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Popes of the Roman Catholic Church (table)

(Encyclopedia)Popes of the Roman Catholic ChurchIn the following list, the date of election, rather than of consecration, is given. Before St. Victor I (189), dates may err by one year. Antipopes—i.e., those men...

Canadian Alliance

(Encyclopedia)Canadian Alliance, former Canadian political party that had its origins in the Reform party of Canada, which was founded in 1987 in Winnipeg, Man., as a W Canada–based conservative alternative to th...

Wren, Sir Christopher

(Encyclopedia)Wren, Sir Christopher, 1632–1723, English architect. A mathematical prodigy, he studied at Oxford. He was professor of astronomy at Gresham College, London, from 1657 to 1661, when he became Savilia...

Ravenna, city, Italy

(Encyclopedia)Ravenna rävĕnˈnä [key], city (1991 pop. 135,844), capital of Ravenna prov., in Emilia-Romagna, N central Italy, near the Adriatic Sea (with which it is connected by a canal). It is an agricultural...

duel

(Encyclopedia)duel, prearranged armed fight with deadly weapons, usually swords or pistols, between two persons concerned with a point of honor. The duel may have originated in the wager of battle, an early mode of...

Ghiberti, Lorenzo

(Encyclopedia)Ghiberti, Lorenzo lōrĕnˈtsō gēbĕrˈtē [key], c.1378–1455, Florentine sculptor. He received his early training in the workshop of Bartoluccio. In 1401 he entered the competition for a bronze p...

Magyars

(Encyclopedia)Magyars mŏdˈyärz, măgˈyärz [key], the dominant people of Hungary, but also living in Romania, Ukraine, Slovakia, and Serbia. Although in the past it was thought a common origin existed among the...

Vilnius

(Encyclopedia)Vilnius vĭlˈnēo͝os [key], Rus. Vilna, Pol. Wilno, city (1993 pop. 590,100), capital of Lithuania, on the Neris River. It is a rail and highway junction, a commercial and industrial city, and a cen...

Salic law, rule of succession

(Encyclopedia)Salic law sāˈlĭk [key], rule of succession in certain royal and noble families of Europe, forbidding females and those descended in the female line to succeed to the titles or offices in the family...

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