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Vasily III

(Encyclopedia)Vasily III (Vasily Ivanovich) vəsēˈlyē ēväˈnəvĭch [key], 1479–1533, grand duke of Moscow (1505–33). Carrying on the policies of his father, Ivan III, he rounded out the territorial consol...

Ahmed III

(Encyclopedia)Ahmed III, 1673–1736, Ottoman sultan (1703–30), brother and successor of Mustafa II to the throne of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey). He gave asylum to Charles XII of Sweden and to Mazepa after Peter ...

Casimir III

(Encyclopedia)Casimir III, 1310–70, king of Poland (1333–70), son of Ladislaus I and last of the Piast dynasty. Called Casimir the Great, he brought comparative peace to Poland. By the Congress of Visegrad (133...

Calixtus III

(Encyclopedia)Calixtus III, Callixtus III, or Callistus III, 1378–1458, pope (1455–58), a Spaniard (b. Játiva) named Alonso de Borja or, in Italian, Alfonso Borgia; successor of Nicholas V. He acted as arbitr...

Boleslaus III

(Encyclopedia)Boleslaus III, 1085–1138, duke of Poland (1102–38). The kingdom had been divided by his father, Ladislaus Herman, between Boleslaus and his elder brother Zbigniew, whose legitimacy was disputed. Z...

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...

Basil II

(Encyclopedia)Basil II, c.958–1025, Byzantine emperor (976–1025), surnamed Bulgaroktonos [Bulgar slayer]. With his brother, Constantine VIII, he nominally succeeded his father, Romanus II, in 963, but had no sh...

Eudocia Macrembolitissa

(Encyclopedia)Eudocia Macrembolitissa măkˌrəmbŏlˌĭtĭsˈə [key], fl. 11th cent., Byzantine empress. At the death of her husband, Constantine X, she married Romanus IV. ...

Zoë

(Encyclopedia)Zoë zōˈē [key], c.978–1050, Byzantine empress (1028–50), daughter and successor of Constantine VIII. Zoë was first married when she was 50 years old at the request of her father to insure sta...

Manzikert

(Encyclopedia)Manzikert mănˈzĭkərt [key], Turk. Malazgirt, village, E Turkey, SE of Erzurum. It was an important town of ancient Armenia. A council held there in a.d. 726 reasserted the independence of the Arme...