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Emancipation, Edict of

(Encyclopedia)Emancipation, Edict of, 1861, the mechanism by which Czar Alexander II freed all Russian serfs (one third of the total population). All personal serfdom was abolished, and the peasants were to receive...

Emancipation Proclamation

(Encyclopedia)Emancipation Proclamation, in U.S. history, the executive order abolishing slavery in the Confederate States of America. The proclamation did not reflect Lincoln's desired solution for the slavery p...

Nantes, Edict of

(Encyclopedia)Nantes, Edict of, 1598, decree promulgated at Nantes by King Henry IV to restore internal peace in France, which had been torn by the Wars of Religion; the edict defined the rights of the French Prote...

Catholic Emancipation

(Encyclopedia)Catholic Emancipation, term applied to the process by which Roman Catholics in the British Isles were relieved in the late 18th and early 19th cent. of civil disabilities. They had been under oppressi...

Vervins, Treaty of

(Encyclopedia)Vervins, Treaty of vĕrvăNˈ [key], 1598, peace treaty signed at the small town of Vervins, Aisne dept., N France, by the representatives of Henry IV of France and Philip II of Spain. It ended the Fr...

Philaret, Vasily Drosdov

(Encyclopedia)Philaret or Filaret, Vasily Drosdov both: vəsēˈlyē drəsdôfˈ fēlərĕtˈ [key], 1782?–1867, Russian prelate, author, and preacher. He became archbishop of Tver and a member of the holy synod ...

Alexander II, czar of Russia

(Encyclopedia)Alexander II, 1818–81, czar of Russia (1855–81), son and successor of Nicholas I. He ascended the throne during the Crimean War (1853–56) and immediately set about negotiating a peace (see Paris...

Stolypin, Piotr Arkadevich

(Encyclopedia)Stolypin, Piotr Arkadevich pyôˈtər ərkäˈdyĭvĭch stəlĭˈpĭn [key], 1862–1911, Russian premier and minister of the interior (1906–11) for Czar Nicholas II. He sought to fight the revoluti...

Constantinople, Second Council of

(Encyclopedia)Constantinople, Second Council of, 553, regarded generally as the fifth ecumenical council. It was convened by Byzantine Emperor Justinian I to settle the dispute known as the Three Chapters. In an at...

Religion, Wars of

(Encyclopedia)Religion, Wars of, 1562–98, series of civil wars in France, also known as the Huguenot Wars. The immediate issue was the French Protestants' struggle for freedom of worship and the right of establis...