Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Æthelbert, d. 865, king of Wessex (860–65), son of Æthelwulf. After the death of his father in 858 he ruled Kent, Surrey, Sussex, and Essex, and he reunited them with Wessex when in 860 he succeed...

(Encyclopedia) Ferdinand, 1865–1927, king of Romania (1914–27), nephew of Carol I. The second son of the Prussian prince, Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, he was designated successor to the heirless Carol I ...

(Encyclopedia) king snake, name for a number of species of the genus Lampropeltis, nonvenomous, egg-laying, constricting snakes of North America which show much variation in color and markings. The common king snake...

(Encyclopedia) Stuart or Stewart, Alexander, duke of Albany, 1454?–1485, Scottish nobleman; second son of James II of Scotland. He was captured (1463) by the English while he was at sea en route to the Low Countri...

(Encyclopedia) Goldsborough, Louis Malesherbes mălzûrbˈ gōlˈbərə [key], 1805–77, American naval officer, b. Washington, D.C. Appointed a midshipman in 1812, he fought in the Mediterranean and in the Mexican...

(Encyclopedia) King, Rufus, 1755–1827, American political leader, b. Scarboro, Maine (then a district of Massachusetts). He served briefly in the American Revolution and practiced law in Massachusetts before servi...

(Encyclopedia) Fizeau, Armand Hippolyte Louis ärmäNˈ ēpôlētˈ lwē fēzōˈ [key], 1819–96, French physicist. The first to measure (1849) the velocity of light in air, he also determined its speed in water. ...

(Encyclopedia) Robert of Jumièges zhümyĕzhˈ [key], fl. 1037–52, Norman churchman in England, b. Normandy. As abbot of Jumièges he won the favor of Edward (later Edward the Confessor) during Edward's exile in ...

(Encyclopedia) Elizabeth, 1596–1662, queen of Bohemia, daughter of James I of England. Her beauty attracted most of the royal suitors of Europe (she was nicknamed the “Queen of Hearts”), but she was married (1...

(Encyclopedia) Pepin I pĕpˈĭn [key], d. 838, king of Aquitaine (817–38), son of Louis I, emperor of the West. He joined in the uprisings of 830 and 833 against Louis, but each time helped to restore him shortly...