Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Æthelbert, king of Wessex

(Encyclopedia)Æthelbert, d. 865, king of Wessex (860–65), son of Æthelwulf. After the death of his father in 858 he ruled Kent, Surrey, Sussex, and Essex, and he reunited them with Wessex when in 860 he succeed...

Æthelred, king of Wessex

(Encyclopedia)Æthelred ĕˈthəlrĕd, ăˈ– [key], d.871, king of Wessex (865–71), son of Æthelwulf and brother of Alfred. He succeeded his brother Æthelbert as king of Wessex and as overlord of Kent and pos...

Æthelred, king of England

(Encyclopedia)Æthelred, 965?–1016, king of England (978–1016), called Æthelred the Unready [Old Eng. unrœd=without counsel]. He was the son of Edgar and the half-brother of Edward the Martyr, whom he succeed...

Tancred, king of Sicily

(Encyclopedia)Tancred (Tancred of Lecce) tăngˈkrĭd;, lĕˈchā [key], b. 1130 or 1134, d. 1194, king of Sicily (1190–94), illegitimate son of Roger of Apulia and grandson of Roger II of Sicily. On the death of...

Northern War

(Encyclopedia)Northern War, 1700–1721, general European conflict, fought in N and E Europe at the same time that the War of the Spanish Succession was fought in the west and the south. It arose chiefly from the d...

Frederick Augustus I, 1750–1827, king and elector of Saxony

(Encyclopedia)Frederick Augustus I, 1750–1827, king (1806–27) and elector (1763–1806) of Saxony, grand duke of Warsaw (1807–14). He sided with the allies in the French Revolutionary Wars and joined Prussia ...

Ksar el Kebir

(Encyclopedia)Ksar el Kebir ksär ĕl kĕbĭrˈ [key], city (1994 pop. 107,065), N Morocco. The name also appears as Alcazarquivir and Al Qasr al Kabir. Near the city on Aug. 4, 1578, the Moroccans soundly defeated...

Vieira, Antonio

(Encyclopedia)Vieira, Antonio əntôˈnyo͝o vyāˈērə [key], 1608–97, Portuguese Jesuit orator and missionary. Born in Lisbon, he grew up in Brazil. He was sent by the Jesuits to Portugal to salute the new kin...

Bellingshausen, Fabian Gottlieb von

(Encyclopedia)Bellingshausen, Fabian Gottlieb von fäbˈēən gôtˈlēp fôn bĕlˈĭngzhouˌzən [key], 1778–1852, Russian explorer, b. Sarema, Estonia. A graduate of the naval academy at Kronstadt, he commande...

Warbeck, Perkin

(Encyclopedia)Warbeck, Perkin, 1474?–1499, pretender to the English throne, b. Tournai. He lived in Flanders and later in Portugal and arrived in Ireland in the employ of a silk merchant in 1491. There adherents ...