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Ayr, town, Scotland

(Encyclopedia)Ayr âr [key], town, South Ayrshire, SW Scotland, at the mouth of the Ayr River on the Firth of Clyde. Ayr is a sea resort and a port for fishing, the export of iron and a...

Douglas, Archibald, 5th earl of Douglas

(Encyclopedia)Douglas, Archibald, 5th earl of Douglas, 1391?–1439, Scottish nobleman; son of Archibald Douglas, 4th earl of Douglas. He fought in France for the French against the English in 1421 and persuaded hi...

Macbeth

(Encyclopedia)Macbeth măkbĕthˈ [key], d. 1057, king of Scotland (1040–57). He succeeded his father as governor of the province of Moray c.1031 and was a military commander for Duncan I. In 1040 he killed Dunca...

Stair, John Dalrymple, 2d earl of

(Encyclopedia)Stair, John Dalrymple, 2d earl of, 1673–1747, Scottish general and diplomat; son of the 1st earl of Stair. He began a military career in the Netherlands, but on his father's death returned home and ...

Rosamond, mistress of Henry II of England

(Encyclopedia)Rosamond (Rosamond Clifford), d. 1176, mistress of Henry II of England. She was not openly acknowledged by the king until 1174, after he had imprisoned his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine. On Rosamond's de...

Orrery, Roger Boyle, 1st earl of

(Encyclopedia)Orrery, Roger Boyle, 1st earl of, 1621–79, Irish statesman and writer; son of Richard Boyle, 1st earl of Cork. Created (1627) Baron Broghill, he studied at Trinity College, Dublin, traveled abroad, ...

Magnus VI

(Encyclopedia)Magnus VI (Magnus the Law Mender), 1238–80, king of Norway (1263–80), son of Haakon IV. A man of peace, he brought an end to the Scottish war by ceding (1266) the Hebrides and the Isle of Man to A...

Canute

(Encyclopedia)Canute kəno͞otˈ, kənyo͞otˈ [key], 995?–1035, king of England, Norway, and Denmark. The younger son of Sweyn of Denmark, Canute accompanied his father on the expedition of 1013 that invaded Eng...

Hamilton, James, 1st earl of Arran

(Encyclopedia)Hamilton, James, 1st earl of Arran ărˈən [key], 1477?–1529, Scottish nobleman; son of the 1st Baron Hamilton and Mary, daughter of James II of Scotland. He was privy councilor to James IV, by who...

Danilo II

(Encyclopedia)Danilo II (Danilo Petrović-Njegoš), 1826–60, prince of Montenegro (1851–60). He secularized (1852) his principality (chiefly in order to be able to marry) and transferred his ecclesiastic functi...