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Catherine de' Medici

(Encyclopedia)Catherine de' Medici dĕ mĕdˈĭchē, Ital. dā mĕˈdēchē [key], 1519–89, queen of France, daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici, duke of Urbino. She was married (1533) to the duc d'Orléans, later Kin...

Augustus III

(Encyclopedia)Augustus III, 1696–1763, king of Poland (1735–63) and, as Frederick Augustus II, elector of Saxony (1733–63); son of Augustus II, whom he succeeded in Saxony. Elected king of Poland by a minorit...

Prussia

(Encyclopedia)Prussia prŭshˈə [key], Ger. Preussen, former state, the largest and most important of the German states. Berlin was the capital. The chief member of the German Empire (1871–1918) and a state of t...

Blanche of Castile

(Encyclopedia)Blanche of Castile bläNsh, kăstēlˈ [key], 1185?–1252, queen of Louis VIII of France and regent during the minority (1226–34) of their son Louis IX. A forceful and capable ruler, she checked th...

Innocent IV

(Encyclopedia)Innocent IV, d. 1254, pope (1243–54), a Genoese named Sinibaldo Fieschi, a distinguished jurist who studied and later taught law at the Univ. of Bologna; successor of Celestine IV. He was of a noble...

Honthorst, Gerrit van

(Encyclopedia)Honthorst, Gerrit van gĕrˈĭt vän hōntˈhôrst [key], 1590–1656, Dutch portrait, genre, and allegorical painter. In Italy (c.1610–1620) he gained a sound understanding of the works of Caravagg...

Baganda

(Encyclopedia)Baganda bägänˈdə [key], also called Ganda, the largest ethnic group in Uganda. Bagandas comprise about 17% of the population and have the country's highest standard of living and literacy rate. Th...

Faeroe Islands

(Encyclopedia)Faeroe Islands or Faröe Islands both: fârˈō [key], Dan. Færøerne, Faeroese Føroyar, group of volcanic islands (2015 est. pop. 49,000), 540 sq mi (1,399 sq km), Denmark, in the N Atlantic, betwe...

Clement IV, pope

(Encyclopedia)Clement IV, d. 1268, pope (1265–68), a Frenchman named Guy le gros Foulques; successor of Urban IV. He was a lay adviser of King Louis IX of France, but after his wife's death he entered the church....

Frankfurt Parliament

(Encyclopedia)Frankfurt Parliament, 1848–49, national assembly convened at Frankfurt on May 18, 1848, as a result of the liberal revolution that swept the German states early in 1848. The parliament was called by...