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Saint Bernard, two Alpine passes

(Encyclopedia)Saint Bernard, two Alpine passes, both used since antiquity. The Great Saint Bernard (alt. 8,110 ft/2,472 m), on the Italian-Swiss border, links Valais canton, Switzerland, with Valle d'Aosta, Italy. ...

Roxana

(Encyclopedia)Roxana –sănˈē [key], d. 311 b.c., wife of Alexander the Great. She was the daughter of Oxyartes, a Bactrian baron, and Alexander married her (327) to consolidate his power in Persia. She and Alex...

Sancho I, king of Aragón

(Encyclopedia)Sancho I (Sancho Ramírez) sänˈchō rämēˈrĕth [key], 1045?–1094, king of Aragón (1063–94) and, as Sancho V, king of Navarre (1076–94); son and successor of Ramiro I. He continued the war ...

Cano, Alonso

(Encyclopedia)Cano, Alonso älōnˈsō käˈnō [key], 1601–67, Spanish baroque painter, sculptor, and architect. Cano studied under Pacheco and received painting and architecture commissions from King Philip IV....

Catherine of Braganza

(Encyclopedia)Catherine of Braganza brəgănˈzə [key], 1638–1705, queen consort of Charles II of England, daughter of John IV of Portugal. She was married to Charles in 1662. As part of her dowry England secure...

Castelnau, Michel de

(Encyclopedia)Castelnau, Michel de mēshĕlˈ də kästĕlnōˈ [key], c.1520–1592, French diplomat and soldier. He early attracted the favorable notice of the cardinal of Lorraine (Charles de Guise) and performe...

Rainalducci, Pietro

(Encyclopedia)Rainalducci or Rainallucci, Pietro pyĕˈtrō rīnäldo͞otˈchē, rīnäl-lo͞otˈchē [key], d. 1333, Italian churchman (b. Corvaro, near Rieti), antipope (1328–30) with the name Nicholas V. Havin...

Orel

(Encyclopedia)Orel əryôlˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 337,000), capital of Orel region, central European Russia, on the Oka River. It is a large railroad junction, an agricultural trade center, and an industrial city...

Victor Emmanuel I

(Encyclopedia)Victor Emmanuel I, 1759–1824, king of Sardinia (1802–21). His brother and predecessor, Charles Emmanuel IV, lost (1798) all his territories except the island of Sardinia to France in the French Re...

Colonna

(Encyclopedia)Colonna kōlônˈnä [key], noble Roman family that played a leading part in the history of Rome from the 12th to the 16th cent. They were hereditary enemies of the Orsini and Caetani families, genera...