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Rastatt

(Encyclopedia)Rastatt räˈshtät, –stät [key], city (1994 pop. 48,574), Baden-Württemberg, SW Germany, on the Murg River, near the French border; sometimes spelled Rastadt. Manufactures include machinery, lumb...

Peter the Cruel

(Encyclopedia)Peter the Cruel, 1334–69, Spanish king of Castile and León (1350–69), son and successor of Alfonso XI. His desertion of his wife, Blanche of Bourbon, for María Padilla and his favors to the Padi...

Fleury, André Hercule de

(Encyclopedia)Fleury, André Hercule de äNdrāˈ ĕrkülˈ də flörēˈ [key], 1653–1743, French statesman, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. Tutor of the young Louis XV, he became, at the age of 73, chief...

Cadogan, William Cadogan, 1st Earl

(Encyclopedia)Cadogan, William Cadogan, 1st Earl kədŭˈgən [key], 1675–1726, British general and diplomat. He is remembered chiefly as the faithful friend and brilliant subordinate of the 1st duke of Marlborou...

Ferdinand VII, king of Spain

(Encyclopedia)Ferdinand VII, 1784–1833, king of Spain (1808–33), son of Charles IV and María Luisa. Excluded from a role in the government, he became the center of intrigues against the chief minister Godoy an...

hidalgo, in Spanish nobility

(Encyclopedia)hidalgo hēdälˈgō [key] [contraction of Span. hijo de algo=son of something], term designating the lowest degree of Spanish nobility, a rank above the ordinary gentry but below the great lords. The...

Netherlands, Austrian and Spanish

(Encyclopedia)Netherlands, Austrian and Spanish, that part of the Low Countries that, from 1482 until 1794, remained under the control of the imperial house of Hapsburg. The area corresponds roughly to modern Belgi...

Spanish art and architecture

(Encyclopedia)Spanish art and architecture, works of art and architecture produced in what is now the European country of Spain. Open to a wide variety of cultural influences, the art and architecture of Spain have...

Hohenfriedeberg

(Encyclopedia)Hohenfriedeberg hōˌənfrēˈdəbərk [key], Pol. Dobromierz, town, Dolnośląskie prov., SW Poland. In 1745 it was the site of the victory of Frederick II of Prussia over the Austrian and Saxon forc...

Gonzaga

(Encyclopedia)Gonzaga gōntsäˈgä [key], Italian princely house that ruled Mantua (1328–1708), Montferrat (1536–1708), and Guastalla (1539–1746). The family name is derived from the castle of Gonzaga, a vil...