Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Charles VIII, 1470–98, king of France (1483–98), son and successor of Louis XI. He first reigned under the regency of his sister Anne de Beaujeu. After his marriage (1491) to Anne of Brittany, he ...

(Encyclopedia) Haig, Alexander Meigs, Jr., 1924–2010, American general and public official, U.S. secretary of state (1981–82), b. Philadelphia, grad. West Point, 1947. He served in Korea (1950–51) and held sev...

(Encyclopedia) Azov, Sea of, Gr. Maiotis, Lat. Palus Maeotis, ancient Rus. Surozhskoye, northern arm of the Black Sea, c.14,000 sq mi (36,300 sq km), shared by S European Russia and E Ukraine. The shallow sea (maxim...

(Encyclopedia) Bute, John Stuart, 3d earl of byo͞ot [key], 1713–92, British politician. He was prominent as a friend of Frederick Louis, prince of Wales, as early as 1747 and became the tutor of Frederick's impre...

(Encyclopedia) Ivan Asen: see Ivan II, czar of Bulgaria. ...

(Encyclopedia) Fabergé, Peter Carl fäbĕrzhāˈ [key], 1846–1920, Russian goldsmith and jeweler, b. St. Petersburg. Sometimes described as a latter-day Cellini, he was descended from Huguenots and inherited (187...

(Encyclopedia) Yermak or Ermak both: yĕrmäkˈ [key], d. 1584?, Russian conqueror of Siberia; his name also occurs as Yermak Timofeyevich. The leader of a band of independent Russian Cossacks, he spent his early ca...

(Encyclopedia) Robert of Courtenay kôrtˈnē, ko͝ortənāˈ [key], d. 1228, Latin emperor of Constantinople (1218–28). His father, Peter of Courtenay, was elected by the Latin nobles to succeed Henry of Flanders...

(Encyclopedia) Moldavia mŏldāˈvēə [key], historic Romanian province (c.14,700 sq mi/38,100 sq km), extending from the Carpathians in Romania east to the Dnieper River in Moldova. The region was part of the Ro...

(Encyclopedia) Charles I, 1288–1342, king of Hungary (1308–42), founder of the Angevin dynasty in Hungary; grandson of Charles II of Naples, who had married a daughter of Stephen V of Hungary. On the death (1301...