Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Martin IV, d. 1285, pope

(Encyclopedia)Martin IV, d. 1285, pope (1281–85), a Frenchman named Simon de Brie; successor of Nicholas III. He was chancellor under Louis IX of France and was created cardinal by Urban IV. He was thus a support...

Stephen II

(Encyclopedia)Stephen II, d. 757, pope (752–57), successor of Pope St. Zacharias. When Rome was threatened by the Lombard king Aistulf, Stephen went to Gaul and appealed to Pepin the Short for help. He became the...

Macedonia, region, Europe

(Encyclopedia)Macedonia măsˌədōˈnēə [key], region, SE Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula, divided among the countries of Greece, Bulgaria, and North Macedonia. A secret terrorist organization working for Mace...

Hrotswith von Gandersheim

(Encyclopedia)Hrotswith rôsvēˈtä fən gänˈdərs-hīm [key], 10th-century German dramatist, a nun. Of a noble Saxon family, Hrotswith was well educated. Her long epic poems—one including a fragment on Empero...

Alfonso I, king of Portugal

(Encyclopedia)Alfonso I, 1109?–1185, first king of Portugal, son of Henry of Burgundy. After his father's death (1112), his mother, Countess Teresa, ruled the county of Portugal with the help of her Spanish lover...

Demetrius I, king of Macedon

(Encyclopedia)Demetrius I (Demetrius Poliorcetes) dĭmēˈtrēəs pŏlˌēôrsēˈtēz [key], c.337–283 b.c., king of Macedon. The son of Antigonus I, he proved himself a very able commander in his father's wars,...

David I, king of Scotland

(Encyclopedia)David I, 1084–1153, king of Scotland (1124–53), youngest son of Malcolm III and St. Margaret of Scotland. During the reign of his brother Alexander I, whom he succeeded, David was earl of Cumbria,...

Alexander I, king of Scotland

(Encyclopedia)Alexander I, 1078?–1124, king of Scotland (1107–24), son of Malcolm III and St. Margaret of Scotland. He succeeded his brother Edgar, who had divided the kingdom so that Alexander ruled only N of ...

Charles I, king of Hungary

(Encyclopedia)Charles I, 1288–1342, king of Hungary (1308–42), founder of the Angevin dynasty in Hungary; grandson of Charles II of Naples, who had married a daughter of Stephen V of Hungary. On the death (1301...

Charles I, king of Portugal

(Encyclopedia)Charles I, 1863–1908, king of Portugal (1889–1908), son and successor of Louis I. A cultured man, learned in language and oceanography, Charles had little opportunity to display his administrative...