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Hervey of Ickworth, John Hervey, Baron

(Encyclopedia)Hervey of Ickworth, John Hervey, Baron härˈvē, hûrˈvē [key], 1696–1743, English memoirist. A temperamental figure who served in various minor offices under Robert Walpole, he is chiefly rememb...

Vladislav

(Encyclopedia)Vladislav vläˈdyĭsläf [key], Czech version of the name Ladislaus. Two kings of Bohemia who were thus named were Vladislav I (who was Ladislaus V, king of Hungary) and Vladislav II (who was Uladisl...

Casimir I

(Encyclopedia)Casimir I kăsˈəmēr [key], c.1015–1058, duke of Poland (c.1040–1058), son of Mieszko II. He succeeded in reuniting the central Polish lands under the hegemony of the Holy Roman Empire, but he w...

Peter V, king of Portugal

(Encyclopedia)Peter V, 1837–61, king of Portugal (1853–61), eldest son and successor of Maria II. Ascending the throne on the death of his mother, he ruled under the regency of his father, Ferdinand II, until 1...

Achaemenids

(Encyclopedia)Achaemenids ăkˌəmĕnˈĭdz [key], dynasty of ancient Persia. They were descended presumably from one Achaemenes, a minor ruler in a mountainous district of SW Iran. His successors, when Elam declin...

Cateau-Cambrésis, Treaty of

(Encyclopedia)Cateau-Cambrésis, Treaty of kätōˈ-käNbrāzēˈ [key], 1559, concluded at Le Cateau, France, by representatives of Henry II of France, Philip II of Spain, and Elizabeth I of England. It put an end...

Euric

(Encyclopedia)Euric yo͝orˈĭk [key], d. c.484, king of the Visigoths (466–c.484), brother and successor of Theodoric II. He made Toulouse his capital and under him the Visigothic kingdom reached its greatest ex...

Elizabeth of Valois

(Encyclopedia)Elizabeth of Valois vălˈwä, Fr. välwäˈ [key], 1545–68, queen of Spain, daughter of Henry II of France. Originally intended to wed Don Carlos, son of Philip II of Spain, she was married (1559) ...

Isonzo

(Encyclopedia)Isonzo ēzônˈtsō [key], river, 87 mi (140 km) long, rising in the Julian Alps, NW Slovenia, and flowing S through Slovenia, where it is known as the Soča, then SW through NE Italy before emptying ...

Huysmans, Jacob

(Encyclopedia)Huysmans, Jacob hoisˈmäns [key], c.1633–1696, Flemish portrait painter. In the reign of Charles II he settled in England, where he became one of the fashionable painters of the court. His chief p...