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Vladislav

(Encyclopedia)Vladislav vläˈdyĭsläf [key], Czech version of the name Ladislaus. Two kings of Bohemia who were thus named were Vladislav I (who was Ladislaus V, king of Hungary) and Vladislav II (who was Uladisl...

Casimir I

(Encyclopedia)Casimir I kăsˈəmēr [key], c.1015–1058, duke of Poland (c.1040–1058), son of Mieszko II. He succeeded in reuniting the central Polish lands under the hegemony of the Holy Roman Empire, but he w...

Achaemenids

(Encyclopedia)Achaemenids ăkˌəmĕnˈĭdz [key], dynasty of ancient Persia. They were descended presumably from one Achaemenes, a minor ruler in a mountainous district of SW Iran. His successors, when Elam declin...

Cateau-Cambrésis, Treaty of

(Encyclopedia)Cateau-Cambrésis, Treaty of kätōˈ-käNbrāzēˈ [key], 1559, concluded at Le Cateau, France, by representatives of Henry II of France, Philip II of Spain, and Elizabeth I of England. It put an end...

Gloucester, Henry William Frederick Albert, duke of

(Encyclopedia)Gloucester, Henry William Frederick Albert, duke of glŏsˈstər, glôˈstər [key], 1900–1974, British prince; third son of George V, brother of Edward VIII and George VI, and uncle of Elizabeth II...

Huysmans, Jacob

(Encyclopedia)Huysmans, Jacob hoisˈmäns [key], c.1633–1696, Flemish portrait painter. In the reign of Charles II he settled in England, where he became one of the fashionable painters of the court. His chief p...

Isonzo

(Encyclopedia)Isonzo ēzônˈtsō [key], river, 87 mi (140 km) long, rising in the Julian Alps, NW Slovenia, and flowing S through Slovenia, where it is known as the Soča, then SW through NE Italy before emptying ...

Euric

(Encyclopedia)Euric yo͝orˈĭk [key], d. c.484, king of the Visigoths (466–c.484), brother and successor of Theodoric II. He made Toulouse his capital and under him the Visigothic kingdom reached its greatest ex...

Elizabeth of Valois

(Encyclopedia)Elizabeth of Valois vălˈwä, Fr. välwäˈ [key], 1545–68, queen of Spain, daughter of Henry II of France. Originally intended to wed Don Carlos, son of Philip II of Spain, she was married (1559) ...

Paul

(Encyclopedia)Paul, 1901–64, king of the Hellenes (1947–64), brother and successor of George II. He married (1938) Princess Frederika of Brunswick. During Paul's reign Greece followed a pro-Western policy, and ...