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Philip II, king of Spain, Naples, and Sicily

(Encyclopedia)Philip II, 1527–98, king of Spain (1556–98), king of Naples and Sicily (1554–98), and, as Philip I, king of Portugal (1580–98). Philip was not the bloodthirsty tyrant portrayed by his enemi...

Vienna, Congress of

(Encyclopedia)Vienna, Congress of, Sept., 1814–June, 1815, one of the most important international conferences in European history, called to remake Europe after the downfall of Napoleon I. Although the territo...

De la Warr, Thomas West, 12th Baron

(Encyclopedia)De la Warr, Thomas West, 12th Baron dĕlˈəwər [key], 1577–1618, English colonial governor of Virginia. He saw fighting in the Netherlands and was knighted when serving in Ireland. He succeeded to...

Governors Island

(Encyclopedia)Governors Island, 173 acres (70 hectares), in Upper New York Bay, S of Manhattan island, SE N.Y. Bought from the Native Americans by the Dutch in 1637, it was the site of an early New Netherlands sett...

Forsythe, William

(Encyclopedia)Forsythe, William fôrsīthˈ [key], 1949–, American dancer and choreographer, b. New York City. He trained with the Joffrey Ballet (1971–73), then joined the Stuttgart Ballet (1973), becoming its...

Cayenne

(Encyclopedia)Cayenne kīĕnˈ, kāĕnˈ [key], city and district (2021 est. pop. 61,550), capital of French Guiana, on Cayenne isl...

Walsingham, Sir Francis

(Encyclopedia)Walsingham, Sir Francis wôlˈsĭng-əm [key], 1532?–1590, English statesman. A zealous Protestant, he went abroad during the reign of Queen Mary I but returned on the accession (1558) of Elizabeth ...

Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar

(Encyclopedia)Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar săksˈ–wīˈmär, zäksˈə-vīˈmär [key], 1604–39, Protestant general in the Thirty Years War, duke of Weimar. Under Ernst von Mansfeld and the margrave of Baden, Bernh...

Raynal, Guillaume Thomas François, Abbé

(Encyclopedia)Raynal, Guillaume Thomas François, Abbé gēyōmˈ tômäˈ fräNswäˈ äbāˈ rānälˈ [key], 1713–96, French historian and philosopher. Raynal was a priest, but he was dismissed from his parish...

Piccolomini, Ottavio

(Encyclopedia)Piccolomini, Ottavio ōt-täˈvyō pēk-kōlôˈmēnē [key], 1599–1656, Italian general in the service of the Holy Roman emperor during the Thirty Years War (1618–48). He came of a distinguished ...