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Alexy II

(Encyclopedia)Alexy II or Aleksy II əlyĕkˈsē [key], 1929–2008, 15th patriarch of Moscow and all Russia (1990–2008), b. Estonia, as Aleksey Mikhailovich Ridiger. He spent 11 years as a Russian Orthodox paris...

William II, prince of Orange

(Encyclopedia)William II, 1626–50, prince of Orange, stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands (1647–50), son and successor of Frederick Henry. He married (1641) Mary, eldest daughter of Charles I ...

Catherine I

(Encyclopedia)Catherine I, 1683?–1727, czarina of Russia (1725–27). Of Livonian peasant origin, Martha Skavronskaya was a domestic when she was captured (1702) by Russian soldiers. As mistress of Aleksandr D. M...

Romanov

(Encyclopedia)Romanov rōˈmənŏf, Rus. rəmäˈnəf [key], ruling dynasty of Russia from 1613 to 1917. The name Romanov was adopted in the 16th cent. by a family of boyars (great nobles) that traced its beginning...

Peter I, king of Portugal

(Encyclopedia)Peter I, 1320–67, king of Portugal (1357–67), son and successor of Alfonso IV. He married (1336) Constance Manuel, a Castilian noblewoman, but subsequently fell in love with one of her ladies in w...

Charles II, king of Navarre

(Encyclopedia)Charles II (Charles the Bad), 1332–87, king of Navarre (1349–87), count of Évreux; grandson of King Louis X of France. He carried on a long feud with his father-in-law, John II, king of France, p...

Ivan V

(Encyclopedia)Ivan V, 1666–96, czar of Russia (1682–96), son of Czar Alexis by his first wife. Ivan was mentally retarded, and on the death of his elder brother, Feodor III, his succession was opposed by the su...

Vladimir II

(Encyclopedia)Vladimir II (Vladimir Monomakh) or Volodymyr II, 1053–1125, grand duke of Kiev (1113–25); son of Vsevolod I, prince of Pereyaslavl and grand duke of Kiev (ruled 1078–93). On his father's death h...

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