christianizati...

Arpad, chief of the Magyars

(Encyclopedia)Arpad ŏrˈpäd [key], c.840–907?, chief of the Magyars. He led his people into Hungary c.895. The leaders of the Magyars and the first dynasty of Hungarian kings (St. Stephen I to Andrew III) were ...

Mary, the mother of Jesus

(Encyclopedia)Mary, in the Bible, mother of Jesus. Christian tradition reckons her the principal saint, naming her variously the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady, and Mother of God (Gr., theotokos). Her name is the He...

Joel, book of the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Joel, prophetic book of the Bible. It is a collection of the oracles of an otherwise unknown prophet, dated variously from the 9th to the 3d cent. b.c., though a date in c.400 b.c. is likely. A locust...

John of the Cross, Saint

(Encyclopedia)John of the Cross, Saint, Span. Juan de la Cruz, 1542–91, Spanish mystic and poet, Doctor of the Church. His name was originally Juan de Yepes. He was a founder of the Discalced Carmelites and a clo...

Kings, books of the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Kings, books of the Bible, originally a single work in the Hebrew canon. They are called First and Second Kings in modern Bibles, and Third and Fourth Kingdoms in the Greek versions, where the books o...

Knights of the Golden Circle

(Encyclopedia)Knights of the Golden Circle, secret order of Southern sympathizers in the North during the Civil War. Its members were known as Copperheads. Dr. George W. L. Bickley, a Virginian who had moved to Ohi...

Knights of the White Camellia

(Encyclopedia)Knights of the White Camellia: see Ku Klux Klan. ...

Holy Cross, College of the

(Encyclopedia)Holy Cross, College of the, at Worcester, Mass.; Jesuit; founded and opened 1843, chartered 1865 as a school for men, coeducational since 1972. Noteworthy among its facilities are the O'Callahan Scien...

Grand Alliance, War of the

(Encyclopedia)Grand Alliance, War of the, 1688–97, war between France and a coalition of European powers, known as the League of Augsburg (and, after 1689, as the Grand Alliance). Louis XIV of France took advanta...