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Wittelsbach

(Encyclopedia)Wittelsbach vĭˈtəlsbäkh [key], German dynasty that ruled Bavaria from 1180 until 1918. The family takes its name from the ancestral castle of Wittelsbach in Upper Bavaria. In 1180 Holy Roman Emper...

Alp Arslan

(Encyclopedia)Alp Arslan älp ärslänˈ [key], 1029–72, Seljuk sultan of Persia (1063–72). In 1065 he led the Seljuks in an invasion of Armenia and Georgia and in 1066 attacked the Byzantine Empire. The succes...

Concini, Concino

(Encyclopedia)Concini, Concino kōnchēˈnō kōnchēˈnē [key], d. 1617, Florentine adventurer, favorite of Marie de' Medici, queen of France, who exerted great influence after the assassination of Marie's husban...

Alexius III

(Encyclopedia)Alexius III (Alexius Angelus) ănˈjələs [key], d. after 1210, Byzantine emperor (1195–1203). He acceded to power by deposing and blinding his brother Isaac II. This act served as pretext for the ...

Alexius V

(Encyclopedia)Alexius V (Alexius Ducas Mourtzouphlos) do͞oˈkəsmo͝ortˈso͞oflŏs [key], d. 1204, Byzantine emperor (1204), son-in-law of Alexius III. The head of the Byzantine national party, he overthrew emper...

Christian of Brunswick

(Encyclopedia)Christian of Brunswick or Christian of Halberstadt, 1599–1626, Protestant military leader in the Thirty Years War, titular bishop of Halberstadt (1616–23). One of the first allies of Frederick the...

chronicle plays

(Encyclopedia)chronicle plays, dramas based upon 16th-century chronicles in English, particularly those of Edward Hall and Raphael Holinshed. These plays became very popular late in the reign of Elizabeth I, when, ...

Chevreuse, Marie de Rohan-Montbazon, duchesse de

(Encyclopedia)Chevreuse, Marie de Rohan-Montbazon, duchesse de märēˈ də rōäNˈ-môNbäzôNˈ düshĕsˈ də shəvrözˈ [key], 1600–1679, French beauty and politician, an intimate of the French queen, Anne ...

Clement VIII, pope

(Encyclopedia)Clement VIII, 1536–1605, pope (1592–1605), a Florentine named Ippolito Aldobrandini; successor of Innocent IX. He reversed the policy of his predecessors by allying the Holy See with France rather...

Holyrood Palace

(Encyclopedia)Holyrood Palace hŏlˈēro͞od [key] [i.e., holy cross], royal residence, Edinburgh, SE Scotland. In 1128, David I founded Holyrood Abbey on this site, where according to legend he was saved from an i...