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Alba Iulia

(Encyclopedia)Alba Iulia älˈbä-yo͞oˈlyä [key], Hung. Gyulafehérvár, Ger. Karlsburg, town, W central Romania, in Transylvania, on the Mureşul River. It is a rail junction ...

Frederick I, Holy Roman emperor and German king

(Encyclopedia)Frederick I or Frederick Barbarossa bärbərôsˈə [key] [Ital.,=red beard], c.1125–90, Holy Roman emperor (1155–90) and German king (1152–90), son of Frederick of Hohenstaufen, duke of Swabia,...

Melchites

(Encyclopedia)Melchites or Melkites both: mĕlˈkīts [key], members of a Christian community in the Levant and the Americas, mainly Arabic-speaking and numbering about 250,000. They are in communion with the pope ...

Iráklion

(Encyclopedia)Iráklion kănˈdēə [key], city, capital of Crete governorate and Iráklion prefecture, N C...

Ferrara-Florence, Council of

(Encyclopedia)Ferrara-Florence, Council of, 1438–45, second part of the 17th ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church; the first part was the Council of Basel, canonically convened but after 1437 schismati...

John Paul II, Saint

(Encyclopedia)John Paul II, Saint 1920–2005, pope (1978–2005), a Pole (b. Wadowice) named Karol Józef Wojtyła; successor of John Paul I. He was the first non-Italian pope elected since the Dutch Adrian VI (15...

Anna, czarina of Russia

(Encyclopedia)Anna (Anna Ivanovna) änˈnə ĭväˈnôvnə [key], 1693–1740, czarina of Russia (1730–40), daughter of Ivan V and niece of Peter I (Peter the Great). On the death of her distant cousin, Peter II,...

Bouvines

(Encyclopedia)Bouvines bo͞ovēnˈ [key], village, Nord dept., N France, in Flanders. In a battle there in 1214, Philip II of France defeated the joint forces of King John of England, Emperor Otto IV, and the count...

Ruthven

(Encyclopedia)Ruthven rĭvˈən, ro͞othˈvən [key], Scottish noble family, believed to trace its ancestry to Thor, a Saxon or Dane, who settled in Scotland in the reign of David I. The name is derived from lands ...

Mühlberg

(Encyclopedia)Mühlberg mülˈbĕrkh [key], town, Saxony, E central Germany, on the Elbe River. In 1547, Emperor Charles V defeated the Schmalkaldic League there and captured Elector John Frederick I of Saxony. ...