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Schwarz, Berthold

(Encyclopedia)Schwarz, Berthold bĕrˈtôlt shvärts [key], fl. 14th cent., German Franciscan monk and alchemist. It was formerly widely believed, especially in Germany, that he invented gunpowder and was the first...

Family Compact, in Canadian history

(Encyclopedia)Family Compact, name popularly applied to a small, powerful group of men who dominated the government of Upper Canada (Ontario) from the closing years of the 18th cent. to the beginnings of responsibl...

William of Tyre

(Encyclopedia)William of Tyre tīˈər [key], b. c.1130, d. before 1185, historian and churchman. Born in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem and possibly of French extraction, he received his education at Antioch and i...

Staunton

(Encyclopedia)Staunton stănˈtən [key], city (1990 pop. 24,461), seat of Augusta co., W central Va., in the Shenandoah Valley; settled 1732, inc. as a city 1871. It is a trade and industrial center in a fertile f...

Angevin

(Encyclopedia)Angevin ănˈjəvĭn [key] [Fr.,=of Anjou], name of two medieval dynasties originating in France. The first ruled over parts of France and over Jerusalem and England; the second ruled over parts of Fr...

Diamond, David

(Encyclopedia)Diamond, David, 1915–2005, American composer, b. Rochester, N.Y. Diamond was trained at the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Eastman School; he also studied with Roger Sessions in New York and N...

Mortimer, Roger de, 4th earl of March and 2d earl of Ulster

(Encyclopedia)Mortimer, Roger de, 4th earl of March and 2d earl of Ulster, 1374–98, English nobleman. He succeeded (1381) his father, Edmund de Mortimer, 3d earl of March, and was brought up as a royal ward. In 1...

Quiché

(Encyclopedia)Quiché kēchāˈ [key], indigenous peoples of Mayan linguistic stock, in the western highlands of Guatemala; most important group of the ancient southern Maya. The largest of the contemporary native ...

Manuel I, Byzantine emperor

(Encyclopedia)Manuel I (Manuel Comnenus) kŏmnēˈnəs [key], c.1120–1180, Byzantine emperor (1143–80), son and successor of John II. He began his reign with a war against the Seljuk Turks, the subjugation of R...

Constantinople, Latin Empire of

(Encyclopedia)Constantinople, Latin Empire of, 1204–61, feudal empire established in the S Balkan Peninsula and the Greek archipelago by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade (see Crusades) after they had sacked (120...