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Ottocar II

(Encyclopedia)Ottocar II or Přemysl Ottocar II, c.1230–1278, king of Bohemia (1253–78), son and successor of Wenceslaus I. Ottocar shrewdly exploited the disorders of the great interregnum in the Holy Roman Em...

Tancred, king of Sicily

(Encyclopedia)Tancred (Tancred of Lecce) tăngˈkrĭd;, lĕˈchā [key], b. 1130 or 1134, d. 1194, king of Sicily (1190–94), illegitimate son of Roger of Apulia and grandson of Roger II of Sicily. On the death of...

King, Henry

(Encyclopedia)King, Henry, 1592–1669, English poet. He became bishop of Chichester in 1642. Elegies constitute nearly half his work, his most notable being “The Exequy,” written on the death of his young wife...

Alfonso IV, king of Portugal

(Encyclopedia)Alfonso IV, 1291–1357, king of Portugal (1325–57), son and successor of Diniz. Disgruntled by the favoritism his father showed toward Alfonso's illegitimate half-brothers, Alfonso rose in revolt i...

Charles IV, king of Spain

(Encyclopedia)Charles IV, 1748–1819, king of Spain (1788–1808), second son of Charles III, whom he succeeded in place of his imbecile older brother. Unlike his father, Charles IV was an ineffective ruler and in...

James IV, king of Scotland

(Encyclopedia)James IV, 1473–1513, king of Scotland (1488–1513), son and successor of James III. He was an able and popular king, and his reign was one of stability and progress for Scotland. After suppressing ...

John IV, king of Portugal

(Encyclopedia)John IV, 1604–56, king of Portugal (1640–56). He succeeded as duke of Braganza in 1630. Descended from Manuel I and in illegitimate line from John I, he had the strongest claim to the Portuguese t...

Ladislaus IV, king of Poland

(Encyclopedia)Ladislaus IV, 1595–1648, king of Poland (1632–48), son and successor of Sigismund III. His reign was marked by struggles with his subjects and wars with the Swedes, the Russians, and the Ottomans....

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