(Encyclopedia) Benno, Saint, d. 1106, German prelate. He was bishop of Meissen and an ardent supporter of Pope Gregory VII against Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV, and the emperor had him deposed. He was…
(Encyclopedia) Cheng Ho or Zheng HeCheng Hoboth: jŭngˈ h&oobreve;ˈ [key], 1371–c.1433, admiral, diplomat, and explorer during China's Ming dynasty. At 10 he was captured by Chinese troops in…
(Encyclopedia) K'ang Yu-weiK'ang Yu-weikäng y&oomacr;-wā [key], 1858–1927, Chinese philosopher and reform movement leader. He was a leading philosopher of the new text school of Confucianism,…
WHO RULED THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE? CONSTANTINOPLEFIND OUT MOREIn AD 324 the emperor Constantine reunited the Roman Empire. By then Rome was too difficult to defend against barbarian attacks, so he…
(Encyclopedia) Honorius II, d. 1130, pope (1124–30), an Italian named Lamberto, b. Bologna; successor of Calixtus II. Before becoming pope he spent several years in Germany adjusting the quarrel over…
(Encyclopedia) Isaac II (Isaac Angelus)Isaac IIănˈjələs [key], d. 1204, Byzantine emperor (1185–95, 1203–4). The great-grandson of Alexius I, he was proclaimed emperor by the mob that had killed the…
(Encyclopedia) Yang Kuei-feiYang Kuei-feiyäng gwā-fā [key], 719–56, concubine of the T'ang emperor Hsüan-tsung. The most famous beauty in Chinese history, in legend she is said to have captivated the…
(Encyclopedia) Agrippina the Younger, d. a.d. 59, Roman matron; daughter of Germanicus Caesar and Agrippina the Elder. By her first husband, Cneius Domitius Ahenobarbus, she was the mother of Nero.…
(Encyclopedia) Louis the German, c.804–876, king of the East Franks (817–76). When his father, Emperor of the West Louis I, partitioned the empire in 817, Louis received Bavaria and adjacent…
