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William, prince of Wied

(Encyclopedia)William, prince of Wied, 1876–1945, mpret [ruler] of Albania (1914), third son of William, prince of Wied, nephew of Elizabeth of Romania. A German army officer, he was selected by the great powers ...

William, count of Holland

(Encyclopedia)William, count of Holland, 1227?–1256, German king (1254–56), previously rival king (1247–54) to Conrad IV. William was chosen by Pope Innocent IV to succeed Henry Raspe (d. 1247) as antiking to...

Mühlberg

(Encyclopedia)Mühlberg mülˈbĕrkh [key], town, Saxony, E central Germany, on the Elbe River. In 1547, Emperor Charles V defeated the Schmalkaldic League there and captured Elector John Frederick I of Saxony. ...

Frederick III, king of Denmark and Norway

(Encyclopedia)Frederick III, 1609–70, king of Denmark and Norway (1648–70), son and successor of Christian IV. He at first made great concessions to the powerful nobles but later asserted his own power. In 1657...

Frederick the Winter King

(Encyclopedia)Frederick the Winter King, 1596–1632, king of Bohemia (1619–20), elector palatine (1610–20) as Frederick V. The Protestant diet of Bohemia deposed the Roman Catholic King Ferdinand (Holy Roman E...

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...

Spalatin, George

(Encyclopedia)Spalatin, George shpäˈlätēn [key], 1484–1545, German Protestant reformer. His original name was Georg Burckhardt; he was called Spalatin after his birthplace, Spalt, near Nuremberg. An early fri...

Maximilian I, 1573–1651, elector and duke of Bavaria

(Encyclopedia)Maximilian I, 1573–1651, elector (1623–51) and duke (1597–1651) of Bavaria, one of the outstanding figures of the Thirty Years War and an ardent supporter of the Counter Reformation. His occupat...

Caus, Salomon de

(Encyclopedia)Caus or Caux, Salomon de both: sälōmôNˈ də kō [key] 1576–1626, French engineer and physicist, educated in England. From 1614 to 1620 he was engineer to the Elector Palatine, Frederick, at Heid...

Wittenberg

(Encyclopedia)Wittenberg vĭtˈənbĕrkhˌ [key], city (1994 pop. 53,374), Saxony-Anhalt, E Germany, on the Elbe River. A city with a noted history, it is today an industrial and mining center and a rail junction. ...