Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) William I or William the Conqueror, 1027?–1087, king of England (1066–87). Earnest and resourceful, William was not only one of the greatest of English monarchs but a pivotal figure in European hi...

(Encyclopedia) Oudinot, Nicolas Charles nēkôläˈ shärl o͞odēnōˈ [key], 1767–1847, French soldier. A veteran of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, he was created marshal of France (1809) and duke...

(Encyclopedia) Urban V, 1310–70, pope (1362–70), a Provençal named Guillaume de Grimoard; successor of Innocent VI. He was a Benedictine renowned for his knowledge of canon law. The great event of Urban's ponti...

(Encyclopedia) Armagnac ärmänyäkˈ [key], region and former county, SW France, in Gascony, roughly coextensive with Gers dept. Auch is the chief town. Armagnac is famous for the brandy bearing the same name. The ...

(Encyclopedia) Edward II, 1284–1327, king of England (1307–27), son of Edward I and Eleanor of Castile, called Edward of Carnarvon for his birthplace in Wales. When trouble threatened with the new king of Fran...

(Encyclopedia) Coligny, Gaspard de Châtillon, comte de gäspärˈ də shätēyôNˈ kôNt də kōlēnyēˈ [key], 1519–72, French Protestant leader. A nephew of Anne, duc de Montmorency, he came to the French cou...

(Encyclopedia) Leo IV (Leo the Khazar), d. 780, Byzantine emperor (775–80), son and successor of Constantine V. He owed his nickname to his mother, a Khazar princess. Leo tempered the iconoclastic excesses of his ...

(Encyclopedia) Lalemant, Charles shärl lälmäNˈ [key], 1587–1674, French Jesuit missionary in North America; brother of Jérôme Lalemant and uncle of Gabriel Lalemant. He arrived in Quebec in 1625 and acted as...

(Encyclopedia) La Noue, François de fräNswäˈ də lä no͞o [key], 1531–91, French Protestant general in the Wars of Religion (see Religion, Wars of). He fought at Jarnac (1569) and Moncontour (1569). In 1570 h...

(Encyclopedia) Aragón, house of, family that ruled in Aragón, Catalonia, Majorca, Sicily, Naples, Sardinia, Athens, and other territories in the Middle Ages. It was descended from Ramiro I of Aragón (1035–63), ...