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William II, king of the Netherlands

(Encyclopedia)William II, 1792–1849, king of the Netherlands and grand duke of Luxembourg (1840–49), son and successor of William I. He served with Wellington in the Peninsular War, was wounded at Waterloo, and...

Sancho II, Spanish king of Castile

(Encyclopedia)Sancho II sänˈchō [key], d.1072, Spanish king of Castile (1065–72), son and successor of Ferdinand I. He conquered (1072) León from his brother Alfonso VI, but his sister Urraca rebelled against...

Baldwin II, Latin king of Jerusalem

(Encyclopedia)Baldwin II (Baldwin of Le Bourg), d. 1131, Latin king of Jerusalem (1118–31), count of Edessa (1100–1131); cousin and successor of Baldwin I. He accompanied Godfrey of Bouillon on the First Crusad...

Rákóczy

(Encyclopedia)Rákóczy räˈkôtsĭ [key], noble Hungarian family that played an important role in the history of Transylvania and Hungary in the 17th and 18th cent. Sigismund Rákóczy, 1544–1608, was elected (...

Irene, Byzantine empress

(Encyclopedia)Irene īrēˈnē [key], c.750–803, Byzantine empress (797–802). She served (780–90) as regent for her son, Constantine VI, and later was made (792) joint ruler. Devoted to the Orthodox Church, s...

Theodore of Studium, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Theodore of Studium, Saint sto͞oˈdēəm [key], 759–826, Byzantine Greek monastic reformer, also called St. Theodore the Studite. As an abbot he was early exiled for opposing the marriage of Empero...

Calvary

(Encyclopedia)Calvary gŏlˈgəthə [key] [Heb.,=a skull], in the Gospels, place where Jesus was crucified, outside what was then the wall of Jerusalem. Its location is not certainly known. The traditional identifi...

Albert the Bear

(Encyclopedia)Albert the Bear, c.1100–1170, first margrave of Brandenburg (1150–70). He was a loyal vassal of Holy Roman Emperor Lothair II, who, as duke of Saxony, helped him take (1123) Lower Lusatia and the ...

Charles Augustus

(Encyclopedia)Charles Augustus, 1757–1828, duke and, after 1815, grand duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach; friend and patron of Goethe, Schiller, and Herder. Though his duchy was small, he was important in German polit...

Joanna, Spanish queen of Castile

(Encyclopedia)Joanna (Joanna the Mad), 1479–1555, Spanish queen of Castile and León (1504–55), daughter of Ferdinand II and Isabella I. She succeeded to Castile and León at the death of her mother. Ferdinand ...