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Cesis

(Encyclopedia)Cesis tsāˈsēs, –zēz [key], Ger. Wenden, town, central Latvia, on the Gauja River. It is...

(Encyclopedia)Charles XII, 1682–1718, king of Sweden (1697–1718), son and successor of Charles XI. The regency under which he succeeded was abolished in 1697 at the request of the Riksdag. At the coronation he ...

Piast

(Encyclopedia)Piast pyäst [key], 1st dynasty of Polish dukes and kings. Its name was derived from that of its legendary ancestor, a simple peasant. The first historic member, Duke Mieszko I (reigned 962–92), beg...

Teutonic Knights

(Encyclopedia)Teutonic Knights or Teutonic Order to͞otŏnˈĭk [key], German military religious order founded (1190–91) during the siege of Acre in the Third Crusade. It was originally known as the Order of the ...

Davout, Louis Nicolas

(Encyclopedia)Davout, Louis Nicolas lwē nēkôläˈ dävo͞oˈ [key], 1770–1823, marshal of France. One of Napoleon's ablest generals, Davout defeated a Prussian army at Auerstedt (1806) and played a brilliant p...

Peretz, Isaac Loeb

(Encyclopedia)Peretz or Perez, Isaac Loeb both: pĕrˈĕts; lōbˈ [key], 1852–1915, Jewish poet, novelist, playwright, and lawyer, b. Zamosc, Poland. A voice of the Haskalah, or Jewish Enlightenment, Peretz was ...

Polignac, Melchior de

(Encyclopedia)Polignac, Melchior de də pôlēnyäkˈ [key], 1661–1742, French diplomat, churchman, and author, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. As ambassador to Poland he directed (1697) the unsuccessful ...

Sanders, Nicholas

(Encyclopedia)Sanders or Sander, Nicholas, 1530–81, English Roman Catholic churchman. He became prominent at Oxford as an ally of Cardinal Pole and had to flee on the accession of Elizabeth I. He attended the Cou...

Vasily III

(Encyclopedia)Vasily III (Vasily Ivanovich) vəsēˈlyē ēväˈnəvĭch [key], 1479–1533, grand duke of Moscow (1505–33). Carrying on the policies of his father, Ivan III, he rounded out the territorial consol...

Dubinsky, David

(Encyclopedia)Dubinsky, David do͞obĭnˈskē [key], 1892–1982, American labor leader, president (1932–66) of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU), b. Brest-Litovsk, Poland. He was a baker in ...