Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Ferdinand I, 1751–1825, king of the Two Sicilies (1816–25). He had previously been king of Naples (1759–99, 1799–1805, 1815–16) as Ferdinand IV and king of Sicily (1759–1816) as Ferdinand ...

(Encyclopedia) Marie de' Medici mĕdˈĭchē [key], 1573–1642, queen of France, second wife of King Henry IV and daughter of Francesco de' Medici, grand duke of Tuscany. She was married to Henry in 1600. After his...

(Encyclopedia) Burgh, Hubert de hyo͞oˈbərt də bûrg, bûrˈə [key], d. 1243, chief justiciar of England under kings John and Henry III. Having served as a royal minister and commander in France, he was appointe...

(Encyclopedia) Louis of Baden bäˈdən [key], 1655–1707, margrave of Baden (1677–1707), military commander in the service of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1689 he was made chief commander of the imperial army in Hu...

(Encyclopedia) Michael VIII (Michael Palaeologus), c.1225–1282, Byzantine emperor (1261–82), first of the Palaeologus dynasty. Following the murder of the regent for Emperor John IV of Nicaea, he was appointed (...

(Encyclopedia) Italian Wars, 1494–1559, series of regional wars brought on by the efforts of the great European powers to control the small independent states of Italy. Renaissance Italy was split into numerous ri...

(Encyclopedia) Bourrienne, Louis Antoine Fauvelet de lwē äNtwänˈ fōvəlāˈ də bo͞orēĕnˈ [key], 1769–1834, French political figure. He was a friend and for a time (1797–1802) private secretary to Napol...

(Encyclopedia) Cauchy, Augustin Louis, Baron ōgüstăNˈ lwē bärôNˈ kōshēˈ [key], 1789–1857, French mathematician. He was professor simultaneously (1816–30) at the École polytechnique, the Sorbonne, and...

(Encyclopedia) Velay vəlāˈ [key], region, E central France, in the Massif Central and partly in Haute-Loire dept. Partly volcanic in origin, the region has many high arid plateaus, some of startling beauty. Le Pu...

(Encyclopedia) Sforza, Ludovico or Lodovico , lō– [key], b. 1451 or 1452, d. 1508, duke of Milan (1494–99); younger son of Francesco I Sforza. He was called Ludovico il Moro [the Moor] because of his swarthy co...