Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Vladislav vläˈdyĭsläf [key], Czech version of the name Ladislaus. Two kings of Bohemia who were thus named were Vladislav I (who was Ladislaus V, king of Hungary) and Vladislav II (who was Uladisl...

(Encyclopedia) Achaemenids ăkˌəmĕnˈĭdz [key], dynasty of ancient Persia. They were descended presumably from one Achaemenes, a minor ruler in a mountainous district of SW Iran. His successors, when Elam declin...

(Encyclopedia) Cateau-Cambrésis, Treaty of kätōˈ-käNbrāzēˈ [key], 1559, concluded at Le Cateau, France, by representatives of Henry II of France, Philip II of Spain, and Elizabeth I of England. It put an end...

(Encyclopedia) Paul, 1901–64, king of the Hellenes (1947–64), brother and successor of George II. He married (1938) Princess Frederika of Brunswick. During Paul's reign Greece followed a pro-Western policy, and ...

(Encyclopedia) Isonzo ēzônˈtsō [key], river, 87 mi (140 km) long, rising in the Julian Alps, NW Slovenia, and flowing S through Slovenia, where it is known as the Soča, then SW through NE Italy before emptying ...

(Encyclopedia) Braudel, Fernand, 1902–85, French historian. He studied under Lucien Febvre and was a founder of the Annales school of historiography. As a German prisoner-of-war during World War II, he wrote his m...

(Encyclopedia) Vibo Valentia vēˈbō välānˈtyä [key], town (1991 pop. 34,836), Calabria, S Italy, near the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is an agricultural and commercial center. A flourishing Roman town, Vibo was destroy...

(Encyclopedia) Raymond Berengar IV bĕrˈəngär [key], d. 1162, count of Barcelona (1131–62). He married Petronilla, daughter and heir of King Ramiro II of Aragón, after whose abdication (1137) Raymond also rule...

(Encyclopedia) Elizabeth of Valois vălˈwä, Fr. välwäˈ [key], 1545–68, queen of Spain, daughter of Henry II of France. Originally intended to wed Don Carlos, son of Philip II of Spain, she was married (1559) ...

(Encyclopedia) Gloucester, Henry William Frederick Albert, duke of glŏsˈstər, glôˈstər [key], 1900–1974, British prince; third son of George V, brother of Edward VIII and George VI, and uncle of Elizabeth II...