Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Aymer of Valence āˈmər, vəlĕnsˈ, väläNsˈ [key], d. 1260, bishop of Winchester; son of Isabella (widow of King John of England) and Hugh X, count of La Marche. He was thus half-brother of King...

(Encyclopedia) Fowler, Henry Watson, 1858–1933, English lexicographer, b. Devon, educated at Oxford. Both he and his brother, Francis G. Fowler (1870–1918), had been teachers before they began their literary col...

(Encyclopedia) Ferdinand II, 1810–59, king of the Two Sicilies (1830–59), son and successor of Francis I. Although initially he sought to improve the wretched conditions of his kingdom, he soon relapsed into the...

(Encyclopedia) Blanche of Castile bläNsh, kăstēlˈ [key], 1185?–1252, queen of Louis VIII of France and regent during the minority (1226–34) of their son Louis IX. A forceful and capable ruler, she checked th...

(Encyclopedia) Orléans, city (1990 pop. 107,965), capital of Loiret dept., N central France, on the Loire River. A commercial and transportation center, it has food-processing, tobacco, machine-building, electrical...

(Encyclopedia) Stafford, Edward, 3d duke of Buckingham, 1478–1521, English nobleman; son of Henry Stafford, 2d duke of Buckingham. The attainder (1483) of his father was reversed on the accession (1485) of Henry V...

(Encyclopedia) Liddell Hart, Sir Basil Henry lĭˈdəl härt [key], 1895–1970, English author and military strategist, b. Paris. His education at Cambridge was interrupted by World War I, in which he served (1914�...

(Encyclopedia) Sylvester I, Saint, pope (314–35), a Roman; successor of St. Miltiades (St. Melchiades). He was pope under the reign of Emperor Constantine I, who built for him the Lateran and other churches. St. S...

(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) John VI, 1769–1826, king of Portugal (1816–26), son of Maria I and Peter III. When his mother became insane, John assumed the reins of government (1792), although he did not formally become regent...