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Æthelred, king of Wessex

(Encyclopedia)Æthelred ĕˈthəlrĕd, ăˈ– [key], d.871, king of Wessex (865–71), son of Æthelwulf and brother of Alfred. He succeeded his brother Æthelbert as king of Wessex and as overlord of Kent and pos...

Æthelred, king of England

(Encyclopedia)Æthelred, 965?–1016, king of England (978–1016), called Æthelred the Unready [Old Eng. unrœd=without counsel]. He was the son of Edgar and the half-brother of Edward the Martyr, whom he succeed...

Sigismund

(Encyclopedia)Sigismund sĭjˈĭsmənd, sĭgˈ– [key], 1368–1437, Holy Roman emperor (1433–37), German king (1410–37), king of Hungary (1387–1437) and of Bohemia (1419–37), elector of Brandenburg (1376�...

Lawrence of Brindisi, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Lawrence of Brindisi, Saint brēnˈdēzē [key], 1559–1619, Italian Capuchin priest, Doctor of the Church, b. Brindisi, kingdom of Naples, as Cesare De Rossi. He joined the Capuchin Friars at the ag...

Louis XI, king of France

(Encyclopedia)Louis XI, 1423–83, king of France (1461–83), son and successor of Charles VII. A born diplomat, Louis skillfully checked his foreign and domestic enemies and set up an efficient central administ...

Cumae

(Encyclopedia)Cumae kyo͞oˈmē [key], ancient city of Campania, Italy, near Naples. According to Strabo, it was the earliest Greek colony in Italy or Sicily, and it seems to have been founded c.750 b.c. by Chalcis...

León, city, Spain

(Encyclopedia)León, city (1990 pop. 137,758), capital of León prov., NW Spain, in Castile and León, at the foot of the Cantabrian Mts. and at the confluence of the Bernesga and Torio rivers. It is an agricultura...

Mérida, city, Spain

(Encyclopedia)Mérida, city (1990 pop. 53,732), capital of Extremadura, in Badajoz prov., SW Spain, on the Guadiana River. It is a rail hub and agricultural center producing textiles, leather, and cork. The colony ...

Montserrat, mountain, Spain

(Encyclopedia)Montserrat or Monserrat both: mŏnˌsərătˈ, mŏntˌ–, Catalan mŏnsər-rätˈ, Span. mōnsārätˈ [key], mountain, 4,054 ft (1,236 m) high, NE Spain, rising abruptly from a plain in Catalonia, N...

Minho, river, Spain

(Encyclopedia)Minho Span mēnˈyō, Port. mēnˈyo͞o [key], Span. Miño, river, c.210 mi (340 km) long, rising in Galicia, NW Spain, and flowing generally SW to the Atlantic Ocean. The Sil is its chief tributary. ...