Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Beaufort, François de Vendôme, duc de fräNswäˈ də väNdōmˈ dük də bōfôrˈ [key], 1616–69, French courtier and politician; grandson of King Henry IV of France and his mistress Gabrielle d...

(Encyclopedia) States-General or Estates-General, diet or national assembly in which the chief estates (see estate) of a nation—usually clergy, nobles, and towns (or commons)—were represented as separate bodies....

(Encyclopedia) Margaret of Valois välwäˈ [key], 1553–1615, queen of France and Navarre, daughter of King Henry II of France and of Catherine de' Medici. She was known as Queen Margot. Her wedding (1572) with He...

(Encyclopedia) Æthelred ĕˈthəlrĕd, ăˈ– [key], d.871, king of Wessex (865–71), son of Æthelwulf and brother of Alfred. He succeeded his brother Æthelbert as king of Wessex and as overlord of Kent and pos...

(Encyclopedia) L'Amour, Louis, 1908–88, American writer of western fiction, b. Jamestown, N.Dak., as Louis Dearborn LaMoore. He began writing in the 1940s, contributing stories to magazines under the name Tex Burn...

(Encyclopedia) Maximilian I, 1756–1825, king (1806–25) and elector (1799–1806) of Bavaria as Maximilian IV Joseph. His alliance with French Emperor Napoleon I earned him the royal title and vast territorial in...

(Encyclopedia) Saint Louis University, mainly at St. Louis, Mo.; Jesuit; coeducational; opened 1818 as an academy, became a college 1820, chartered as a university 1832. Parks College (est. 1927 as Parks College of ...

(Encyclopedia) Roses, Wars of the, traditional name given to the intermittent struggle (1455–85) for the throne of England between the noble houses of York (whose badge was a white rose) and Lancaster (later assoc...

(Encyclopedia) Coxetter, Louis Mitchell kŏkˈsətər [key], 1818–73, Confederate privateersman and blockade-runner, b. Nova Scotia. He settled in Charleston, S.C., and in the Civil War he captained the ship Jeffe...

(Encyclopedia) Savoy, house of, dynasty of Western Europe that ruled Savoy and Piedmont from the 11th cent., the kingdom of Sicily from 1714 to 1718, the kingdom of Sardinia from 1720 to 1861, and the kingdom of Ita...