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Caractacus

(Encyclopedia)Caractacus kərădˈək [key], fl. a.d. 50, British king; son of Cymbeline. After the Roman invasion of a.d. 43, he led British resistance until defeated in a.d. 50. He was captured and taken to Rome....

Aquitaine

(Encyclopedia)Aquitaine ăkˈwĭtān, äkētĕnˈ [key], Lat. Aquitania, former duchy and kingdom in SW France. Julius Caesar conquered the Aquitani, an Iberian people of SW Gaul, in 56 b.c. The province that he cr...

Eriugena, John Scotus

(Encyclopedia)Eriugena or Erigena, John Scotus skōˈtəs ĕryo͞oˈjĭnə; ĕrĭjˈ– ĕrēˈ– [key] [Lat. Scotus=Irish, Eriugena=born in Ireland], c.810–c.877, scholastic philosopher, born in Ireland. About ...

Lothair, king of Lotharingia

(Encyclopedia)Lothair, sometimes called Lothair II, d. 869, king of Lotharingia (855–69), second son of Emperor of the West Lothair I. He inherited the region bounded by the Rhine, Scheldt, Alps, and North Sea, w...

Manuel II, Byzantine emperor

(Encyclopedia)Manuel II (Manuel Palaeologus), 1350–1425, Byzantine emperor (1391–1425), son and successor of John V. In his youth he was taken captive by the Turks, and during his reign the Ottomans reduced the...

Chillingworth, William

(Encyclopedia)Chillingworth, William, 1602–44, English theologian. He was converted to Roman Catholicism and in 1630 went to Douai to study. Under the influence of his godfather, William Laud, he abjured that fai...

Germanic laws

(Encyclopedia)Germanic laws, customary law codes of the Germans before their contact with the Romans. They are unknown to us except through casual references of ancient authors and inferences from the codes compile...

Margaret of Valois

(Encyclopedia)Margaret of Valois välwäˈ [key], 1553–1615, queen of France and Navarre, daughter of King Henry II of France and of Catherine de' Medici. She was known as Queen Margot. Her wedding (1572) with He...

Cossa, Baldassare

(Encyclopedia)Cossa, Baldassare bäldäs-säˈrā kôsˈsä [key], c.1370–1419, Neapolitan churchman, antipope (1410–15; see Schism, Great) with the name John XXIII. He had a military career before entering the...

Gallas, Matthias, Graf von

(Encyclopedia)Gallas, Matthias, Graf von mätēˈäs gräf fən gälˈäs [key], 1584–1647, imperial general in the Thirty Years War. He served under Tilly, commander of the Catholic League, in Germany until 1629...