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Holy League

(Encyclopedia)Holy League, in Italian history, alliance formed (1510–11) by Pope Julius II during the Italian Wars for the purpose of expelling Louis XII of France from Italy, thereby consolidating papal power. V...

Wyszynski, Stefan

(Encyclopedia)Wyszynski, Stefan stĕˈfän vĭzĭnˈskē [key], 1901–81, Polish prelate, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. Ordained in 1924, he received (1929) a doctorate in sociology and canon law from the...

John, king of England

(Encyclopedia)John, 1167–1216, king of England (1199–1216), son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. John, though often cruel and treacherous, was an excellent administrator, much concerned with rendering...

Borgia, Cesare

(Encyclopedia)Borgia, Cesare or Caesar bōrˈjä [key], 1476–1507, Italian soldier and politician, younger son of Pope Alexander VI and an outstanding figure of the Italian Renaissance. Throughout his pontificat...

Marozia

(Encyclopedia)Marozia mərōˈzhēə, Ital. märôˈtsyä [key], c.892–c.937, Italian noblewoman. Daughter of the Roman consul Theophylact and his wife Theodora, Marozia was strongly influenced by her mother who ...

Fénelon, François de Salignac de la Mothe

(Encyclopedia)Fénelon, François de Salignac de la Mothe fräNswäˈ də sälēnyäkˈ də lä môt fānəlôNˈ [key], 1651–1715, French theologian and writer, a leader of the quietism heresy, archbishop of Cam...

quietism

(Encyclopedia)quietism, a heretical form of religious mysticism founded by Miguel de Molinos, a 17th-century Spanish priest. Molinism, or quietism, developed within the Roman Catholic Church in Spain and spread esp...

papacy

(Encyclopedia)CE5 papacy pāˈpəsē [key], office of the pope, head of the Roman Catholic Church. He is pope by reason of being bishop of Rome and thus, according to Roman Catholic belief, successor in the see ...

Rupert

(Encyclopedia)Rupert, 1352–1410, German king (1400–1410), elector palatine of the Rhine. He was elected German king after the deposition of Wenceslaus. Seeking the imperial crown, Rupert went to Italy. He attem...

Mary, the mother of Jesus

(Encyclopedia)Mary, in the Bible, mother of Jesus. Christian tradition reckons her the principal saint, naming her variously the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady, and Mother of God (Gr., theotokos). Her name is the He...