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German Confederation

(Encyclopedia)CE5 German Confederation (1815) German Confederation, 1815–66, union of German states provided for at the Congress of Vienna to replace the old Holy Roman Empire, which had been destroyed during...

Guelphs

(Encyclopedia)Guelphs gwĕlfs [key], European dynasty tracing its descent from the Swabian count Guelph or Welf (9th cent.), whose daughter Judith married the Frankish emperor Louis I. Guelph III (d. 1055) was made...

Bruno, Saint, 925–65, German churchman and statesman

(Encyclopedia)Bruno, Saint bro͞oˈnō [key], 925–65, German churchman and statesman; brother and chief adviser of the first Holy Roman emperor, Otto I, whose chancellor he was from c.950. He was made (953) archb...

Wenceslaus I, king of Bohemia

(Encyclopedia)Wenceslaus I, d. 1253, king of Bohemia (1230–53), son and successor of Ottocar I. He invited large numbers of Germans to settle in the villages and towns of Bohemia and Moravia. In some villages pea...

Tancred, king of Sicily

(Encyclopedia)Tancred (Tancred of Lecce) tăngˈkrĭd;, lĕˈchā [key], b. 1130 or 1134, d. 1194, king of Sicily (1190–94), illegitimate son of Roger of Apulia and grandson of Roger II of Sicily. On the death of...

Hadrian, Roman emperor

(Encyclopedia)Hadrian hāˈdrēən [key], a.d. 76–138, Roman emperor (117–138), b. Spain. His name in full was Publius Aelius Hadrianus. An orphan, he became the ward of Trajan. Hadrian distinguished himself as...

Sickingen, Franz von

(Encyclopedia)Sickingen, Franz von fränts fən zĭˈkĭngən [key], 1481–1523, German knight. Placed under the ban of the Holy Roman Empire because of his profitable forays along the Rhine, he served King Franci...

Alfonso X, Spanish king of Castile and León

(Encyclopedia)Alfonso X (Alfonso the Wise), 1221–84, Spanish king of Castile and León (1252–84); son and successor of Ferdinand III, whose conquests of the Moors he continued, notably by taking Cádiz (1262). ...

Philip of Swabia

(Encyclopedia)Philip of Swabia swāˈbēə [key], 1176?–1208, German king (1198–1208), son of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I. After the death (1197) of his brother, German King and Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI, ...

Ferdinand I, king of Aragón and Sicily

(Encyclopedia)Ferdinand I, 1379?–1416, king of Aragón and Sicily and count of Barcelona (1412–16), second son of John I of Castile; nephew and successor of Martin of Aragón. In 1406, Ferdinand became regent o...