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Haakon IV

(Encyclopedia)Haakon IV (Haakon Haakonsson), 1204–63, king of Norway (1217–63), illegitimate son of Haakon III and grandson of Sverre. Secretly reared by the Birkebeiner faction (see Sverre), he was chosen king...

Mustafa IV

(Encyclopedia)Mustafa IV, 1778–1808, Ottoman sultan (1807–8), son of Abd al-Hamid I. He was raised to the throne by the reactionary Janissaries who had deposed Mustafa's cousin, Selim III, because they opposed ...

Murad IV

(Encyclopedia)Murad IV, 1612?–1640, Ottoman sultan (1623–40), nephew and successor of Mustafa I. He recovered (1638) Baghdad, which Shah Abbas I of Persia had seized. On his victory he sent an order to murder h...

Ladislaus IV

(Encyclopedia)Ladislaus IV, 1262–90, king of Hungary (1272–90), son and successor of Stephen V. Ladislaus became unpopular by favoring the Cumans, from whom he was descended through his mother. During his reign...

Paul IV

(Encyclopedia)Paul IV, 1476–1559, pope (1555–59), a Neapolitan named Gian Pietro Carafa; successor of Marcellus II. First superior of the Theatines (see Cajetan, Saint), he was sternly ascetic. A leading reform...

Romanus IV

(Encyclopedia)Romanus IV (Romanus Diogenes) dīŏjˈənēz [key], d. 1072, Byzantine emperor (1068–71). A Cappadocian general, he succeeded Constantine X by marrying his widow, Eudocia Macrembolitissa. After some...

Bela IV

(Encyclopedia)Bela IV bāˈlə, bēˈlə [key], 1206–70, king of Hungary (1235–70), son and successor of Andrew II. He tried to curtail the power of the magnates and set out to recover the crownlands his father...

Vlad IV

(Encyclopedia)Vlad IV, 1431?–1476, prince of Walachia (1448, 1456–62, 1476), known as Vlad the Impaler. He was the son of Prince Vlad Dracul (Vlad the Devil) and is therefore also called Dracula or son of the D...

Waldemar IV

(Encyclopedia)Waldemar IV (Valdemar Atterdag), c.1320–1375, king of Denmark (1340–75). He became king of a land completely dismembered by foreign rulers, but his ambition, unscrupulousness, and military ability...

Thutmose IV

(Encyclopedia)Thutmose IV thŏthˈmēz, tōtˈmĕs [key], reigned c.1406–1398 b.c., king of ancient Egypt, of the XVIII dynasty, son and successor of Amenhotep II. He invaded Asia and Nubia, and formed alliances ...