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Philip I, Spanish king of Castile

(Encyclopedia)Philip I (Philip the Handsome), 1478–1506, Spanish king of Castile (1506), archduke of Austria, titular duke of Burgundy, son of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I and Mary of Burgundy. Heir to his mot...

John George

(Encyclopedia)John George, 1585–1656, elector of Saxony (1611–56). A drunkard, he nonetheless ruled the leading German Protestant state during the Thirty Years War. He vacillated in his policy between support o...

Ottocar I

(Encyclopedia)Ottocar I pərzhĕmˈĭsəl ôtˈôkär [key], d. 1230, duke (1197–98) and king (1198–1230) of Bohemia. The struggle within the Holy Roman Empire for the imperial crown enabled Ottocar to obtain (...

Godfrey of Viterbo

(Encyclopedia)Godfrey of Viterbo vētĕrˈbō [key], 12th cent., German or Italian priest. He was long attached to the courts of Holy Roman emperors Conrad III, Frederick I, and Henry VI in Italy. His Gesta Frideri...

Reichsregiment

(Encyclopedia)Reichsregiment rīkhsˈrāˌgēmĕntˈ [key] [Ger.,=government of the empire], imperial council created by the Diet of Augsburg in 1500. It was intended to form the executive branch of the government ...

Ferdinand II, king of the Two Sicilies

(Encyclopedia)Ferdinand II, 1810–59, king of the Two Sicilies (1830–59), son and successor of Francis I. Although initially he sought to improve the wretched conditions of his kingdom, he soon relapsed into the...

Francis II, king of the Two Sicilies

(Encyclopedia)Francis II, 1836–94, last king of the Two Sicilies (1859–61), son and successor of Ferdinand II. A weak ruler, he let his ministers follow his father's reactionary policy. Faced with the growing m...

Ferdinand III, Holy Roman emperor

(Encyclopedia)Ferdinand III, 1608–57, Holy Roman emperor (1637–57), king of Hungary (1626–57) and of Bohemia (1627–57), son and successor of Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II. After the dismissal and assassin...

Albert I, Holy Roman Emperor

(Encyclopedia)Albert I, c.1250–1308, Holy Roman Emperor (1298–1308), son of Rudolf I. Albert was invested with Austria and Styria in 1282 by his father, who also hoped to secure the succession as king of the Ge...

Charles IV, Holy Roman emperor

(Encyclopedia)Charles IV, 1316–78, Holy Roman emperor (1355–78), German king (1347–78), and king of Bohemia (1346–78). The son of John of Luxemburg, Charles was educated at the French court and fought the E...