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Besançon

(Encyclopedia)Besançon bəzäNsôNˈ [key], city, capital of Doubs dept., E France, in Franche-Comté, on ...

Wittelsbach

(Encyclopedia)Wittelsbach vĭˈtəlsbäkh [key], German dynasty that ruled Bavaria from 1180 until 1918. The family takes its name from the ancestral castle of Wittelsbach in Upper Bavaria. In 1180 Holy Roman Emper...

Nepos, Julius

(Encyclopedia)Nepos, Julius, d. 480, Roman emperor of the West (474–80). The military governor of Dalmatia, he was appointed emperor of the West by Leo I, emperor of the East. A year later he was deposed by Orest...

cardinal, in the Roman Catholic Church

(Encyclopedia)cardinal [Lat.,=attached to and thus “belonging to” the hinge], in the Roman Catholic Church, a member of the highest body of the church. The sacred college of cardinals of the Holy Roman Church i...

Jerusalem, Latin Kingdom of

(Encyclopedia)Jerusalem, Latin Kingdom of, feudal state created by leaders of the First Crusade (see Crusades) in the areas they had wrested from the Muslims in Syria and Palestine. In 1099, after their capture of ...

Welser

(Encyclopedia)Welser vĕlˈzər [key], German family of wealthy merchants and bankers at Augsburg. It reached the height of its prosperity under Bartholomäus Welser, 1488–1561, who had advanced large sums to Hol...

Alexius III

(Encyclopedia)Alexius III (Alexius Angelus) ănˈjələs [key], d. after 1210, Byzantine emperor (1195–1203). He acceded to power by deposing and blinding his brother Isaac II. This act served as pretext for the ...

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...

Shirley, Sir Anthony

(Encyclopedia)Shirley or Sherley, Sir Anthony, 1565–1636?, English adventurer. He fought in the Netherlands (1586) under the earl of Leicester and in France (1591) under the earl of Essex, who became his patron. ...

Ezzelino da Romano

(Encyclopedia)Ezzelino da Romano ĕtˌsālēˈnō dä rōmäˈnō [key], 1194–1259, Italian Ghibelline leader (see Guelphs and Ghibellines) and soldier. After 1232 a faithful supporter of Holy Roman Emperor Frede...