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John III, king of Poland

(Encyclopedia)John III (John Sobieski) sôbyĕˈskē [key], 1624–96, king of Poland (1674–96), champion of Christian Europe against the Ottomans. Born to an ancient noble family, he was appointed (1668) command...

Stanislaus I

(Encyclopedia)Stanislaus I, 1677–1766, king of Poland (1704–1709, 1733–35) and duke of Lorraine (1735–66). He was born Stanislaus Leszczynski. Early in the Northern War (1700–1721), Charles XII of Sweden ...

papacy

(Encyclopedia)CE5 papacy pāˈpəsē [key], office of the pope, head of the Roman Catholic Church. He is pope by reason of being bishop of Rome and thus, according to Roman Catholic belief, successor in the see ...

Protestant Union

(Encyclopedia)Protestant Union, in German history, an alliance of German Protestant leaders of cities and states, founded in 1608 for the avowed purpose of defending the lands, person, and rights of each individual...

Frederick the Winter King

(Encyclopedia)Frederick the Winter King, 1596–1632, king of Bohemia (1619–20), elector palatine (1610–20) as Frederick V. The Protestant diet of Bohemia deposed the Roman Catholic King Ferdinand (Holy Roman E...

Teresina

(Encyclopedia)Teresina tārāzēˈnä [key], city (1991 pop. 599,272), capital of Piauí state, NE Brazil, on the Parnaíba River. It is the main commercial and agricultural distribution center in the Parnaíba val...

Vienna, Congress of

(Encyclopedia)Vienna, Congress of, Sept., 1814–June, 1815, one of the most important international conferences in European history, called to remake Europe after the downfall of Napoleon I. Although the territo...

Nicholas III, pope

(Encyclopedia)Nicholas III, d. 1280, pope (1277–80), a Roman named Giovanni Gaetano Orsini; successor of John XXI. As a cardinal he made a great reputation in diplomacy, and he was a close confidant of popes for ...

Ligne, Charles Joseph, prince de

(Encyclopedia)Ligne, Charles Joseph, prince de shärl zhôzĕfˈ prăNs də lēˈnyə [key], 1735–1814, Austrian field marshal. He belonged to an ancient princely family of Hainaut, in the Austrian Netherlands (n...

Lawrence of Brindisi, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Lawrence of Brindisi, Saint brēnˈdēzē [key], 1559–1619, Italian Capuchin priest, Doctor of the Church, b. Brindisi, kingdom of Naples, as Cesare De Rossi. He joined the Capuchin Friars at the ag...