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Nicholas, Russian grand duke

(Encyclopedia)Nicholas (Nikolai Nikolayevich) nyĭkəlīˈ nyĭkəlīˈəvĭch [key], 1856–1929, Russian grand duke and army officer; first cousin of Czar Alexander III and grandson of Czar Nicholas I. He served ...

Medici, Lorenzo de', 1492–1519, duke of Urbino

(Encyclopedia)Medici, Lorenzo de', 1492–1519, duke of Urbino (1516–19); son of Piero de' Medici. His uncle, Pope Leo X, made the youthful Lorenzo duke of Urbino. After his early death, however, Urbino reverted ...

Francis, French prince, duke of Alençon and Anjou

(Encyclopedia)Francis, 1554–84, French prince, duke of Alençon and Anjou; youngest son of King Henry II of France and Catherine de' Medici. Although ill-shapen, pockmarked, and endowed with a curiously formed no...

Devonshire, Spencer Compton Cavendish, 8th duke of

(Encyclopedia)Devonshire, Spencer Compton Cavendish, 8th duke of kăvˈəndĭsh, dĕvˈənshĭr [key], 1833–1908, British statesman. He became marquess of Hartington in 1858. He frequently held office in Liberal ...

Portland, William Henry Cavendish Bentinck, 3d duke of

(Encyclopedia)Portland, William Henry Cavendish Bentinck, 3d duke of, 1738–1809, British statesman; great-grandson of the 1st earl of Portland. He was lord lieutenant of Ireland (1782) and nominal head of the coa...

Richmond and Lennox, Charles Lennox, 3d duke of

(Encyclopedia)Richmond and Lennox, Charles Lennox, 3d duke of, 1735–1806, British statesman. He was secretary of state for the south of Europe (1766) and became a staunch defender of the cause of the American col...

West, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)West, Benjamin, 1738–1820, American historical painter who worked in England. He was born in Springfield, Pa., in a house that is now a memorial museum at Swarthmore College. After some instruction ...

Ruthven

(Encyclopedia)Ruthven rĭvˈən, ro͞othˈvən [key], Scottish noble family, believed to trace its ancestry to Thor, a Saxon or Dane, who settled in Scotland in the reign of David I. The name is derived from lands ...

Blenheim

(Encyclopedia)Blenheim blĕnˈəm [key], Ger. Blindheim, village, Bavaria, S Germany, on the Danube River. Between Blenheim and nearby Höchstädt, John Churchill, 1st duke of Marlborough, and Prince Eugene of Savo...

Eric XIV

(Encyclopedia)Eric XIV, 1533–77, king of Sweden (1560–68), son and successor of Gustavus I. To strengthen the power of the crown, he limited (1561) the privileges of the royal dukes. He forbade the marriage of ...