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Livonian Brothers of the Sword

(Encyclopedia)Livonian Brothers of the Sword or Livonian Knights lĭvōˈnēən [key], German military and religious order, founded in 1202 by Bishop Albert of Livonia for the purpose of conquest and Christianizati...

Morawiecki, Mateusz Jakub

(Encyclopedia)Morawiecki, Mateusz Jakub, 1968–, Polish economist, banker, and political leader, b. Wrocław, grad. Univ. of Wroclaw, 1992, Wrocław Univ. of Science and Technology, 1993, M.B.A. Wrocław Univ. of ...

Tetzel, Johann

(Encyclopedia)Tetzel, Johann yōˈhän tĕtˈsəl [key], c.1465–1519, German preacher, b. Pirna, Germany. He joined the Dominicans. He became a well-known preacher and was made inquisitor general of Poland at the...

Babenberg

(Encyclopedia)Babenberg bäˈbənbĕrk [key], ruling house of Austria (976–1246). It possibly descended from, or succeeded, a powerful Franconian family of the 9th cent. from whose castle the city of Bamberg prob...

Hunyadi, John

(Encyclopedia)Hunyadi, John ho͝onˈyŏdĭ [key], Hung. Hunyadi János, c.1385–1456, Hungarian national hero, leader of the resistance against the Ottomans. He was chosen (1441) voivode [governor] of Transylvania...

Katyn

(Encyclopedia)Katyn kətĭnˈ [key], village, W central European Russia, 12 mi (19 km) W of Smolensk. During World War II, when it was part of the USSR, it was occupied by the Germans in Aug., 1941. In 1943 the Ger...

Stern, Fritz Richard

(Encyclopedia)Stern, Fritz Richard, 1926–2016, American historian and educator, b. Breslau, Germany (now Wrocław, Poland), grad. Columbia (B.A., 1946; M.A., 1948; Ph.D., 1953). Although his family had converted ...

Mazepa, Ivan

(Encyclopedia)Mazepa, Ivan ēvänˈ məzyāˈpə [key], c.1640–1709, Cossack hetman [leader] in the Russian Ukraine. He was made hetman (1687) on the insistence of Prince Gallitzin, adviser to the Russian regent,...

Nancy

(Encyclopedia)Nancy näNsēˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 102,410), capital of Meurthe-et-Moselle dept., NE France, on the Meurthe River and the Marne-Rhine Canal. It is the administrative, economic, and educational cen...

Masur, Kurt

(Encyclopedia)Masur, Kurt ko͝ort mäzo͝orˈ [key], 1927–2015, German conductor, b. Brieg, Germany (now Brzeg, Poland). Masur was noted for his authoritative performances of the German composers whose works form...