lover of the English king Edward II's queen, Isabella of France, with whom he contrived Edward's deposition and murder (1327). For three years thereafter he was virtual king of England ...
Canadian politician, president of the Confederation of National Trade Unions (1961-65), and one of the "three wise men" of Quebec, together with Pierre Elliott Trudeau and Gerard Pelletier.
genus of liverworts (creeping ribbonlike plants) in the order Marchantiales, commonly found on moist clay or silty soils, especially on recently burned land throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Marchantia polymorpha, a ...
region in central Italy fronting on the Adriatic Sea and comprising the provinces of Ancona, Ascoli Piceno, Macerata, and Pesaro e Urbino; it has a total area of 3,742 square ...
French province before the Revolution of 1789 corresponding roughly to the modern departement of Creuse, with a small fragment of Indre and much of northern Haute-Vienne.
folktale characterized by elements of magic or the supernatural, such as the endowment of a mortal character with magical powers or special knowledge; variations expose the hero to supernatural beings ...
one of the smaller (area 45 sq mi [117 sq km]) of the Galapagos Islands, in the eastern Pacific Ocean, 600 mi (965 km) west of Ecuador. Called Bindloe in ...
Eastern Roman emperor from 450 to 457, the last ruler of the dynasty begun by the emperor Theodosius I (died 395). His relatively peaceful reign, which was later viewed as ...
world heavyweight boxing champion from Sept. 23, 1952, when he knocked out champion Jersey Joe Walcott in 13 rounds in Philadelphia, to April 27, 1956, when he retired from the ...
any member of a Gnostic sect that flourished in the 2nd century AD. The name derives from Marcion of Asia Minor who, sometime after his arrival in Rome, fell under ...
(July 7, 1937), conflict between Chinese and Japanese troops near the Marco Polo Bridge outside of Pei-p'ing (now Beijing), which developed into the warfare between the two countries that was ...
; they were members of the Suebi group (see Suebi). To escape Roman aggression in 9 BC they migrated east to Bohemia, where under their king Maroboduus they built a ...
Italian physicist and inventor of a successful wireless telegraph (1896). In 1909 he received the Nobel Prize for Physics, which he shared with German physicist Ferdinand Braun. He later worked ...
Philippine lawyer and politician who, as head of state from 1966 to 1986, established an authoritarian regime in the Philippines that came under criticism for corruption and for its suppression ...
Roman emperor (AD 161-180), best known for his Meditations on Stoic philosophy. Marcus Aurelius has symbolized for many generations in the West the Golden Age of the Roman Empire.
Canadian-born American chemist, winner of the 1992 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his work on the theory of electron-transfer reactions in chemical systems. The Marcus theory shed light on diverse ...
German-born American political philosopher and prominent member of the Frankfurt School of critical social analysis, whose Marxist and Freudian theories of 20th-century Western society were influential in the leftist student ...
peak in the Adirondack Mountains and the highest point in New York, U.S., reaching an elevation of 5,344 feet (1,629 metres) above sea level. It lies in west-central Essex county ...
member of a Christian people of northern Syria, employed as soldiers by Byzantine emperors. The Mardaites inhabited the Amanus (Gavur) Mountains, in the modern Turkish province of Hatay, the 7th-century ...
waterfall at the head of Eikesdalsvatnet (lake), east-southeast of Andalsnes, Nor. It consists of two cataracts in Mardola district of More og Romsdal fylke (county), western Norway. The falls rank ...
(French: Fat Tuesday), festive day celebrated in France on the Tuesday (Shrove Tuesday; q.v.) before Ash Wednesday, which marks the close of the pre-Lenten season. In the United States the ...
city, capital of Mardin il (province), southeastern Turkey. It lies on the southern slopes of a broad highland that rises to an elevation of 3,450 feet (1,052 ...
town and district in Peshawar division, North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan. The town, the district headquarters, lies just north of the Kalpani River; it is connected by road and rail with ...
Achaemenid general, a nephew of King Darius I and married to Darius' daughter Artazostra. In 492 BC he was sent to succeed the satrap (governor) Artaphernes in Ionia, with a ...
in Mesopotamian religion, the chief god of the city of Babylon and the national god of Babylonia; as such he was eventually called simply Bel, or Lord. Originally he seems ...
any flat, dark plain of lower elevation on the Moon. The term, which in Latin means "sea," was erroneously applied to such features by telescopic observers of the 17th century. ...
the aquatic plant Hippuris vulgaris or either of two other species of its genus, which constitute the water milfoil family (Hippuridaceae). Mare's-tail grows from submerged, stout rootstocks along the margins ...
southernmost of the Loyalty Islands, a raised coralline limestone and volcanic group in the southwestern Pacific Ocean that is part of the French overseas territory of New Caledonia. Rising to ...
French poet, playwright, and publicist whose plan for a secular calendar, presented in his Almanach des honnetes gens (1788; "Dictionary of Notables"), was subsequently the basis for ...
Zimbabwean novelist who won critical acclaim for his collection of stories entitled The House of Hunger (1978), a powerful account of life in his country under white rule.
town, northeastern Queensland, Australia, on the Barron River, 40 mi (65 km) west of the port of Cairns on the Coral Sea. It was the earliest European settlement on the ...
geographic region, largely within Tuscany (Toscana) regione, central Italy, extending along the Tyrrhenian coast from south of Livorno to Rome and inland to the Apennine foothills.
(June 14, 1800), narrow victory for Napoleon Bonaparte in the War of the Second Coalition, fought on the Marengo Plain about 3 miles (5 km) southeast of Alessandria, in northern ...
English social anthropologist who, like Sir James George Frazer and Andrew Lang, came to anthropology with a strong background in classical literature and philosophy. Marett is best-known for his studies ...
French physiologist who invented the sphygmograph, an instrument for recording graphically the features of the pulse and variations in blood pressure. His basic instrument, with modifications, is still used today.
rare hereditary disorder of connective-tissue development in humans that affects several body systems, most notably the skeleton, heart, and eye. Affected individuals are tall, their limbs are long and thin, ...
(Sanskrit: "path"), in Hinduism, the path, or way, of reaching salvation. In Hindu tradition three means are enumerated: jnana-marga, the way of knowledge, involving the study of philosophic texts and ...
first prime minister of Sierra Leone, a conservative, pro-British politician who came to power with the backing of a coalition of traditional chiefs and elite modernists from the Protectorate-the part ...
locality, Neath Port Talbot county borough, historic county of Glamorgan (Morgannwg), Wales. Situated inland of the sandy Margam Burrows at the base of the peaks Mynydd Margam and Moel Ton-mawr, ...
regent of Denmark (from 1375), of Norway (from 1380), and of Sweden (from 1389), who, by diplomacy and war, pursued dynastic policies that led to the Kalmar Union (1397), which ...
countess of Tirol, whose efforts to keep Tirol in the possession of her family failed after two unsuccessful marriages, forcing her to cede her lands to the Austrian Habsburgs. (She ...
queen consort of Henry II of Navarre, who, as patron of Humanists and Reformers, and as an author in her own right, was one of the most outstanding figures of ...
queen consort of England's King Henry VI and a leader of the Lancastrians in the Wars of the Roses (1455-85) between the houses of York and Lancaster. Strong-willed and ambitious, ...
virgin martyr and one of the 14 Holy Helpers (a group of saints jointly commemorated on August 8), who was one of the most venerated saints during the Middle Ages. ...
Habsburg ruler who, as regent of the Netherlands (1507-15, 1519-30) for her nephew Charles (later the Holy Roman emperor Charles V), helped consolidate Habs-burg dominion there.
duchess of Parma and Habsburg regent who, as governor-general of the Netherlands (1559-67), attempted to appease the growing discontent with Spanish rule.
eldest daughter of Raymond Berengar IV, count of Provence, whose marriage to King Louis IX of France on May 27, 1234, extended French authority beyond the Rhone.
wife of King James IV of Scotland, mother of James V, and elder daughter of King Henry VII of England. During her son's minority, she played a key role in ...
food product made principally from one or more vegetable or animal fats or oils in which is dispersed an aqueous portion containing milk products, either solid or fluid, salt, and ...
island in the Caribbean Sea, 12 mi (19 km) north of the Peninsula de Araya in northeastern Venezuela. Also known as the Isle of Pearls, Margarita is the largest of ...
town, Thanet district, administrative and historic county of Kent, England. It lies east of the Thames River estuary. A Roman villa existed just outside the town, which has a Norman ...
small cat (family Felidae) that ranges from South through Central America and, rarely, into the extreme southern United States. Little is known about the habits of the margay. It lives ...
highest summit of the Ruwenzori Range in East Africa and the third highest in Africa (after Mounts Kilimanjaro and Kenya). Margherita Peak is the highest peak on Mount Stanley. It ...
city, eastern Uzbekistan. It lies 19 miles (30 km) north of Fergana. Originally known as Margilan, it probably dates to the 2nd-1st century BC, when one branch of the great ...
in finance, the amount by which the value of collateral provided as security for a loan exceeds the amount of the loan. This excess represents the borrower's equity contribution in ...
in economics, expected rates of return on investment as additional units of investment are made under specified conditions and over a stated period of time. A comparison of these rates ...
