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Brooke, Fulke Greville, 1st Baron

(Encyclopedia)Brooke, Fulke Greville, 1st Baron fo͝olk grĕvˈĭl [key], 1554–1628, English author and statesman. A favorite of Queen Elizabeth I, he held many official positions during his lifetime. His Life of...

phalanx

(Encyclopedia)phalanx, ancient Greek formation of infantry. The soldiers were arrayed in rows (8 or 16), with arms at the ready, making a solid block that could sweep bristling through the more dispersed ranks of t...

Roosebeke, battle of

(Encyclopedia)Roosebeke, battle of rōˈzəbāˌkə [key], 1382, in the modern-day village of Westrozebeke, Staden commune, West Flanders prov., W Belgium. The French under Olivier de Clisson defeated Flemish weave...

Salome

(Encyclopedia)Salome səlōˈmē [key], in the New Testament. 1 Daughter of Herod Philip and Herodias. She is generally supposed to be the daughter who danced to obtain the head of John the Baptist. See Herod 2 One...

Castello, Giovanni Battista

(Encyclopedia)Castello, Giovanni Battista kästĕlˈlō [key], c.1509–c.1569, Italian painter and architect; called Il Bergamasco to distinguish him from Bernardo Castello, who also worked in Genoa. Giovanni was...

Alphonse

(Encyclopedia)Alphonse älfôNsˈ [key], 1220–71, count of Poitiers and of Toulouse, brother of King Louis IX of France. By his marriage to the daughter of Raymond VII, count of Toulouse, he inherited Raymond's l...

David II, king of Scotland

(Encyclopedia)David II (David Bruce), 1324–71, king of Scotland (1329–71), son and successor of Robert I. David's guardians were not strong enough to prevent the invasion (1332) of Scotland by Edward de Baliol,...

Chinon

(Encyclopedia)Chinon shēnôNˈ [key], town (1993 est. pop. 8,961), Indre-et-Loire dept., W central France, in Touraine, on the Vienne River. Chinon was an important medieval town and many buildings (notably three ...

Clement VIII, pope

(Encyclopedia)Clement VIII, 1536–1605, pope (1592–1605), a Florentine named Ippolito Aldobrandini; successor of Innocent IX. He reversed the policy of his predecessors by allying the Holy See with France rather...

Farinelli, Carlo Broschi

(Encyclopedia)Farinelli, Carlo Broschi kärˈlō brôˈskē färēnĕlˈlē [key], 1705–82, Italian male soprano, greatest of the castrati (see castrato), pupil of Niccolò Porpora, in whose operas he sang (1734�...