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Hattin, Battle of

(Encyclopedia)Hattin, Battle of hättēnˈ [key], battle on July 4, 1187, in N Palestine, where Saladin's Muslim forces defeated the Christian armies of Guy de Lusignan. When Saladin attacked Tiberias in July, 1187...

Fulk of Neuilly

(Encyclopedia)Fulk of Neuilly, Fr. Foulques de Neuilly fo͞olk də nöyēˈ [key], d. 1201, French preacher. His sermons and alleged miracles gave him a wide popular following in N France, and in 1199 Pope Innocent...

Pyramids, battle of

(Encyclopedia)Pyramids, battle of, July, 1798, during the French Revolutionary Wars, battle fought between the French forces under Napoleon Bonaparte and the Egyptian Mamluks led by Murad Bey. Napoleon's victory ga...

Kent, Edward Augustus, duke of

(Encyclopedia)Kent, Edward Augustus, duke of, 1767–1820, fourth son of George III of Great Britain and father of Queen Victoria. Most of his mature life was spent in military service at Gibraltar, in Canada, and ...

Epirus, despotate of

(Encyclopedia)Epirus, despotate of. When, in 1204, the army of the Fourth Crusade set up the Latin Empire of Constantinople on the ruins of the Byzantine Empire, an independent Greek state emerged in Epirus under M...

Saint Elias, Mount

(Encyclopedia)Saint Elias, Mount ĭlīˈəs [key], 18,008 ft (5,489 m) high, in the St. Elias Mts. on the U.S.-Canadian border between SW Yukon and SE Alaska; fourth highest peak of North America. It was first seen...

Theodore I , Byzantine emperor of Nicaea

(Encyclopedia)Theodore I (Theodore Lascaris), d. 1222, Byzantine emperor of Nicaea (1204–22), son-in-law of the Byzantine emperor Alexius III. He escaped from Constantinople after it was captured (1204) by the La...

Stuart, Alexander, earl of Buchan

(Encyclopedia)Stuart or Stewart, Alexander, earl of Buchan bŭkhˈan, bŭkˈ– [key], 1343?–1405?, Scottish nobleman; fourth son of Robert II. He held various offices under the crown and was made lord of Badenoc...

Verdun, battle of

(Encyclopedia)Verdun, battle of, the longest and one of the bloodiest engagements of World War I. Two million men were engaged. It began on Feb. 21, 1916, when the Germans, commanded by Crown Prince Frederick Willi...

Emancipation, Edict of

(Encyclopedia)Emancipation, Edict of, 1861, the mechanism by which Czar Alexander II freed all Russian serfs (one third of the total population). All personal serfdom was abolished, and the peasants were to receive...