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Leovigild

(Encyclopedia)Leovigild lēŏvˈĭgĭldˌ, lēōˈ– [key], d. 586, Visigothic king of Spain (568–86), brother and successor of Athanagild. He was joint ruler to 573 with his brother Liuva. He reorganized the ad...

Sviatoslav

(Encyclopedia)Sviatoslav or Svyatoslav both: svyäˈtəsləv [key], d. 972, duke of Kiev (945–72), son of Igor and of St. Olga. His mother acted as regent for him until c.962, when he came of age. During his reig...

Lead B

(Encyclopedia)Lead Belly, nickname of Huddie William Ledbetter, 1885–1949, American singer, b. Mooringsport, La. While wandering through Louisiana and Texas, he...

Socrates Scholasticus

(Encyclopedia)Socrates Scholasticus, fl. 5th cent., Byzantine historian. His Ecclesiastical History (in Greek, 7 vol.) continues the work of Eusebius for the period from 305 to 439. The work is unusual for its obje...

Totila

(Encyclopedia)Totila bădyo͞oĭlˈə [key], d. 552, last king of the Ostrogoths (541–52). By defeating the Byzantines at Faenza and Mugello (542) and by taking Naples (543) and Rome (546), he became master of ce...

Francis II, king of the Two Sicilies

(Encyclopedia)Francis II, 1836–94, last king of the Two Sicilies (1859–61), son and successor of Ferdinand II. A weak ruler, he let his ministers follow his father's reactionary policy. Faced with the growing m...

Anhalt

(Encyclopedia)Anhalt änˈhält [key], former state, c.900 sq mi (2,330 sq km), central Germany, surrounded by the former Prussian provinces of Saxony and Brandenburg. Dessau, the capital, and Köthen were the chie...

Fort-de-France

(Encyclopedia)Fort-de-France fôr-də-fräNs [key], city, capital of the French overseas dept. of Martinique, West Indies. It is a ...

Arad, city, Romania

(Encyclopedia)Arad ärädˈ [key], city, W Romania, in the Banat, on the Mureşul River, near the Hungarian border. It is an important railroad junction and a leading regional commercia...

Vazov, Ivan

(Encyclopedia)Vazov, Ivan ĭvänˈ väˈzôf [key], 1850–1921, Bulgarian poet, novelist, and playwright, the first professional man of letters in Bulgaria. His work was inspired by the political upheavals of the ...