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States-General

(Encyclopedia)States-General or Estates-General, diet or national assembly in which the chief estates (see estate) of a nation—usually clergy, nobles, and towns (or commons)—were represented as separate bodies....

Martin v. Hunter's Lessee

(Encyclopedia)Martin v. Hunter's Lessee, case decided in 1816 by the U.S. Supreme Court. From 1779 to 1785, Virginia passed a series of laws by which the state confiscated all lands owned by foreigners. David Hunte...

John II, king of France

(Encyclopedia)John II (John the Good), 1319–64, king of France (1350–64), son and successor of King Philip VI. An inept ruler, he began his reign by executing the constable of France (whose office he gave to hi...

Motion, Sir Andrew Peter

(Encyclopedia)Motion, Sir Andrew Peter, 1952–, English poet and biographer, poet laureate of England (1999–2009), grad. University College, Oxford (B.A., 1974; M.Litt., 1977). He writes poems that are both lyri...

Goldberg, Arthur

(Encyclopedia)Goldberg, Arthur, 1908–90, American labor lawyer and jurist, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1962–65), b. Chicago. He received his law degree from Northwestern Univ. in 1929. A corpor...

Chandler, Raymond Thornton

(Encyclopedia)Chandler, Raymond Thornton, 1888–1959, American author, b. Chicago, educated in England. After World War I, he entered the oil business in California. Bankrupt during the Depression, he published hi...

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 ...

Tibaldi, Pellegrino

(Encyclopedia)Tibaldi, Pellegrino pāl-lāgrēˈnō tēbälˈdē [key], 1527–96, Italian baroque painter and architect, whose real name was Pellegrino di Tibaldo de' Pellegrini. He studied in Bologna, and his ear...

Touraine

(Encyclopedia)Touraine to͞orĕnˈ [key], region and former province (until the French Revolution), W central France, centering around Tours (the historic capital) and drained by the Loire, Cher, and Vienne rivers....

Quevedo y Villegas, Francisco de

(Encyclopedia)Quevedo y Villegas, Francisco de fränthēsˈkō gōˈmāth dā kāvāˈᵺō ē vēlyāˈgäs [key], 1580–1645, Spanish satirist, novelist, and wit, b. Madrid. In 1611 he fled to Italy after a duel...