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Philip II, king of France

(Encyclopedia)Philip II or Philip Augustus, 1165–1223, king of France (1180–1223), son of Louis VII. During his reign the royal domains were more than doubled, and the royal power was consolidated at the expens...

Philip II, king of Macedon

(Encyclopedia)Philip II, 382–336 b.c., king of Macedon (359–336 b.c.), son of Amyntas II. While a hostage in Thebes (367–364), he gained much knowledge of Greece and its people. He was appointed regent for Am...

Otto II, Holy Roman emperor

(Encyclopedia)Otto II, 955–83, Holy Roman emperor (973–83) and German king (961–83), son and successor of Otto I. He was crowned joint emperor in 967. Shortly after his father died Otto faced a rebellion by h...

Peter II, king of Aragón

(Encyclopedia)Peter II, 1174–1213, king of Aragón (1196–1213) and count of Barcelona, son and successor of Alfonso II. He had himself crowned (1204) at Rome by Pope Innocent III, whom he accepted as overlord o...

Peter II, king of Portugal

(Encyclopedia)Peter II, 1648–1706, king of Portugal (1683–1706), younger son of John IV; brother and successor of Alfonso VI. In 1667, he seized power from his incompetent brother and ruled the country as princ...

Peter II, king of Yugoslovia

(Encyclopedia)Peter II, 1923–70, king of Yugoslavia (1934–45). He succeeded under the regency of his cousin, Prince Paul, when his father, King Alexander, was assassinated in Marseilles. In World War II, when P...

Fox sisters

(Encyclopedia)Fox sisters, family of American spiritualists including Margaret, 1836–93, Leah, 1814–90, and Catherine, 1841–92. In 1848, Margaret and Catherine claimed to hear mysterious rappings in their Arc...

Elizabeth, czarina of Russia

(Encyclopedia)Elizabeth, 1709–62, czarina of Russia (1741–62), daughter of Peter I and Catherine I. She gained the throne by overthrowing the young czar, Ivan VI, and the regency of his mother, Anna Leopoldovna...

Kuchuk Kainarji, Treaty of

(Encyclopedia)Kuchuk Kainarji, Treaty of ko͞ocho͞okˈ kīnärˈjē, Turk. küchükˈ kīˌnärjäˈ [key], 1774, peace treaty signed at the end of the first of the Russo-Turkish Wars undertaken by Catherine II of...

Charles II, king of England, Scotland, and Ireland

(Encyclopedia)Charles II, 1630–85, king of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1660–85), eldest surviving son of Charles I and Henrietta Maria. Charles was a ruler of considerable political skill. His reign was m...