Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Pekah pēˈkə [key], in the Bible, king of Israel. He was a general under King Pekahiah and murdered him for the throne. As the head of an anti-Assyrian coalition, he went to war with Ahaz of Judah. ...

(Encyclopedia) Niel, Adolphe ädôlfˈ nyĕl [key], 1802–69, marshal of France under Napoleon III. He served with the corps of engineers in the Algerian campaigns, in the French intervention against the Roman repu...

(Encyclopedia) Marenzio, Luca lo͞oˈkä märĕnˈtsēō [key], 1553–1599, Italian composer, in whose works the Renaissance madrigal reached its peak of development. He served the Gonzaga family in Mantua, the Med...

(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) Ducas dyo͞oˈkəs [key], Greek family and dynasty of Constantinople. Some of its members were Byzantine emperors—Constantine X, Michael VII, Alexius V, and John III. ...

(Encyclopedia) Écija āˈthēhä [key], city, Seville prov., S Spain, in Andalusia, on a hill overlooking t...

(Encyclopedia) Blarney, village, Co. Cork, SE Republic of Ireland. Those who kiss the Blarney Stone, placed in an almost inaccessible position near the top of the thick stone wall of the 15th-century castle, are sup...

(Encyclopedia) Carmona kärmōˈnä [key], town, Sevilla prov., SW Spain, in Andalusia. It is a farm center ...

(Encyclopedia) Albemarle, Arnold Joost van Keppel, 1st earl of ălˈbəmärl [key], 1669–1718, Dutch adherent and constant companion of William III of England. He accompanied the future king to England (1688) and ...

(Encyclopedia) Alexander I, 1078?–1124, king of Scotland (1107–24), son of Malcolm III and St. Margaret of Scotland. He succeeded his brother Edgar, who had divided the kingdom so that Alexander ruled only N of ...