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Maximilian I, 1573–1651, elector and duke of Bavaria

(Encyclopedia)Maximilian I, 1573–1651, elector (1623–51) and duke (1597–1651) of Bavaria, one of the outstanding figures of the Thirty Years War and an ardent supporter of the Counter Reformation. His occupat...

Appian

(Encyclopedia)Appian ăpˈēən [key], fl. 2d cent., Roman historian. He was a Greek, born in Alexandria. He held various offices in Alexandria, was an advocate in Rome, and then imperial procurator in Egypt. His h...

George of Podebrad

(Encyclopedia)George of Podebrad pôdˈyĕbrät [key], 1420–71, king of Bohemia (1458–71). A Bohemian nobleman, he became leader of the Utraquists, or the moderate Hussites, in the wars between Hussites and Cat...

Philip the Good

(Encyclopedia)Philip the Good, 1396–1467, duke of Burgundy (1419–67); son of Duke John the Fearless. After his father was murdered (1419) at a meeting with the dauphin (later King Charles VII of France), Philip...

Desiderius

(Encyclopedia)Desiderius dēsĭdērˈēəs [key], d. after 774, last Lombard king in Italy (756–74). The duke of Tuscany, he was chosen king with the support of the pope and of Pepin the Short, who was king of th...

Medici, Gian Gastone de'

(Encyclopedia)Medici, Gian Gastone de' dā mĕˈdĭchē, Ital. māˈdēchē [key], 1671–1737, grand duke of Tuscany (1723–37); son and successor of Cosimo III de' Medici. Gian Gastone was the last male member ...

Kantorowicz, Ernst Hartwig

(Encyclopedia)Kantorowicz, Ernst Hartwig, 1895–1963, German-American historian, b. Poznań (then Posen, Germany), studied Univ. of Berlin, Univ. of Heidelberg (Ph.D., 1921). As a young man he was a German nationa...

Mustafa

(Encyclopedia)Mustafa or Kara Mustafa mo͝ostäfäˈ [key] [Turk. kara=black], d. 1683, Turkish grand vizier (chief executive officer) under Sultan Muhammad IV of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey). He succeeded his brot...

Roger II

(Encyclopedia)Roger II, c.1095–1154, count (1101–30) and first king (1130–54) of Sicily, son and successor of Roger I. He conquered (1127) Apulia and Salerno and sided with the antipope Anacletus II against P...

Nicholas V, pope

(Encyclopedia)Nicholas V, 1397–1455, pope (1447–55), an Italian named Tommaso Parentucelli, b. probably Sarzana, Liguria; successor of Eugene IV. From Eugene IV he inherited the antipapal enactments of the Coun...