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Boiardo, Matteo Maria

(Encyclopedia)Boiardo or Bojardo, Matteo Maria mät-tĕˈō märēˈä bōyärˈdō [key], 1441?–1494, Italian poet, count of Scandiano. A favorite at the Este court in Ferrara, he served on diplomatic missions a...

bull, papal letter

(Encyclopedia)bull [Lat. bulla=leaden seal], papal letter. As the diplomatic organization of the papal chancery progressed in the Middle Ages, the papal bull came to be more solemn than the papal brief or encyclica...

Hernández Alvarado, Juan Orlando

(Encyclopedia)Hernández Alvarado, Juan Orlando, 1968–, Honduran political leader, president of Honduras (2014–21). A member of the co...

Greek Anthology

(Encyclopedia)Greek Anthology, a collection of short epigrammatic poems representing Greek literature from the 7th cent. b.c. to the 10th cent. a.d. It contains more than 6,000 poems on a variety of subjects by som...

Givenchy, Hubert de

(Encyclopedia)Givenchy, Hubert de (Count Hubert James Marcel Taffin de Givenchy) übĕrˈ də zhēväNshēˈ [key], 1927–2018, French fashion designer. An assistant designer to Schiaparelli, he opened his own hou...

Roger II

(Encyclopedia)Roger II, c.1095–1154, count (1101–30) and first king (1130–54) of Sicily, son and successor of Roger I. He conquered (1127) Apulia and Salerno and sided with the antipope Anacletus II against P...

Baldwin I, Latin king of Jerusalem

(Encyclopedia)Baldwin I (Baldwin of Boulogne), 1058?–1118, Latin king of Jerusalem (1100–1118), brother and successor of Godfrey of Bouillon, whom he accompanied on the First Crusade (see Crusades). Separating ...

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 ...

Blois

(Encyclopedia)Blois blwä [key], town, capital of Loir-et-Cher dept., central France, in Orléanais, on the...

Flanders

(Encyclopedia)Flanders flănˈdərz [key], former county in the Low Countries, extending along the North Sea and W of the Scheldt (Escaut) River. It is divided among East Flanders and West Flanders provs., Belgium;...