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Philip of Swabia

(Encyclopedia)Philip of Swabia swāˈbēə [key], 1176?–1208, German king (1198–1208), son of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I. After the death (1197) of his brother, German King and Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI, ...

Simeon I

(Encyclopedia)Simeon I, c.863–927, ruler (893–927) and later first czar of Bulgaria. He was placed on the throne by his father, Boris I, who had returned from a monastery to depose his first son, Vladimir (reig...

Sforza

(Encyclopedia)Sforza sfôrˈtsä [key], Italian family that ruled the duchy of Milan from 1450 to 1535. Rising from peasant origins, the Sforzas became condottieri and used this military position to become rulers i...

Waldenses

(Encyclopedia)Waldenses wôldĕnˈsēz [key] or Waldensians, Protestant religious group of medieval origin, called in French Vaudois. They originated in the late 12th cent. as the Poor Men of Lyons, a band organize...

Vatican City

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Vatican City vătˈĭkən [key] or Holy See, officially Holy See (State of the Vatican City), independent state (2015 est. pop. 1,000), 108.7 acres (44 hectares), within the city of Rome, Italy...

Alfonso I, king of Portugal

(Encyclopedia)Alfonso I, 1109?–1185, first king of Portugal, son of Henry of Burgundy. After his father's death (1112), his mother, Countess Teresa, ruled the county of Portugal with the help of her Spanish lover...

Gregory XII

(Encyclopedia)Gregory XII, c.1327–1417, pope (1406–15), a Venetian named Angelo Correr; successor of Innocent VII. As a condition of election, Gregory promised to do everything possible to end the Great Schism,...

alexandrine

(Encyclopedia)alexandrine ălˌĭgzănˈdrēnˌ, –drīnˌ [key], in prosody, a line of 12 syllables (or 13 if the last syllable is unstressed). Its name probably derives from the fact that some poems of the 12th ...

Innocent III

(Encyclopedia)Innocent III, b. 1160 or 1161, d. 1216, pope (1198–1216), an Italian, b. Anagni, named Lotario di Segni; successor of Celestine III. Innocent III was succeeded by Honorius III. Amid all his politi...

Bithynia

(Encyclopedia)Bithynia bĭthĭnˈēə [key], ancient country of NW Asia Minor, in present-day Turkey. The original inhabitants were Thracians who established themselves as independent and were given some autonomy a...