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Hideyoshi

(Encyclopedia)Hideyoshi (Hideyoshi Toyotomi) hēdāōˈshē [key], 1536–98, Japanese warrior and dictator. He entered the service of Nobunaga as his sandal holder and rose to become his leading general. After Nob...

Fonseka, Sarath

(Encyclopedia)Fonseka, Sarath säˈrät fänsĕkˈä [key], 1950–, Sri Lankan general and politician. He joined the army in 1970 and rose through the officer corps. From the early 1980s he led Sri Lankan troops i...

meditation

(Encyclopedia)meditation, religious discipline in which the mind is focused on a single point of reference. It may be a means of invoking divine grace, as in the contemplation by Christian mystics of a spiritual th...

Masséna, André

(Encyclopedia)Masséna, André äNdrāˈ mäsānäˈ [key], 1758–1817, marshal of France, b. Nice. Of humble origin, he entered (1791) the French army and rose rapidly because of his brilliant tactical abilities....

Leclerc, Charles Victor Emmanuel

(Encyclopedia)Leclerc, Charles Victor Emmanuel shärl vēktôrˈ ĕmänüĕlˈ ləklĕrˈ [key], 1772–1802, French general. He served under Napoleon Bonaparte in the Italian campaign, married (1797) Pauline Bonap...

Khama, Seretse Khama Ian

(Encyclopedia)Khama, Seretse Khama Ian sĕrĕtˈsā käˈmä [key], 1953–, Botswanan political leader and military officer, president of Botswana (2008–18); eldest son of Botswana's first president, Sir Seretse...

Bakocz, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Bakocz or Bakacs, Thomas tŏˈmäsh [key], c.1442–1521, Hungarian politician, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He is often called the Hungarian Wolsey. Of unbounded ambition, he rose from serv...

poor law

(Encyclopedia)poor law, in English history, legislation relating to public assistance for the poor. Early measures to relieve pauperism were usually designed to suppress vagrancy and begging. In 1601, England passe...

Burne-Jones, Sir Edward

(Encyclopedia)Burne-Jones, Sir Edward, 1833–98. English painter and decorator, b. Birmingham. Expected to enter the Church, he went to Exeter College, Oxford, where he met William Morris, who became his lifelong ...

Bothwell, James Hepburn, 4th earl of

(Encyclopedia)Bothwell, James Hepburn, 4th earl of hĕˈbərn, bŏthˈwəl [key], 1536?–1578, Scottish nobleman; third husband of Mary Queen of Scots. Though a Protestant, he was a strong partisan of the Catholic...