Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Benno, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Benno, Saint, d. 1106, German prelate. He was bishop of Meissen and an ardent supporter of Pope Gregory VII against Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV, and the emperor had him deposed. He was reinstated on G...

Yellow Emperor

(Encyclopedia)Yellow Emperor, Mandarin Huangdi, legendary Chinese ruler and culture hero; tradition holds that he reigned from 2697 b.c. to 2597 b.c. He is one of the mythical prehistoric emperors who supposedly cr...

Reichsregiment

(Encyclopedia)Reichsregiment rīkhsˈrāˌgēmĕntˈ [key] [Ger.,=government of the empire], imperial council created by the Diet of Augsburg in 1500. It was intended to form the executive branch of the government ...

Richthofen, Ferdinand, Baron von

(Encyclopedia)Richthofen, Ferdinand, Baron von fĕrˈdēnänt bärōnˈ fən rĭkhtˈhōfən [key], 1833–1905, German geographer, geologist, and traveler. He took part in a Prussian expedition in E Asia (1860–6...

Michael VIII, Byzantine emperor

(Encyclopedia)Michael VIII (Michael Palaeologus), c.1225–1282, Byzantine emperor (1261–82), first of the Palaeologus dynasty. Following the murder of the regent for Emperor John IV of Nicaea, he was appointed (...

Alaric II

(Encyclopedia)Alaric II, d. 507, Visigothic king of Spain and of S Gaul (c.484–507), son and successor of Euric. He issued (506) at Toulouse the Breviary of Alaric for his Roman subjects. Alaric's adherence to Ar...

Rákóczy

(Encyclopedia)Rákóczy räˈkôtsĭ [key], noble Hungarian family that played an important role in the history of Transylvania and Hungary in the 17th and 18th cent. Sigismund Rákóczy, 1544–1608, was elected (...

Regensburg

(Encyclopedia)Regensburg rāˈgənsbo͝orkh [key], city (1994 pop. 125,337), Bavaria, SE Germany, a port at the confluence of the Danube (Donau) and Regen rivers. In English it is known as Ratisbon. The city is a c...

Frederick the Fair

(Encyclopedia)Frederick the Fair, c.1286–1330, German antiking (1314–26), duke of Austria, son of Albert I, German king. On the death of Henry VII, Holy Roman emperor and German king, the split between the supp...

Browse by Subject