Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Austrian Succession, War of the

(Encyclopedia)Austrian Succession, War of the, 1740–48, general European war. In 1744 Frederick II, fearing the rising power of Austria, started the Second Silesian War by invading Bohemia; he was soon expell...

Andronicus I

(Encyclopedia)Andronicus I (Andronicus Comnenus) ăndrənīˈkəs kŏmnēˈnəs [key], 1120?–1185, Byzantine emperor (1183–85), nephew of John II. He acceded to the throne by strangling his cousin Alexius II. T...

Edessa

(Encyclopedia)Edessa ĭdĕsˈə [key], ancient city of Mesopotamia, on the site of modern Şanlıurfa, Turkey. It emerged in the 4th cent. b.c. as Orrhoe, or Arrhoe, and was later named Edessa by Seleucus I of Syri...

Alexander, king of Greece

(Encyclopedia)Alexander, 1893–1920, king of the Hellenes (1917–20), second son of Constantine I. After his father's forced abdication, he succeeded to the Greek throne with the support of the Allies, who distru...

Trebizond, empire of

(Encyclopedia)Trebizond, empire of, 1204–1461. When the army of the Fourth Crusade overthrew (1204) the Byzantine Empire and established the Latin Empire of Constantinople, several Greek successor states sprang u...

Paulicians

(Encyclopedia)Paulicians pôlĭshˈənz [key], Christian heretical sect. The sect developed in Armenia from obscure origins and is first mentioned in the middle of the 6th cent., where it is associated with Nestori...

Palermo

(Encyclopedia)Palermo pälĕrˈmō [key], Lat. Panormus, city (1991 pop. 698,556), capital of Palermo prov. and of Sicily, NW Sicily, Italy, on the Tyrrhenian Sea. Situated on the edge of the Conca d'Oro (Golden Co...

Medici, Ippolito de'

(Encyclopedia)Medici, Ippolito de' dā mĕˈdĭchē, Ital. māˈdēchē [key], 1511–35, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church; an illegitimate son of Giuliano de' Medici, duke of Nemours. Pope Clement VII, head ...

Canossa

(Encyclopedia)Canossa känôsˈsä [key], village, in Emilia-Romagna, N central Italy, in the Apennines. There are ruins of the 10th-century castle of the powerful feudal family that took its name from the place. I...

Potemkin, Grigori Aleksandrovich

(Encyclopedia)Potemkin, Grigori Aleksandrovich pōtĕmˈkĭn, Rus. grĭgôˈrē əlyĭksänˈdrəvĭch pŭtyômˈkĭn [key], 1739–91, Russian field marshal and favorite of Catherine II. He studied at Moscow Univ....