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Wakefield, city, England

(Encyclopedia)Wakefield, city and metropolitan borough (1991 pop. 74,764), N central England, on the Calder River. Wakefield has been a center of the cloth industry from the 14th cent. Other manufactures include wo...

Verrocchio, Andrea del

(Encyclopedia)Verrocchio, Andrea del ändrĕˈä dĕl vār-rôkˈkyō [key], 1435–88, Florentine sculptor and painter, whose real name was Andrea di Michele di Francesco di Cioni. He was a leading figure in the e...

Brecon

(Encyclopedia)Brecon brĕkˈnŏk, –nək [key], town (1981 pop. 7,422), Powys, S Wales, at the junction of the Honddu and Usk rivers. It is a market for the surrounding agricultural and cattle-raising area. Brecon...

Priestley, Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Priestley, Joseph, 1733–1804, English theologian and scientist. He prepared for the Presbyterian ministry and served several churches in England as pastor but gradually rejected orthodox Calvinism a...

Paray-le-Monial

(Encyclopedia)Paray-le-Monial pärāˈ-lə-mônyälˈ [key], town (1990 pop. 10,568), Saône-et-Loire dept., E central France. Ceramics and hosiery are produced. In the 17th cent. St. Margaret Mary founded the cult...

Candlemas

(Encyclopedia)Candlemas kănˈdəlməs [key], Feb. 2, Christian festival commemorating the Purification of the Blessed Virgin and the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. The name Candlemas is derived from the proc...

Urban VIII

(Encyclopedia)Urban VIII, 1568–1644, pope (1623–44), a Florentine named Maffeo Barberini; successor of Gregory XV. Throughout his pontificate the Thirty Years War raged in Germany. For various political reasons...

White, Bouck

(Encyclopedia)White, Bouck bouk [key], 1874–1951, American clergyman and author, b. Middleburg, N.Y. He was ordained as a Congregational minister in 1904 but was dismissed from his post at Trinity House, Brooklyn...

Milton, John

(Encyclopedia)Milton, John, 1608–74, English poet, b. London, one of the greatest poets of the English language. Milton's theology, although in the Protestant tradition, is extremely unorthodox and individu...

Skeat, Walter William

(Encyclopedia)Skeat, Walter William, 1835–1912, English scholar and philologist. Skeat took holy orders in 1860, but illness cut short his church career. At Cambridge he served as a lecturer in mathematics (1864...
 

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