Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Guelphs gwĕlfs [key], European dynasty tracing its descent from the Swabian count Guelph or Welf (9th cent.), whose daughter Judith married the Frankish emperor Louis I. Guelph III (d. 1055) was made...

(Encyclopedia) Brühl, Heinrich, Graf von hīnˈrĭkh gräfˈ fən brül [key], 1700–1763, Saxon statesman. He was adviser to Augustus II, king of Poland and elector of Saxony, and gained control of both governmen...

(Encyclopedia) Olomouc ôˈlômōts [key], Ger. Olmütz, city (1991 pop. 105,537), E central Czech Republic, in Moravia, on the Morava River. Olomouc is an industrial city, with factories producing machinery, applia...

(Encyclopedia) Alexander, 1893–1920, king of the Hellenes (1917–20), second son of Constantine I. After his father's forced abdication, he succeeded to the Greek throne with the support of the Allies, who distru...

(Encyclopedia) Sophia Charlotte zōfēˈä shärlôtˈə [key], 1668–1705, first queen of Prussia, second wife of King Frederick I, daughter of Electress Sophia of Hanover, and sister of King George I of England. ...

(Encyclopedia) Charles VII, 1697–1745, Holy Roman emperor (1742–45) and, as Charles Albert, elector of Bavaria (1726–45). Having married a daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I, he refused to recognize the p...

(Encyclopedia) Frederick V, elector palatine: see Frederick the Winter King. ...

(Encyclopedia) Rhenish Prussia: see Rhine Province. ...

(Encyclopedia) Northern War, 1700–1721, general European conflict, fought in N and E Europe at the same time that the War of the Spanish Succession was fought in the west and the south. It arose chiefly from the d...

(Encyclopedia) impressment, forcible enrollment of recruits for military duty. Before the establishment of conscription, many countries supplemented their militia and mercenary troops by impressment. In England, imp...