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Bresse

(Encyclopedia)Bresse brĕs [key], region, in Burgundy, E France, between the Ain and Saône rivers. Bourg-en-Bresse is the historic capital. A fertile farm area, it is famous for its chickens and wines. To the sout...

patroon

(Encyclopedia)patroon pətro͞onˈ [key] [Du.,=patron or employer], in American history, the name given to a Dutch landowner in New Netherland who exerted manorial rights in colonial times. To encourage emigration ...

reservoir

(Encyclopedia)reservoir rĕzˈəvôr, –vwär [key], storage tank or wholly or partly artificial lake for storing water. Building an embankment or dam to preserve a supply of water for irrigation is an ancient pra...

Balkan Peninsula

(Encyclopedia)Balkan Peninsula, southeasternmost peninsula of Europe, c.200,000 sq mi (518,000 sq km), bounded by the Black Sea, Sea of Marmara, Aegean Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Ionian Sea, and Adriatic Sea. Although...

bichir

(Encyclopedia)bichir bĭchˈər [key], common name for African freshwater fishes as of the family Polypteridae, and particularly for those of the genus Polypterus. Bichirs are among the most primitive of the ray-fi...

Livingston, William

(Encyclopedia)Livingston, William: see under Livingston, family. ...

Langland, William

(Encyclopedia)Langland, William, c.1332–c.1400, putative author of Piers Plowman. He was born probably at Ledbury near the Welsh marshes and may have gone to school at Great Malvern Priory. Although he took minor...

Ladd, William

(Encyclopedia)Ladd, William, 1778–1841, American pacifist, b. Exeter, N.H., grad. Harvard, 1797. He commanded sailing vessels until the outbreak of the War of 1812, when he retired to a farm in Maine. In 1820 he ...

Laud, William

(Encyclopedia)Laud, William, 1573–1645, archbishop of Canterbury (1633–45). He studied at St. John's College, Oxford, and was ordained a priest in 1601. From the beginning Laud showed his hostility to Puritanis...

Law, William

(Encyclopedia)Law, William, 1686–1761, English clergyman, noted for his controversial, devotional, and mystical writings. One of the nonjurors, Law was deprived of his fellowship in Emmanuel College, Cambridge, a...