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Isaac I

(Encyclopedia)Isaac I (Isaac Comnenus) īˈzək kŏmnēˈnəs [key], c.1005–1061, Byzantine emperor (1057–59), first of the Comnenus dynasty. Proclaimed emperor by the army, he deposed Michael VI, who had succe...

Basil I

(Encyclopedia)Basil I (Basil the Macedonian) băzˈəl, bāˈzəl [key], c.813–886, Byzantine emperor (867–86). His ancestors probably were Armenians or Slavs who settled in Macedonia. He became (c.856) the fav...

Charles V, king of France

(Encyclopedia)Charles V (Charles the Wise), 1338–80, king of France (1364–80). Son of King John II, Charles became the first French heir apparent to bear the title of dauphin after the addition of the region of...

Charles IV, king of Hungary

(Encyclopedia)Charles IV, king of Hungary: see Charles I, emperor of Austria. ...

Gallas, Matthias, Graf von

(Encyclopedia)Gallas, Matthias, Graf von mätēˈäs gräf fən gälˈäs [key], 1584–1647, imperial general in the Thirty Years War. He served under Tilly, commander of the Catholic League, in Germany until 1629...

Bethlen, Gabriel

(Encyclopedia)Bethlen, Gabriel bĕthˈlən [key], 1580–1629, prince of Transylvania (1613–29). He was chief adviser of Stephen Bocskay and was elected prince after the assassination of Gabriel Báthory. A Prote...

John IV, Byzantine emperor of Nicaea

(Encyclopedia)John IV (John Lascaris) lăsˈkərĭs [key], b. c.1250, d. after 1273, Byzantine emperor of Nicaea (1258–61), son and successor (under a regency) of Theodore II and last of the Lascarids. Michael Pa...

Speyer

(Encyclopedia)Speyer shpīˈər [key], city (1994 pop. 49,310), Rhineland-Palatinate, SW Germany, on the Rhine River. The city, sometimes called Spires in English, is a river port and industrial center; manufacture...

Josephine

(Encyclopedia)Josephine, 1763–1814, empress of the French (1804–9) as the consort of Napoleon I. Born Marie Josèphe Rose Tascher de la Pagerie in Martinique, she was married in 1779 to Alexandre de Beauharnais...

despotism

(Encyclopedia)despotism, government by an absolute ruler unchecked by effective constitutional limits to his power. In Greek usage, a despot was ruler of a household and master of its slaves. The title was applied ...