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James II, king of England, Scotland, and Ireland

(Encyclopedia)James II, 1633–1701, king of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1685–88); second son of Charles I, brother and successor of Charles II. James made an effort to restore himself by landing in Irel...

Menelik II

(Encyclopedia)Menelik II mĕnˈəlĭk [key], 1844–1913, emperor of Ethiopia after 1889. He was originally ras (ruler) of Shoa (central Ethiopia). After the death (1868) of Emperor Tewodros II, Menelik, with Itali...

Roger II

(Encyclopedia)Roger II, c.1095–1154, count (1101–30) and first king (1130–54) of Sicily, son and successor of Roger I. He conquered (1127) Apulia and Salerno and sided with the antipope Anacletus II against P...

Uladislaus II

(Encyclopedia)Uladislaus II o͞oˌläˈdĭslous [key], Hung. Ulászló II, c.1456–1516, king of Hungary (1490–1516) and, as Ladislaus II, king of Bohemia (1471–1516); son of Casimir IV of Poland. Designated b...

Napoleon II

(Encyclopedia)Napoleon II, 1811–32, son of Napoleon I and Marie Louise, known as the king of Rome (1811–14), as the prince of Parma (1814–18), and after that as the duke of Reichstadt. Napoleon's abdication i...

Waldemar II

(Encyclopedia)Waldemar II, 1170–1241, king of Denmark (1202–41), second son of Waldemar I. In the reign of his brother, Canute VI, he defended Denmark from German aggression and then extended Danish control ove...

Ramses II

(Encyclopedia)Ramses II both: rămˈəsēzˌ [key], d. 1225 b.c., king of ancient Egypt, of the XIX dynasty. The son of Seti I, Ramses was not the heir to the throne but usurped it from his brother. He reigned for ...

George of Trebizond

(Encyclopedia)George of Trebizond trĕbˈĭzŏnd [key], c.1396–1486, Greek scholar, b. Crete. Settling in Venice, he taught Greek, philosophy, and rhetoric there and in Vicenza before going to Rome in 1442. He be...

Nicephorus II

(Encyclopedia)Nicephorus II (Nicephorus Phocas) fōˈkəs [key], c.912–969, Byzantine emperor (963–69). He was a successful general under Constantine VII and Romanus II. On Romanus' death (963) he married the e...

Poltava

(Encyclopedia)Poltava pəltäˈvə [key], city (1989 pop. 315,000), capital of Poltava region, E Ukraine, on the Kiev-Kharkiv highway and on the Vorskla River, a tributary of the Dnieper. It is an industrial center...