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Philip of Swabia

(Encyclopedia)Philip of Swabia swāˈbēə [key], 1176?–1208, German king (1198–1208), son of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I. After the death (1197) of his brother, German King and Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI, ...

Waldemar I

(Encyclopedia)Waldemar I (Waldemar the Great) wälˈdəmär [key], 1131–82, king of Denmark (1157–82). In 1147, Waldemar, Sweyn III, and Canute (son of Magnus the Strong and grandson of King Niels) each claimed...

Lothair II

(Encyclopedia)Lothair II, also called Lothair III, 1075–1137, Holy Roman emperor (1133–37) and German king (1125–37); successor of Holy Roman Emperor Henry V. His predecessor invested him with the duchy of Sa...

Maupertuis, Pierre Louis Moreau de

(Encyclopedia)Maupertuis, Pierre Louis Moreau de pyĕr lwē môrōˈ də mōpĕrtüēˈ [key], 1698–1759, French mathematician and astronomer. For his skillful support of Newton's theory he was admitted to the Ro...

Charles VII, Holy Roman emperor

(Encyclopedia)Charles VII, 1697–1745, Holy Roman emperor (1742–45) and, as Charles Albert, elector of Bavaria (1726–45). Having married a daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I, he refused to recognize the p...

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...

Mary II, 1662–94, queen of England

(Encyclopedia)Mary II, 1662–94, queen of England, wife of William III. The daughter of James II by his first wife, Anne Hyde, she was brought up a Protestant despite her father's adoption of Roman Catholicism. In...

Rupert, Prince

(Encyclopedia)Rupert, Prince, 1619–82, count palatine of the Rhine. Born in Prague, he was the son of Frederick the Winter King, elector palatine and king of Bohemia, and Elizabeth, daughter of James I of England...

Christian II

(Encyclopedia)Christian II, 1481–1559, king of Denmark and Norway (1513–23) and Sweden (1520–23), son and successor of King John. After several unsuccessful attempts, he asserted claim to Sweden by force. How...

George V, king of Hanover

(Encyclopedia)George V, 1819–78, last king of Hanover (1851–66), son and successor of Ernest Augustus. He was blind after 1833. Fearing Hanover's absorption by Prussia, he sided with Austria in the Austro-Pruss...