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Marche
Autonomous region (pop., 1996 est.: 1,443,000), central Italy. Situated between the Adriatic Sea and the region of Umbria, it is crossed by the Apennines; its only level land is along its river valleys and on the Adriatic shore near Ancona, its capital. Originally inhabited by Gauls and Picenes, it came under Roman rule by AD 292. During the early Middle Ages the S part was ruled by the Lombards and the N part by the Byzantines. Conflicts arose in 12th-13th cent. with powerful feudal families and the attempt of the popes to reestablish their temporal authority; this culminated in 1631, when the duchy of Urbino was incorporated into the Papal States. Marche joined the kingdom of Italy in 1860. An agricultural area, it has some industrial development.

Historical region, central France. Once part of Limousin, it was made a separate frontier countship (march) in the 10th cent. During 12th-13th cent. it was divided into W and E halves. It was held by the Bourbons 1342-1435 and by the Armagnacs 1435-77. Confiscated by Francis I in 1527, it was granted to the widows of French kings 1574-1643. It was a province of France until the French Revolution.


matchlock
Device for igniting gunpowder, invented in the 15th cent. The first mechanical ignition system, it represented a major advance in small-arms manufacture. It consisted of an S-shaped arm, called a serpentine, that held a match, and a trigger device that lowered the serpentine so the lighted match would fire the priming powder in the pan at the side of the barrel. The flash in the pan penetrated a small port in the breech and lit the main charge. Though slow and somewhat clumsy, the matchlock was useful because it protected all the working elements inside the lock and freed the user's hand. Early matchlock guns included the musket.


Mather
Amer. Puritan leader. The son of I. Mather, he earned a master's degree from Harvard College and was ordained a Congregational minister in 1685, after which he assisted his father at Boston's North Church (1685-1723). He helped work for the ouster of the unpopular British governor of Massachusetts, E. Andros (1689). Though his writings on witchcraft fed the hysteria that resulted in the Salem witch trials, he disapproved of the trials and argued against the use of "spectral evidence." His best-known writings include Magnalia Christi Americana (1702), a church history of New England, and his Diary (1711-12). His Curiosa Americana (1712-24) won him membership in the Royal Society of London. He was an early supporter of smallpox inoculation. See also Congregationalism, Puritanism.


ratchet
Mechanical device that transmits intermittent motion or permits a shaft to rotate in one direction but not in the opposite one. Reversible ratchets are used on socket wrench handles and are convenient for tightening or loosening bolts in positions where a complete revolution of a wrench handle is ...

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