Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Richard, earl of Cornwall

(Encyclopedia)Richard, earl of Cornwall, 1209–72, second son of King John of England and brother of Henry III. In 1227, following an expedition to Gascony and Poitou, Richard forced Henry to grant him the land an...

Polish Succession, War of the

(Encyclopedia)Polish Succession, War of the, 1733–35. On the death (1733) of Augustus II of Poland, Stanislaus I sought to reascend the Polish throne. He was supported by his son-in-law, Louis XV of France. The r...

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 (...

Doria, Andrea

(Encyclopedia)Doria, Andrea ändrāˈä dōˈrēä [key], b. 1466 or 1468, d. 1560, Italian admiral and statesman, of an ancient family prominent in the history of Genoa. He started his career as a condottiere and ...

Charles IV, duke of Lorraine

(Encyclopedia)Charles IV, 1604–75, duke of Lorraine. He succeeded to the duchy in 1624 but was to lose it several times because of his anti-French policy. In 1633, French troops invaded Lorraine in retaliation fo...

Marie Louise

(Encyclopedia)Marie Louise, 1791–1847, empress of the French (1810–15) as consort of Napoleon I and duchess of Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla (1816–47), daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Francis II (later Empero...

Field of the Cloth of Gold

(Encyclopedia)Field of the Cloth of Gold, locality between Guines and Ardres, not far from Calais, in France, where in 1520 Henry VIII of England and Francis I of France met for the purpose of arranging an alliance...

Leopold I, king of the Belgians

(Encyclopedia)Leopold I, 1790–1865, king of the Belgians (1831–65); youngest son of Francis Frederick, duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. After serving as a page at the court of Napoleon I and as a general of the Ru...

Henry I, Spanish king of Castile

(Encyclopedia)Henry I, 1204–17, Spanish king of Castile (1214–17), son and successor of Alfonso VIII. At his death after a short, uneventful reign, his sister Berenguela renounced her rights to the crown in fav...

Alfonso I, Spanish king of Asturias

(Encyclopedia)Alfonso I (Alfonso the Catholic), 693?–757, Spanish king of Asturias (739–57). He was the son-in-law of the first Asturian king, Pelayo. A Berber rebellion (740–41) against the Moors enabled him...