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Pembroke, Richard de Clare, 2d earl of

(Encyclopedia)Pembroke, Richard de Clare, 2d earl of, d. 1176, English nobleman, also known as Richard Strongbow. He went as an adventurer (1170) to Ireland at the request of the hard-pressed Dermot McMurrough, kin...

Clarence, George, duke of

(Encyclopedia)Clarence, George, duke of, 1449–78, son of Richard, duke of York, and brother of Edward IV. In defiance of Edward, Clarence married Isabel Neville and joined her father, Richard Neville, earl of War...

Clarence, Lionel, duke of

(Encyclopedia)Clarence, Lionel, duke of, 1338–68, third son of Edward III of England. His marriage (1352) to Elizabeth de Burgh gained him the title and lands of the earl of Ulster. Governor of Ireland from 1361 ...

Eleanor of Aquitaine

(Encyclopedia)Eleanor of Aquitaine ăkwĭtānˈ, ăkˈwĭtān [key], 1122?–1204, queen consort first of Louis VII of France and then of Henry II of England. Daughter and heiress of William X, duke of Aquitaine, s...

Lane, Sir Ralph

(Encyclopedia)Lane, Sir Ralph, c.1530–1603, leader of the first attempted English settlement in America, on Roanoke Island, N.C. Sent by Sir Walter Raleigh, the expedition of over 100 colonists left England in Ap...

New England Confederation

(Encyclopedia)New England Confederation, union for “mutual safety and welfare” formed in 1643 by representatives of the colonies of Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven. They met in Boston an...

Babeuf, François Noël

(Encyclopedia)Babeuf, François Noël fräNswäˈ nôĕlˈ bäböfˈ [key], 1760–97, French revolutionary, organizer of a communist uprising against the Directory. Of petty bourgeois origin, he was an enthusiasti...

Brown, James

(Encyclopedia)Brown, James, 1933–2006, African-American rhythm-and-blues singer known as the “godfather of soul,” b. Barnwell, S.C., as James Joe Brown, Jr. Abandoned by his parents, he left school in the sev...