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Cœur, Jacques

(Encyclopedia)Cœur, Jacques zhäk kör [key], c.1395–1456, French merchant prince and adviser of King Charles VII, who made him chief of finances and sent him on important diplomatic missions. His reforms restor...

Ferdinand, Prussian field marshal

(Encyclopedia)Ferdinand, 1721–92, Prussian field marshal, a prince of the house of Brunswick, known as Ferdinand, duke of Brunswick. He served King Frederick II of Prussia brilliantly in the Seven Years War, nota...

Otto IV, Holy Roman emperor

(Encyclopedia)Otto IV, 1175?–1218, Holy Roman emperor (1209–15) and German king, son of Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony. He was brought up at the court of his uncle King Richard I of England, who secured his ele...

Elizabeth, sister of King Louis XVI of France

(Encyclopedia)Elizabeth, 1764–94, sister of King Louis XVI of France, known as Madame Elizabeth. Deeply loyal to her brother, she remained in France during the French Revolution, suffered imprisonment, and was gu...

Matthias Corvinus

(Encyclopedia)Matthias Corvinus kôrvīˈnəs [key], 1443?–1490, king of Hungary (1458–90) and Bohemia (1478–90), second son of John Hunyadi. He was elected king of Hungary on the death of Ladislaus V. Holy R...

Guimarães

(Encyclopedia)Guimarães gēməräNshˈ [key], city (1991 est. pop. 48,200), Braga dist., NW Portugal, in Minho. It has textile and cutlery manufactures, but its main importance is historical. The town was the seat...

James II, king of Aragón and count of Barcelona

(Encyclopedia)James II, c.1260–1327, king of Aragón and count of Barcelona (1291–1327), king of Sicily (1285–95). He succeeded his father, Peter III, in Sicily and his brother, Alfonso III, in Aragón. James...

Philip the Good

(Encyclopedia)Philip the Good, 1396–1467, duke of Burgundy (1419–67); son of Duke John the Fearless. After his father was murdered (1419) at a meeting with the dauphin (later King Charles VII of France), Philip...

Bethlen, Gabriel

(Encyclopedia)Bethlen, Gabriel bĕthˈlən [key], 1580–1629, prince of Transylvania (1613–29). He was chief adviser of Stephen Bocskay and was elected prince after the assassination of Gabriel Báthory. A Prote...

Wittelsbach

(Encyclopedia)Wittelsbach vĭˈtəlsbäkh [key], German dynasty that ruled Bavaria from 1180 until 1918. The family takes its name from the ancestral castle of Wittelsbach in Upper Bavaria. In 1180 Holy Roman Emper...