Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Demetrius II, d. 229 b.c., king of Macedon (239–229 b.c.), son of Antigonus II. His reign was a confusion of wars and invasions, mostly concerned with possession of Epirus. The Aetolian League and t...

(Encyclopedia) William I or William the Conqueror, 1027?–1087, king of England (1066–87). Earnest and resourceful, William was not only one of the greatest of English monarchs but a pivotal figure in European hi...

(Encyclopedia) Tancred (Tancred of Lecce) tăngˈkrĭd;, lĕˈchā [key], b. 1130 or 1134, d. 1194, king of Sicily (1190–94), illegitimate son of Roger of Apulia and grandson of Roger II of Sicily. On the death of...

(Encyclopedia) Diane de France dyän də fräNs [key], 1538–1619, duchess of Angoulême; illegitimate daughter of King Henry II of France. She was legitimized in 1547. She was married to François, eldest son of C...

(Encyclopedia) Mithridates VI: see Mithradates VI. ...

(Encyclopedia) Stamma, Philip or Philipp, c.1705–55, Syrian-born chess pioneer. He lived in France and Italy before settling in England c.1737. There he attained a reputation as a fine chess player, popularized th...

(Encyclopedia) Philip, half-brother of Herod Antipas, called Herod Philip: see Herod, dynasty. ...

(Encyclopedia) Anne of Austria, 1601–66, queen of France, daughter of King Philip III of Spain. Married to the French king Louis XIII (1615), she was neglected by her husband and sought the society of the court in...

(Encyclopedia) Louis XIII, 1601–43, king of France (1610–43). He succeeded his father, Henry IV, under the regency of his mother, Marie de' Medici. He married Anne of Austria in 1615. Even after being declared o...

(Encyclopedia) John VI (John Cantacuzene) kănˌtəkyo͞ozēnˈ [key], c.1292–1383, Byzantine emperor (1347–54). He was chief minister under Andronicus III, after whose death he proclaimed himself emperor and ma...