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truce of God

(Encyclopedia)truce of God, in the Middle Ages, an attempt by the Catholic church to limit private warfare between feudal lords. It is related to the peace of God, which exempted clergy, women, children, and peasan...

Gaeta

(Encyclopedia)Gaeta gäĕˈtä [key], town, in Latium, central Italy, a seaport on a high promontory in the...

Jacopone da Todi

(Encyclopedia)Jacopone da Todi yäkōpôˈnā dä tôˈdē [key], 1230?–1306, Italian religious poet, whose name was originally Jacopo Benedetti. After the sudden death of his wife, he renounced (c.1268) his care...

Half-Way Covenant

(Encyclopedia)Half-Way Covenant, a doctrinal decision of the Congregational churches in New England. The first generation of Congregationalists had decided that only adults with personal experience of conversion we...

Philippine Independent Church

(Encyclopedia)Philippine Independent Church, religious body that separated from the Roman Catholic Church in 1902 and rejected the spiritual authority of the pope. It is known popularly as the Aglipayan Church, aft...

William II, king of Sicily

(Encyclopedia)William II (William the Good), c.1153–1189, king of Sicily (1166–89), son and successor of William I. He married (1177) Joan, daughter of Henry II of England. As an ally of Pope Alexander III and ...

William, count of Holland

(Encyclopedia)William, count of Holland, 1227?–1256, German king (1254–56), previously rival king (1247–54) to Conrad IV. William was chosen by Pope Innocent IV to succeed Henry Raspe (d. 1247) as antiking to...

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...

Bessarion

(Encyclopedia)Bessarion bĕsârˈēən [key], 1395?–1472, Byzantine humanist, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He was a leading figure at the Council of Ferrara-Florence, which he attended as metropolitan o...

Boleslaus II

(Encyclopedia)Boleslaus II, c.1039–1081, duke (1058–76), and later king (1076–79) of Poland; son and successor of Casimir I. Throughout his reign he opposed the influence of the Holy Roman Empire. He asserted...