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Boleslaus I

(Encyclopedia)Boleslaus I bōˈləslôs [key], c.966–1025, Polish ruler (992–1025), the first to call himself king; also called Boleslaus the Brave. He succeeded his father, Mieszko I, as duke of Poland, seized...

Ford, Betty

(Encyclopedia)Ford, Betty, 1918–2011, American first lady (1974–77), wife of President Gerald Ford, b. Chicago as Elizabeth Anne Bloomer. A candid, outspoken, and popular first lady, she became an effective soc...

Holy Roman Emperors (table)

(Encyclopedia)HOLY ROMAN EMPERORS(including dates of reign) Saxon dynasty Salian or Franconian dynasty Hohenstaufen dynasty and rivals Interregnum, 1254–73 Hapsburg, Luxemburg, and other dynasties ...

Gervase of Tilbury

(Encyclopedia)Gervase of Tilbury, fl. 1200, medieval author, b. England. He became marshal of the kingdom of Arles under Emperor Otto IV and wrote the Otia imperiala, a miscellany of legend, history, and politics. ...

Bell, Alexander Melville

(Encyclopedia)Bell, Alexander Melville, 1819–1905, Scottish-American educator, b. Edinburgh. Bell worked out a physiological or visible alphabet, with symbols that were intended to represent every sound of the hu...

King, Coretta Scott

(Encyclopedia)King, Coretta Scott, 1927–2006, American civil-rights leader, b. Heiberger, Ala.; the wife (1953–68) of Martin Luther King, Jr. After her husband's assassination, she carried on his civil-rights w...

Dundee, John Graham of Claverhouse, 1st Viscount

(Encyclopedia)Dundee, John Graham of Claverhouse, 1st Viscount klăvˈərəs, dŭndēˈ [key], 1649?–1689, Scottish soldier, known as Bonnie Dundee. After service abroad under William of Orange (later William III...

Taylor, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Taylor, Paul (Paul Belville Taylor), 1930–2018, American modern-dance choreographer, b. Wilkinsburg, Pa. Taylor trained as an artist before he received scholarships to study dance. In 1953 he made h...

Struve

(Encyclopedia)Struve shtro͞oˈvə [key], family of astronomers. Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve, 1793–1864, was born in Germany but later lived in Russia. While director (1817–39) of Dorpat Observatory he w...

Louis IV, French king

(Encyclopedia)Louis IV or Louis d'Outremer lwē do͞otrəmĕrˈ [key] [Fr.,=Louis from overseas], 921–54, French king (936–54), son of King Charles III (Charles the Simple). He spent his youth as an exile in En...