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Austria

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Austria ôˈstrēə [key], Ger. Österreich [eastern march], officially Republic of Austria, federal republic (2020 est. pop. 8,917,000), 32,374 sq mi (83,849 sq km...

Luxembourg, grand duchy, W Europe

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Luxembourg lŭkˈsəmbûrg, Ger. lo͝okˈsəmbo͝orkh [key], officially Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, grand duchy (2015 est. pop. 567,000), 998 sq mi (2,586 sq km), W Europe. Roughly triangular, i...

commune, in medieval history

(Encyclopedia)commune kômˈyo͞on [key], in medieval history, collective institution that developed in continental Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire. Because of the importance of the commune in municipal g...

Palatinate

(Encyclopedia)Palatinate pəlătˈĭnātˌ [key], Ger. Pfalz, two regions of Germany. They are related historically, but not geographically. The Rhenish or Lower Palatinate (Ger. Rheinpfalz or Niederpfalz), often c...

Gustavus II

(Encyclopedia)Gustavus II (Gustavus Adolphus), 1594–1632, king of Sweden (1611–32), son and successor of Charles IX. In military organization and strategy, Gustavus was ahead of his time. While most powers re...

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...

Joseph II

(Encyclopedia)Joseph II, 1741–90, Holy Roman emperor (1765–90), king of Bohemia and Hungary (1780–90), son of Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I, whom he succeeded. He was the first emperor of the...

Richard II

(Encyclopedia)Richard II, 1367–1400, king of England (1377–99), son of Edward the Black Prince. Richard is possibly the most enigmatic of the English kings. Some historians have attributed his behavior in ...

hymn

(Encyclopedia)hymn, song of praise, devotion, or thanksgiving, especially of a religious character (see also cantata). Early Christian hymnody consisted mainly of the Psalms and the great canticles Nunc dimittis, M...

Chaucer, Geoffrey

(Encyclopedia)Chaucer, Geoffrey jĕfˈrē chôˈsər [key], c.1340–1400, English poet, one of the most important figures in English literature. To Chaucer's final period, in which he achieved his fullest artist...