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Peter Chrysologus, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Peter Chrysologus, Saint, c.380–450, bishop of Ravenna, Doctor of the Church. Ordained by Cornelius, bishop of Imola, he lived as a monk for several years before being named bishop by Pope Sixtus II...

Peter Claver, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Peter Claver, Saint klāˈvər [key], 1581–1654, Spanish Jesuit missionary, called the Apostle of the Blacks. He was sent to what is now Colombia in 1610 and began at once his life work of ministeri...

Peter Damian, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Peter Damian, Saint dāˈmēən [key], Ital. Pietro Damiani, 1007?–1072, Italian reformer, Doctor of the Church, b. Ravenna. He became a Camaldolese monk at Fonte-Avellino (near Gubbio) and because ...

Peter Gonzalez, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Peter Gonzalez, Saint gŏnzāˈlĭs [key], 1190–1246, Spanish Dominican priest. He worked first among the Moors, then among the mariners of NW Spain. As a patron of sailors he acquired the name St. ...

Peter the Great

(Encyclopedia)Peter the Great: see Peter I.

Peter the Hermit

(Encyclopedia)Peter the Hermit, c.1050–1115, French religious leader. In 1095 he was a very successful preacher of the First Crusade (see Crusades), and he led one of its bands. In 1096 he reached Constantinople ...

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...

Mary I, 1516–58, queen of England

(Encyclopedia)Mary I (Mary Tudor), 1516–58, queen of England (1553–58), daughter of Henry VIII and Katharine of Aragón. During the spread of Protestantism in the reign of her half-brother, Edward VI, Mary w...

Peninsular War

(Encyclopedia)Peninsular War, 1808–14, fought by France against Great Britain, Portugal, Spanish regulars, and Spanish guerrillas in the Iberian Peninsula. The Peninsular War immeasurably raised Britain's mi...

López de Ayala, Pedro

(Encyclopedia)López de Ayala, Pedro pāˈᵺrō lōˈpāth ᵺā äyäˈlä [key], 1332–1407, Spanish statesman, poet, and chronicler. As a royal official in Castile, he served Peter the Cruel, Henry II, John I,...