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Masudi, Abd al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Husayn

(Encyclopedia)Masudi, Abd al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Husayn mäso͞oˈdē [key], d. 956, Arab historian, geographer, and philosopher, b. Baghdad. He traveled in Spain, Russia, India, Sri Lanka, and China and spent his las...

Mansur, al-, d. 775, 2d Abbasid caliph

(Encyclopedia)Mansur, al- äl-mänso͝orˈ [key] [Arab.,=the victorious], d. 775, 2d Abbasid caliph (754–75) and founder of the city of Baghdad. His name was in full Abu Jafar abd-Allah al-Mansur. He was brother ...

Abdül Mecid

(Encyclopedia)Abdül Mecid: see Abd al-Majid.

Abd ar-Rahman I, emir of Córdoba

(Encyclopedia)Abd ar-Rahman I, d. 788, first Umayyad emir of Córdoba (756–88). The only survivor of the Abbasid massacre (750) of his family in Damascus, he fled from Syria and eventually went to Spain. There he...

Mahmud II

(Encyclopedia)Mahmud II, 1784–1839, Ottoman sultan (1808–39), younger son of Abd al-Hamid I. He was raised to the throne of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) upon the deposition of his brother, Mustafa IV, and contin...

Morocco, country, Africa

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Morocco mərŏkˈō [key], officially Kingdom of Morocco, kingdom (2015 est. pop. 34,803,000), 171,834 sq mi (445,050 sq km), NW Africa. Morocco is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea (N), the At...

Ladislaus IV, king of Poland

(Encyclopedia)Ladislaus IV, 1595–1648, king of Poland (1632–48), son and successor of Sigismund III. His reign was marked by struggles with his subjects and wars with the Swedes, the Russians, and the Ottomans....

Louis IV, Holy Roman emperor

(Encyclopedia)Louis IV or Louis the Bavarian, 1287?–1347, Holy Roman emperor (1328–47) and German king (1314–47), duke of Upper Bavaria. After the death of Holy Roman Emperor Henry VII the Luxemburg party amo...

Martin IV, d. 1285, pope

(Encyclopedia)Martin IV, d. 1285, pope (1281–85), a Frenchman named Simon de Brie; successor of Nicholas III. He was chancellor under Louis IX of France and was created cardinal by Urban IV. He was thus a support...

John IV, king of Portugal

(Encyclopedia)John IV, 1604–56, king of Portugal (1640–56). He succeeded as duke of Braganza in 1630. Descended from Manuel I and in illegitimate line from John I, he had the strongest claim to the Portuguese t...