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León, region and former kingdom, Spain

(Encyclopedia)León lā-ōnˈ [key], historic region and former kingdom, NW Spain, E of Portugal and Galicia, now part of Castile–León. It includes the provinces of León, Salamanca, and Zamora, named after thei...

Peter the Cruel

(Encyclopedia)Peter the Cruel, 1334–69, Spanish king of Castile and León (1350–69), son and successor of Alfonso XI. His desertion of his wife, Blanche of Bourbon, for María Padilla and his favors to the Padi...

Salamanca, city, Spain

(Encyclopedia)Salamanca, city (1990 pop. 162,037), capital of Salamanca prov., W central Spain, in Castile and León, on the Tormes River, c.2,600 ft (790 m) above sea level. Food-processing and tourism are its mos...

Portugal

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Portugal pôrˈchəgəl [key], officially Portuguese Republic, republic (2015 est. pop. 10,418,000), 35,553 sq mi (92,082 sq km), SW Europe, on the western side of the Iberian Peninsula and inc...

Ariosto, Ludovico

(Encyclopedia)Ariosto, Ludovico lo͞odōvēˈkō äryôsˈtō [key], 1474–1533, Italian epic and lyric poet. As a youth he was a favorite at the court of Ferrara; later he was in the service of Ippolito I, Cardin...

Santiago de Compostela

(Encyclopedia)Santiago de Compostela säntyäˈgō ᵺā kōmpōstāˈlä [key] or Santiago, city (1990 pop. 91,419), capital of Galicia, in A Coruña prov., NW Spain, on the Sar River. The city is one of the chief...

Juan Carlos I

(Encyclopedia)Juan Carlos I hwän kärˈlōs [key], 1938–, king of Spain (1975–2014), b. Rome. The grandson of Alfonso XIII, he was educated in Switzerland and in Spain. Placed by his father, Don Juan de Borbó...

Almohads

(Encyclopedia)Almohads ălˈməhădz [key], Berber Muslim dynasty that ruled Morocco and Spain in the 12th and 13th cent. It had its origins in the puritanical sect founded by Ibn Tumart, who stirred up (c.1120) th...

Sicilian Vespers

(Encyclopedia)Sicilian Vespers, in Italian history, name given the rebellion staged by the Sicilians against the Angevin French domination of Sicily; the rebellion broke out at Palermo at the start of Vespers on Ea...

Pisanello

(Encyclopedia)Pisanello pēzänĕlˈlō [key], c.1395–1455?, Italian medalist, painter, and draftsman of the early Renaissance. He was also called Vittore Pisano, but his real name was Antonio Pisano. His art sho...