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Offa

(Encyclopedia)Offa ŏfˈə [key], d. 796, king of Mercia (757–96). He succeeded Æthelbald to the throne, but it was some years before he attained the power of his predecessor. Gradually he asserted his overlords...

catechism

(Encyclopedia)catechism kătˈəkĭzəm [key] [Gr.,=oral instruction], originally oral instruction in religion, later written instruction. Catechisms are usually written in the form of questions and answers. Almost...

Presbyterianism

(Encyclopedia)Presbyterianism, form of Christian church organization based on administration by a hierarchy of courts composed of clerical and lay presbyters. Holding a position between episcopacy (government by bi...

Cheshire, former county, England

(Encyclopedia)Cheshire chĕshˈər [key], county, W central England, on the N border with Wales. The county seat was Chester. Other principal population centers included Northwich, Crewe, and Macclesfield. Cheshire...

Chester, city, England

(Encyclopedia)Chester, city, Cheshire West and Chester, W central England, on a sandstone height above the Dee River. It is a railroad junction. Manufactures include ...

Tlingit

(Encyclopedia)Tlingit tlĭngˈgĭt [key], group of related Native North American tribes, speaking a language that forms a branch of the Nadene linguistic stock (see Native American languages). The 14 divisions of t...

Henry V, king of England

(Encyclopedia)Henry V, 1387–1422, king of England (1413–22), son and successor of Henry IV. Henry abandoned his early recklessness (celebrated and probably exaggerated by Shakespeare) and ruled with justice...

Stonehenge

(Encyclopedia)Stonehenge stōnˈhĕnjˌ [key], group of standing stones on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, S England. Preeminent among megalithic monuments in the British Isles, it is similar to an older and larger mon...

koala

(Encyclopedia)koala kōäˈlə [key], arboreal marsupial, or pouched mammal, Phascolarctos cinereus, native to Australia. Although it is sometimes called koala bear, or Australian bear, and is somewhat bearlike in ...

Rogers, Richard George, Baron Rogers of Riverside

(Encyclopedia)Rogers, Richard George, Baron Rogers of Riverside, 1933–2021, British architect, b. Florence, Italy, Architectural Association, London (A.A. Dipl....