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Robert II, duke of Normandy

(Encyclopedia)Robert II (Robert Curthose), c.1054–1134, duke of Normandy (1087–1106); eldest son of King William I of England. Aided by King Philip I of France, he rebelled (1077) against his father. Father and...

Elizabeth, czarina of Russia

(Encyclopedia)Elizabeth, 1709–62, czarina of Russia (1741–62), daughter of Peter I and Catherine I. She gained the throne by overthrowing the young czar, Ivan VI, and the regency of his mother, Anna Leopoldovna...

Saxe-Coburg

(Encyclopedia)Saxe-Coburg săks-kōbərg [key], Ger. Sachsen-Coburg, former duchy, central Germany. A possession of the Ernestine branch of the house of Wettin, it was given by Ernest the Pious (d. 1675) of Saxe-Go...

Gramont, Agénor, prince de Bidache, duc de Guiche et de

(Encyclopedia)Gramont, Agénor, prince de Bidache, duc de Guiche et de äzhānôrˈ prăNsˈ də bēdäshˈ dük də gēsh ā də grämôNˈ [key], 1819–80, French diplomat. He served as plenipotentiary at Stuttg...

Nachtigal, Gustav

(Encyclopedia)Nachtigal, Gustav go͝osˈtäf näkhˈtēgäl [key], 1834–85, German explorer in Africa. He went (1869) on a mission for the king of Prussia to the sultan of Bornu. He visited the central Sahara reg...

Christian VII

(Encyclopedia)Christian VII, 1749–1808, king of Denmark and Norway (1766–1808), son and successor of Frederick V. Shortly after his accession his mental illness made him dependent on his physician, Struensee, w...

mortar, in warfare

(Encyclopedia)mortar, in warfare, term originally applied to certain types of artillery with high trajectories, but later applied to an infantry weapon that consists of a tube supported by a bipod that fires a proj...

Marburg an der Lahn

(Encyclopedia)Marburg an der Lahn märˈbo͝ork än dĕr län [key] or Marburg, city (1994 pop. 76,582), Hesse, Germany, on the Lahn River. It is chiefly known for its Protestant university, founded in 1527 by Phil...

Ekholm, Gordon Frederick

(Encyclopedia)Ekholm, Gordon Frederick ĕkˈhōlm [key], 1909–87, American archaeologist, b. St. Paul, Minn., Ph.D. Harvard, 1941. Working with the American Museum of Natural History in New York City after 1937, ...

Allen, Frederick Lewis

(Encyclopedia)Allen, Frederick Lewis, 1890–1954, American social historian and editor, b. Boston, grad. Harvard (B.A., 1912; M.A., 1913). He is best remembered for his journalistic but nonetheless penetrating wor...