Purcell, Henry. 1658-1695. English chorale composer. First English opera. Dido and Aeneas 1689. King Arthur 1691. Fairy Queen 1692.

Pure Land Buddhism. 4C China, Japan. Followers of Buddha saviour Amitabha (Amida, O-mi-t’o). Paradise for invoking his name.

Purge. 1936-8. Stalin’s trials to eliminate political rivals with fabricated charges. 3 million dead. Executions, forced labour, internal exile.

Pushkin, Aleksandr. 1799-1837. Russian Romantic writer. Russia’s “Shakespeare”: Boris Gudonov 1825. Eugene Onegin 1823/4. Exiled 1821~6.

Putnam. American General at Bunker Hill. “Don’t shoot until you see the whites of their eyes.”

Pyramus and Thisbe. Legendary Babylonian lovers of Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

Qu Yuan. c277BC. First great Chinese poet.

Quadi. -173. Nomadic German tribe in Moravia.

Quadrilateral. Austrian fortresses: Legnago, Mantua, Verona, Peschiera.

Quadrille. 18C French dance introduced to England 1818.

Quadrivium. Arithmetic, astronomy, geometry, music. Trivium.

Quadruple Alliance. 1718. Austria, France, Britain, Dutch Republic. Defeated Spain’s attack on Sicily. 1813,15. Austria, Britain, Russia, Prussia. Enforced Treaty of Paris. 1834 France, Britain, Portugal, Spain. Supported Isabella II vs Carlist claims.

Quakers. 1647. Society of Friends. Protestant non-conformist sect, founded by Fox. Silently awaiting “Inward Light”. Penn.

Quant, Mary. 1934-. English fashion designer. Miniskirt.

Quantrill, William. 1837-65. Confederate guerilla leader of 1863 massacre at Lawrence, Kansas.

Quantum Theory. Energy levels are discontinuous. Foundation of modern physics. Planck 1900. Bohr.

Quartering Acts. 1765-70,74. Forced Colonies to pay for British troops stationed there. Intolerable Acts. Stamp Act.

Quasimodo, Salvatore. 1901-68. Italian humanist Hermetic poet: La Vita non e sogno. Oboe Somerso 1932.

Quatre Bars, Battle. 1815. Preliminary to Waterloo. Napoleon defeats Prussians.

Quebec. 1534 Cartier discovers. 1608 French colony. 1763 British. 1867 Founding province of Canada.

Quebec, Battle. 1759. British defeat French in Seven Years War. 1775 Quebec Campaign.

Quebec Act. 1774. Britain creates permanent government for Canada. Tolerance for French Canadians a cause of American Revolution. Intolerable Acts.

Quebec Campaign. 1775-6. American revolutionaries take Montreal. Fail to take Quebec.

Quebec Conference. 1864. Basis of British North America Act. 1943. Allied leaders plan European landings. 1944. Churchill, Roosevelt decide on two war fronts-criticized for allowing Soviets to take Berlin.

Québecois, Parti. Political party dedicated to separating Quebec from Canada. Despite 1976 election majority, 1980 referendum rejected secession.

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