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Ardashir I

(Encyclopedia)Ardashir I ärdäshērˈ [key] [another form of Artaxerxes], d. 240, king of Persia (226?–240). He overthrew the last Parthian king, Artabanus IV, entered Ctesiphon, and reunited Persia out of the c...

Basil the Great, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Basil the Great, Saint băˈzĭl, bāˈ– [key], c.330–379, Greek prelate, bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, Doctor of the Church and one of the Four Fathers of the Greek Church. He was a brother o...

Sicilian Vespers

(Encyclopedia)Sicilian Vespers, in Italian history, name given the rebellion staged by the Sicilians against the Angevin French domination of Sicily; the rebellion broke out at Palermo at the start of Vespers on Ea...

Zadar

(Encyclopedia)Zadar zäˈdär [key], Ital. Zara, city (2011 pop. 75,062), W Croatia, on the Dalmatian coast of the Adriatic Sea. A seaport and a tourist center, it has industries that produce liqueur, processed fis...

Ignatius of Constantinople, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Ignatius of Constantinople, Saint, c.800–877, Greek churchman, patriarch of Constantinople. A son of Byzantine Emperor Michael I, he was castrated and shut up in a monastery (813) by the man who dep...

Beyazid I

(Encyclopedia)Beyazid I bāyäzĭdˈ [key], 1347–1403, Ottoman sultan (1389–1402), son and successor of Murad I. He besieged Byzantine Emperor Manuel II at Constantinople, then overcame the Turkish rulers in E ...

Paschal II

(Encyclopedia)Paschal II păsˈkəl [key] [Lat.,=of Easter], d. 1118, pope (1099–1118), an Italian (b. near Ravenna) named Ranieri; successor of Urban II. He was a monk and, as a reformer, was made a cardinal by ...

Ostrogoths

(Encyclopedia)Ostrogoths (East Goths), division of the Goths, one of the most important groups of the Germans. According to their own unproved tradition, the ancestors of the Goths were the Gotar of S Sweden. By th...

Lyons, First Council of

(Encyclopedia)Lyons, First Council of lyôNˈ [key], 1245, 13th ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church, convened at Lyons, France, by Pope Innocent IV to deal with his struggle with Holy Roman Emperor Fred...

Gelasius I, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Gelasius I, Saint jĭlāˈshēəs [key], d. 496, pope (492–96); successor of St. Felix III (also known as Felix II). He was a firm upholder of the papal supremacy in a dispute with Anastasius, the B...