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Exchequer, Court of

(Encyclopedia)Exchequer, Court of ĕkschĕkˈər, ĕksˈchĕkˌər [key], in English history, governmental agency. It originated after the Norman Conquest as a financial committee of the Curia Regis. By the reign o...

Feast of Fools

(Encyclopedia)Feast of Fools: see Fools, Feast of. ...

Federation of Malaysia

(Encyclopedia)Federation of Malaysia: see Malaysia. ...

Fehrbellin, battle of

(Encyclopedia)Fehrbellin, battle of fĕˌbĕlēnˈ [key], 1675. Allied with France in the third Dutch War, King Charles XI of Sweden invaded Brandenburg but was defeated near the town of Fehrbellin, 35 mi (56 km) N...

Abgar, Epistles of

(Encyclopedia)Abgar, Epistles of: see Pseudepigrapha. ...

Amboise, conspiracy of

(Encyclopedia)Amboise, conspiracy of, 1560, plot of the Huguenots (French Protestants) and the house of Bourbon to usurp the power of the Guise family, which virtually ruled France during the reign of the young Fra...

Festival of Lights

(Encyclopedia)Festival of Lights: see Hanukkah. ...

Elizabeth of Valois

(Encyclopedia)Elizabeth of Valois vălˈwä, Fr. välwäˈ [key], 1545–68, queen of Spain, daughter of Henry II of France. Originally intended to wed Don Carlos, son of Philip II of Spain, she was married (1559) ...

Ely, Isle of

(Encyclopedia)Ely, Isle of, region, Cambridgeshire, E central England. Ely is the chief town. The region has extensive fens, drained and devoted to the cultivation of sugar beets and vegetables. Pigs and poultry ar...

Emancipation, Edict of

(Encyclopedia)Emancipation, Edict of, 1861, the mechanism by which Czar Alexander II freed all Russian serfs (one third of the total population). All personal serfdom was abolished, and the peasants were to receive...