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O'Connor, Rory

(Encyclopedia)O'Connor, Rory or Roderick, 1116?–1198, last high king of Ireland. He became king of Connacht in 1156 and seized the high kingship in 1166. His ascendancy was brief, however, for his quarrel with De...

Peter the Cruel

(Encyclopedia)Peter the Cruel, 1334–69, Spanish king of Castile and León (1350–69), son and successor of Alfonso XI. His desertion of his wife, Blanche of Bourbon, for María Padilla and his favors to the Padi...

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...

Pembroke, William Marshal, 1st earl of

(Encyclopedia)Pembroke, William Marshal, 1st earl of, d. 1219, English nobleman. He became (1170) a guardian of Prince Henry, eldest son of Henry II, and supported him in his abortive rebellion (1173–74) against ...

Steelyard, Merchants of the

(Encyclopedia)Steelyard, Merchants of the, German hanse, or merchants guild, residing at the Steelyard on the Thames near the present Ironbridge Wharf at London, England. The merchants of the Hanseatic League in Lo...

Malcolm IV

(Encyclopedia)Malcolm IV, 1141–65, king of Scotland (1153–65), grandson and successor of David I. On his accession the young king was at once faced with a rebellion of the western Gaels, supported by the Norse,...

Du Guesclin, Bertrand

(Encyclopedia)Du Guesclin, Bertrand bĕrträNˈ dü gĕklăNˈ [key], c.1320–80, constable of France (1370–80), greatest French soldier of his time. A Breton, he initially served Charles of Blois in the War of ...

Clarendon, Constitutions of

(Encyclopedia)Clarendon, Constitutions of, 1164, articles issued by King Henry II of England at the Council of Clarendon defining the customs governing relations between church and state. In the anarchic conditions...

Henry I, Spanish king of Castile

(Encyclopedia)Henry I, 1204–17, Spanish king of Castile (1214–17), son and successor of Alfonso VIII. At his death after a short, uneventful reign, his sister Berenguela renounced her rights to the crown in fav...

Pembroke, Richard de Clare, 2d earl of

(Encyclopedia)Pembroke, Richard de Clare, 2d earl of, d. 1176, English nobleman, also known as Richard Strongbow. He went as an adventurer (1170) to Ireland at the request of the hard-pressed Dermot McMurrough, kin...