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Braganza

(Encyclopedia)Braganza brəgänˈzä [key], royal house that ruled Portugal from 1640 to 1910 and Brazil from 1822 to 1889. It took its name from the castle of Braganza or Bragança. The line was descended from Alf...

WAC

(Encyclopedia)WAC (Women's Army Corps), U.S. army organization created (1942) during World War II to enlist women as auxiliaries for noncombatant duty in the U.S. army. Before 1943 it was known as the Women's Auxil...

Pushkin

(Encyclopedia)Pushkin po͝oshˈkĭn, Rus. po͞oshˈkĭn [key], city (1989 pop. 95,000), NW European Russia, a residential and resort suburb of St. Petersburg. It produces road-building equipment and has an importan...

York, Edmund of Langley, duke of

(Encyclopedia)York, Edmund of Langley, duke of, 1341–1402, fifth son of Edward III of England. He was made (1362) earl of Cambridge, served on expeditions to Spain and France, and married (1372) Isabel, daughter ...

Siepi, Cesare

(Encyclopedia)Siepi, Cesare chāˈzärā sēĕpˈē [key], 1923–2010, Italian opera singer, b. Milan. A classic basso cantante [singing bass], his warm, resonant voice was suited to for Mozart's operas, and the t...

Stepinac, Aloysius Victor

(Encyclopedia)Stepinac, Aloysius Victor, Croatian, Alojzije Viktor Stepinac stĕpˈĭnäts [key], 1898–1960, Yugoslav prelate, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, b. Croatia-Salvonia, Austria-Hungary. In 1937 ...

Lawndale

(Encyclopedia)Lawndale, city (1990 pop. 27,331), Los Angeles co., S Calif., in the Centinela valley; inc. 1959. The population of Lawndale grew with the regional development of electronic and aerospace industries f...

George of Podebrad

(Encyclopedia)George of Podebrad pôdˈyĕbrät [key], 1420–71, king of Bohemia (1458–71). A Bohemian nobleman, he became leader of the Utraquists, or the moderate Hussites, in the wars between Hussites and Cat...

abdication

(Encyclopedia)abdication, in a political sense, renunciation of high public office, usually by a monarch. Some abdications have been purely voluntary and resulted in no loss of prestige. For instance, Holy Roman Em...

Guy of Lusignan

(Encyclopedia)Guy of Lusignan lüsēnyäNˈ [key], d. 1194, Latin king of Jerusalem (1186–92) and Cyprus (1192–94), second husband of Sibylla, sister of King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem. In 1183 he was briefly rege...