Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Ramses II both: rămˈəsēzˌ [key], d. 1225 b.c., king of ancient Egypt, of the XIX dynasty. The son of Seti I, Ramses was not the heir to the throne but usurped it from his brother. He reigned for ...

(Encyclopedia) French art, the artistic production of the region that constitutes the historic nation of France. See also French architecture. The innovations of postimpressionism, combined with the influence of C...

(Encyclopedia) Balzac, Jean Louis Guez de də bälzäkˈ [key], 1597?–1654, French writer. His Lettres (1624, tr. 1634) and other writings were a great influence in reforming French prose. Their style was marked ...

(Encyclopedia) Pius II pīˈəs [key], 1405–64, pope (1458–64), an Italian named Enea Silvio de' Piccolomini (often in Latin, Aeneas Silvius), renamed Pienza after him, b. Corsigniano; successor of Calixtus III....

(Encyclopedia) Hoche, Louis Lazare läzärˈ ôsh [key], 1768–97, French general in the French Revolutionary Wars. He entered the army at the age of 16 and rose rapidly to lieutenant in the national guard by 1792....

(Encyclopedia) King Horn, probably the earliest English-language romance, written c.1250 and containing about 1,500 lines. It is by an anonymous author and is based on an earlier work in French. Emphasizing action a...

(Encyclopedia) Philip II, 382–336 b.c., king of Macedon (359–336 b.c.), son of Amyntas II. While a hostage in Thebes (367–364), he gained much knowledge of Greece and its people. He was appointed regent for Am...

(Encyclopedia) émigré āmēgrāˈ [key], in French history, a refugee, usually royalist, who fled the French Revolution and took up residence in a foreign land. The émigrés comprised all classes, but were dispro...

(Encyclopedia) Leopold I, 1790–1865, king of the Belgians (1831–65); youngest son of Francis Frederick, duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. After serving as a page at the court of Napoleon I and as a general of the Ru...

(Encyclopedia) Roger II, c.1095–1154, count (1101–30) and first king (1130–54) of Sicily, son and successor of Roger I. He conquered (1127) Apulia and Salerno and sided with the antipope Anacletus II against P...