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Leo VI, Byzantine emperor

(Encyclopedia)Leo VI (Leo the Wise or Leo the Philosopher), 862?–912, Byzantine emperor (886–912), son and successor of Basil I. He added to the work of his father by the publication (887–93) of the Basilica,...

John VI, Byzantine emperor

(Encyclopedia)John VI (John Cantacuzene) kănˌtəkyo͞ozēnˈ [key], c.1292–1383, Byzantine emperor (1347–54). He was chief minister under Andronicus III, after whose death he proclaimed himself emperor and ma...

Muhammad VI, Ottoman sultan

(Encyclopedia)Muhammad VI or Mehmet VI, 1861–1926, last Ottoman sultan (1918–22), brother and successor of Muhammad V. He became sultan of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) near the end of World War I and soon capitu...

Constantine VI, Byzantine emperor

(Encyclopedia)Constantine VI, b. c.770, Byzantine emperor (780–97), son and successor of Leo IV. His mother, Irene, was regent until 790, when she was deposed by a military revolt. Constantine recalled her in 792...

sonnet

(Encyclopedia)sonnet, poem of 14 lines, usually in iambic pentameter, restricted to a definite rhyme scheme. There are two prominent types: the Italian, or Petrarchan, sonnet, composed of an octave and a sestet (rh...

Anna Leopoldovna

(Encyclopedia)Anna Leopoldovna kärˈləvnə [key], 1718–46, duchess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, regent of Russia (1740–41); daughter of Charles Leopold, duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and of Catherine, sister o...

Kao, Sir Charles Kuen

(Encyclopedia)Kao, Sir Charles Kuen, 1933–2018, British-American physicist, b. Shanghai, China, Ph.D. Imperial College London, 1965. Kao was an engineer and researcher at Standard Telecommunications Laboratories ...

Jeffreys of Wem, George Jeffreys, 1st Baron

(Encyclopedia)Jeffreys of Wem, George Jeffreys, 1st Baron, 1645?–1689, English judge under Charles II and James II. A notoriously cruel judge, he presided over many of the trials connected with the Popish Plot (s...

Aberdeen, George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th earl of

(Encyclopedia)Aberdeen, George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th earl of ăbˌədēnˈ [key], 1784–1860, British statesman. He served (1813) as ambassador extraordinary at Vienna and helped arrange (1814) the peace terms at P...

Durham, John George Lambton, 1st earl of

(Encyclopedia)Durham, John George Lambton, 1st earl of dûrˈ əm [key], 1792–1840, British statesman. A stormy liberal career in Parliament (1813–32), which earned him the nickname Radical Jack, culminated in ...