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Great Wall of China

(Encyclopedia)Great Wall of China, series of fortifications, c.3,890 mi (6,260 km) long (not including trenches and natural defensive barriers), winding across N China from Gansu prov. to Liaoning prov. The wall, r...

Cajetan

(Encyclopedia)Cajetan [Lat.,=from Gaeta], 1469?–1534, Italian prelate, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, b. Gaeta. His original name was Giacomo de Vio. He joined the Dominicans (c.1484), became general of t...

Cossa, Baldassare

(Encyclopedia)Cossa, Baldassare bäldäs-säˈrā kôsˈsä [key], c.1370–1419, Neapolitan churchman, antipope (1410–15; see Schism, Great) with the name John XXIII. He had a military career before entering the...

Martin V, 1368–1431, pope

(Encyclopedia)Martin V, 1368–1431, pope (1417–31), a Roman named Oddone Colonna; successor of Gregory XII. He was created cardinal by Innocent VII, and in the schism (see Schism, Great) he attended and supporte...

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...

Visser't Hooft, Willem Adolph

(Encyclopedia)Visser't Hooft, Willem Adolph vĭlˈəm äˈdôlf vĭsˈĕrt hōft [key], 1900–1985, Dutch clergyman, a leader of the Protestant ecumenical movement, b. Haarlem, Netherlands, and educated at Univ. o...

Ferdinand, czar of Bulgaria

(Encyclopedia)Ferdinand, 1861–1948, czar of Bulgaria (1908–18), after being ruling prince (1887–1908). A grandnephew of Ernest I of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, he was chosen prince of Bulgaria after the enforced abdic...

Robert II, king of Scotland

(Encyclopedia)Robert II, 1316–90, king of Scotland (1371–90), nephew and successor of David II. He was the first sovereign of the house of Stuart, or Stewart (see Stuart, family), which eventually succeeded to ...

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 ...

Frederick I, elector of Saxony

(Encyclopedia)Frederick I or Frederick the Warlike, 1370–1428, elector of Saxony (1423–28). As margrave of Meissen he was involved in disputes with his brothers and his uncles over the division of his father's ...