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Michael the Brave

(Encyclopedia)Michael the Brave, d. 1601, prince of Walachia (1593–1601), of Transylvania (1599–1600), and of Moldavia (1600). Michael was one of Romania's greatest medieval rulers, as well as a celebrated mili...

Golden Bull

(Encyclopedia)Golden Bull, term translated from the Latin bulla aurea and generally referring to a bull (edict) with a golden seal. Golden bulls were promulgated by medieval Byzantine rulers and by Western European...

Houdini, Harry

(Encyclopedia)Houdini, Harry ho͞odēˈnē [key], 1874–1926, American magician and writer, b. Budapest, Hungary, as Erik Weisz, later modified to Ehrich Weiss; his stage name honors the French magician Houdin. By...

Albert I, Holy Roman Emperor

(Encyclopedia)Albert I, c.1250–1308, Holy Roman Emperor (1298–1308), son of Rudolf I. Albert was invested with Austria and Styria in 1282 by his father, who also hoped to secure the succession as king of the Ge...

war debts

(Encyclopedia)war debts. This article discusses the obligations incurred by foreign governments for loans made to them by the United States during and shortly after World War I. For international obligations arisin...

steppe

(Encyclopedia)steppe stĕp [key], temperate grassland of Eurasia, consisting of level, generally treeless plains. It extends over the lower regions of the Danube and in a broad belt over S and SE European and Centr...

Agnon, S. Y.

(Encyclopedia)Agnon, S. Y. (Shmuel Yosef Agnon) shmo͞oˈĕl yōˈsəf ägnōnˈ; yōˈzəf [key], 1888–1970, Israeli writer, b. Buczacz, Galicia, Austria-Hungary (now Buchach, Ukraine), as Samuel Josef Czaczkes....

Köprülü

(Encyclopedia)Köprülü köprülüˈ [key], family of humble Albanian origin, several members of which served as grand vizier (chief executive officer) in the Ottoman Empire. The name is also spelled Kiuprili, Kop...

flagellants

(Encyclopedia)flagellants flăjˈələnts, fləjĕlˈənts [key], term applied to the groups of Christians who practiced public flagellation as a penance. The practice supposedly grew out of the floggings administe...

Appelfeld, Aharon

(Encyclopedia)Appelfeld, Aharon, 1932–2018, Israeli novelist, b. Cernauţi (Czernowitz), Romania (now Chernivtsi, Ukraine). His mother was killed during the Holocaust, and he and his father were sent to a concent...