Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Maurice, Byzantine emperor

(Encyclopedia)Maurice môrˈĭs [key], c.539–602, Byzantine emperor (582–602). He was a successful general when, on his deathbed, Tiberius II, his father-in-law and the successor of Justin II, proclaimed him em...

Roman roads

(Encyclopedia)Roman roads, ancient system of highways linking Rome with its provinces. Their primary purpose was military, but they also were of great commercial importance and brought the distant provinces in touc...

Louis III, king of Naples

(Encyclopedia)Louis III, 1403–34, king of Naples (1417–34; rival claimant to Joanna II), duke of Anjou, count of Provence, son and successor of Louis II. He invaded Naples in 1420. Queen Joanna called in the ai...

Philip III, king of France

(Encyclopedia)Philip III (Philip the Bold), 1245–85, king of France (1270–85), son and successor of King Louis IX. He secured peaceful possession of Poitou, Auvergne, and Toulouse by a small cession (1279) to E...

Boris III

(Encyclopedia)Boris III, 1894–1943, czar of Bulgaria (1918–43), son of Czar Ferdinand, on whose abdication he succeeded to the throne. He ruled constitutionally until 1934, then set up a military dictatorship u...

John III, king of Portugal

(Encyclopedia)John III (John the Fortunate), 1502–57, king of Portugal (1521–57), son of Manuel I. His reign saw the Portuguese empire at its apogee. The great Asian possessions were extended by further conques...

Alfonso III, Spanish king of Asturias

(Encyclopedia)Alfonso III (Alfonso the Great), 838?–911?, Spanish king of Asturias (866–911?). He recovered the territory of León from the Moors. The kingdom was consolidated in his reign, but after his forced...

Arnold of Brescia

(Encyclopedia)Arnold of Brescia brĕshˈə [key], c.1090–1155, Italian monk and reformer, b. Brescia. A priest of irreproachable life, Arnold studied at Paris, where according to tradition he was a pupil of Peter...

Feodor III

(Encyclopedia)Feodor III, 1661–82, czar of Russia (1676–82), son and successor of Alexis. Although an invalid, Feodor strove to carry out reforms. In 1681 he abolished the system of precedence among the boyar f...

Eugene III

(Encyclopedia)Eugene III, d. 1153, pope (1145–53), a Pisan named Bernard (probably in full Bernardo dei Paganelli di Montemagno); successor of Lucius II. Before his election he was called Bernard of Pisa. He was ...