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Alexius IV

(Encyclopedia)Alexius IV (Alexius Angelus), d. 1204, Byzantine emperor (1203–4), son of Isaac II. When his father was deposed, Alexius fled to Italy and then went to Germany. Encouraged by his brother-in-law, Phi...

Charolais

(Encyclopedia)Charolais shärôlāˈ [key], small region, Saône-et-Loire dept., E central France, in Burgundy, in the Massif Central, named after the town of Charolles. Cattle breeding is the chief occupation. The...

Ortelius, Abraham

(Encyclopedia)Ortelius, Abraham ôrtēˈlyəs [key], 1527–98, Flemish geographer, of German origin. Next to his contemporary Mercator, he is the most renowned of the 16th-century Flemish school of geography. He t...

Wyatt, Sir Thomas, c.1520–54, English soldier and conspirator

(Encyclopedia)Wyatt, Sir Thomas, c.1520–54, English soldier and conspirator; son of the poet Sir Thomas Wyatt. In Jan., 1554, when Queen Mary's intention to marry Philip II of Spain was announced, Wyatt joined a ...

Anne of Austria

(Encyclopedia)Anne of Austria, 1601–66, queen of France, daughter of King Philip III of Spain. Married to the French king Louis XIII (1615), she was neglected by her husband and sought the society of the court in...

Dekker, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Dekker, Thomas, c,1570–1632, English dramatist and pamphleteer. Little is known of his life except that he frequently suffered from poverty and served several prison terms for debt. He began his lit...

Alba, Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, duque de

(Encyclopedia)Alba or Alva, Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, duque de ălˈbə, ălˈvə, Span. both: fārnänˈdō älˈvärāth dā tōlāˈᵺō do͞oˈkā dā älˈvä [key], b. 1507 or 1508, d. 1582, Spanish gener...

Herod

(Encyclopedia)Herod, dynasty reigning in Palestine at the time of Jesus. As a dynasty the Herods depended largely on the power of Rome. They are usually blamed for the state of virtual anarchy in Palestine at the b...

Eyck, van

(Encyclopedia)Eyck, van văn īk [key], family of Flemish painters, the brothers Hubert van Eyck, c.1370–1426, and Jan van Eyck, c.1390–1441. Of the van Eycks' works that have survived, the largest is an alta...

Luchaire, Achille

(Encyclopedia)Luchaire, Achille äshēlˈ lüshĕrˈ [key], 1846–1908, French historian. He edited, in collaboration with Berthold Zeller, L'Histoire de France racontée par les contemporains (65 vol., 1880–90)...