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Spinola, Ambrogio

(Encyclopedia)Spinola, Ambrogio ämbrôˈjō spēˈnōlä [key], 1569–1630, Spanish general, b. Italy, of a noble Genoese family. In 1602, Spinola entered Spanish service in the Netherlands. He took (1604) Ostend...

Rooke, Sir George

(Encyclopedia)Rooke, Sir George ro͝ok [key], 1650–1709, English admiral. In the War of the Grand Alliance he defeated a French fleet under the comte de Tourville in the battle of La Hogue (1692) and by good judg...

Medici, Gian Gastone de'

(Encyclopedia)Medici, Gian Gastone de' dā mĕˈdĭchē, Ital. māˈdēchē [key], 1671–1737, grand duke of Tuscany (1723–37); son and successor of Cosimo III de' Medici. Gian Gastone was the last male member ...

Marie Leszczynska

(Encyclopedia)Marie Leszczynska lĕshchĭnˈskə [key], 1703–68, queen of France, wife of Louis XV, and daughter of Stanislaus I of Poland. Married in 1725, she bore 10 children and was the grandmother of Louis X...

Karajan, Herbert von

(Encyclopedia)Karajan, Herbert von käräyänˈ [key], 1908–89, Austrian conductor. Karajan began his conducting career in 1927. After World War II his reputation spread through Europe to the United States. He to...

Henry IV, king of France

(Encyclopedia)Henry IV, 1553–1610, king of France (1589–1610) and, as Henry III, of Navarre (1572–1610), son of Antoine de Bourbon and Jeanne d'Albret; first of the Bourbon kings of France. Henry's marri...

Kraus, Karl

(Encyclopedia)Kraus, Karl kärl krous [key], 1874–1936, Austrian essayist and poet, b. Bohemia. His satirical review the Fackel lashed out at hypocrisy, intellectual corruption, and the machine age. His voluminou...

Portland, William Bentinck, 1st earl of

(Encyclopedia)Portland, William Bentinck, 1st earl of, 1649–1709, Dutch statesman in England. He was William III's most trusted personal adviser. In 1677 he engaged in negotiating the marriage of William (then pr...

Louis of Baden

(Encyclopedia)Louis of Baden bäˈdən [key], 1655–1707, margrave of Baden (1677–1707), military commander in the service of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1689 he was made chief commander of the imperial army in Hu...

Chamoun, Camille

(Encyclopedia)Chamoun, Camille kämēˈyə shämōnˈ [key], 1900–1987, Lebanese political leader. Chamoun held a variety of governmental posts before serving as president of Lebanon (1952–58). A Maronite Chris...