(Encyclopedia) Joan of Arc, Fr. Jeanne D'Arc (zhän därk), 1412?–31, French saint and national heroine, called the Maid of Orléans; daughter of a farmer of Domrémy on the border of Champagne and…
(Encyclopedia) Huntingdon, Henry Hastings, 3d earl of, 1535–95, English nobleman. Through his mother, Catherine Pole, a great-granddaughter of the duke of Clarence (brother of Edward IV and Richard…
(Encyclopedia) Amboise, conspiracy of, 1560, plot of the Huguenots (French Protestants) and the house of Bourbon to usurp the power of the Guise family, which virtually ruled France during the reign…
(Encyclopedia) Elizabeth, 1596–1662, queen of Bohemia, daughter of James I of England. Her beauty attracted most of the royal suitors of Europe (she was nicknamed the “Queen of Hearts”), but she was…
(Encyclopedia) Francis II, 1544–60, king of France (1559–60), son of King Henry II and Catherine de' Medici. He married (1558) Mary Queen of Scots (Mary Stuart), and during his brief reign the…
(Encyclopedia) Saint Bartholomew's Day, massacre of, murder of French Protestants, or Huguenots, that began in Paris on Aug. 24, 1572. It was preceded, on Aug. 22, by an attempt, ordered by Catherine…
(Encyclopedia) Margaret of Austria, 1480–1530, Hapsburg princess, regent of the Netherlands; daughter of Emperor Maximilian I. She was betrothed (1483) to the dauphin of France, later King Charles…
(Encyclopedia) Settlement, Act of, 1701, passed by the English Parliament, to provide that if William III and Princess Anne (later Queen Anne) should die without heirs, the succession to the throne…
(Encyclopedia) Michael, 1921–2017, king of Romania (1927–30, 1940–47). His father, Prince Carol (later Carol II), renounced his right of succession in 1925, and young Michael ascended the throne…
(Encyclopedia) George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George), 1895–1952, king of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1936–52), second son of George V; successor of his elder brother, Edward VIII. He…
