(Encyclopedia) Ssu-ma Ch'ienSsu-ma Ch'iens&oobreve;ˈmä chyĕn [key], 145?–90? b.c., Chinese historian; sometimes called the Father of Chinese History. He succeeded his father, Ssu-ma T'an, as…
(Encyclopedia) Basil II, c.958–1025, Byzantine emperor (976–1025), surnamed Bulgaroktonos [Bulgar slayer]. With his brother, Constantine VIII, he nominally succeeded his father, Romanus II, in 963,…
(Encyclopedia) Bethlen, GabrielBethlen, Gabrielbĕthˈlən [key], 1580–1629, prince of Transylvania (1613–29). He was chief adviser of Stephen Bocskay and was elected prince after the assassination of…
(Encyclopedia) investiture, in feudalism, ceremony by which an overlord transferred a fief to a vassal or by which, in ecclesiastical law, an elected cleric received the pastoral ring and staff (the…
(Encyclopedia) Rudolf, 1858–89, Austrian archduke, crown prince of Austria and Hungary; only son of Emperor Francis Joseph and Empress Elizabeth. Upon his mysterious death at Mayerling near Vienna (…
(Encyclopedia) Theodosius, d. 376, Roman general under Valentinian I. He defeated (368–69) the Picts and Scots in Britain and the Alemanni in Gaul (369). He suppressed (372–74) a Berber uprising in N…
(Encyclopedia) IpirangaIpirangaēpērängˈgə [key], stream flowing near the city of São Paulo, Brazil. On its banks the regent Pedro (later Emperor Pedro I) issued the Grito do Ipiranga, the declaration…
(Encyclopedia) SimancasSimancassēmängˈkäs [key], village, Valladolid prov., NW Spain, in Castile and León. The castle, an old fort rebuilt in the 15th cent., contains the Spanish national archives.…
(Encyclopedia) Agatha, SaintAgatha, Saintăgˈəthə [key], 3d cent., Sicilian virgin, martyred under Roman Emperor Decius. She is mentioned in the Martyrology of Jerome and the Calendar of Carthage in…
