Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Augustine of Canterbury, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Augustine of Canterbury, Saint ôˈgəstēn, –tĭn; ôgŭsˈtĭn [key], d. c.605, Italian missionary, called the Apostle of the English, first archbishop of Canterbury (from 601). A Roman monk, he w...

Frederick IV, king of Denmark and Norway

(Encyclopedia)Frederick IV, 1671–1730, king of Denmark and Norway (1699–1730), son and successor of Christian V. He allied himself (1699) with Augustus II of Poland and Saxony and with Peter I of Russia against...

papacy

(Encyclopedia)CE5 papacy pāˈpəsē [key], office of the pope, head of the Roman Catholic Church. He is pope by reason of being bishop of Rome and thus, according to Roman Catholic belief, successor in the see ...

Paul V

(Encyclopedia)Paul V, 1552–1621, pope (1605–21), a Roman named Camillo Borghese; successor of Leo XI. He was created cardinal (1596) by Clement VIII and was renowned for his knowledge of canon law. On his elect...

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...

Pius IX

(Encyclopedia)Pius IX, 1792–1878, pope (1846–78), an Italian named Giovanni M. Mastai-Ferretti, b. Senigallia; successor of Gregory XVI. He was cardinal and bishop of Imola when elected pope. For two years he p...

Rainalducci, Pietro

(Encyclopedia)Rainalducci or Rainallucci, Pietro pyĕˈtrō rīnäldo͞otˈchē, rīnäl-lo͞otˈchē [key], d. 1333, Italian churchman (b. Corvaro, near Rieti), antipope (1328–30) with the name Nicholas V. Havin...

Newman, Saint John Henry

(Encyclopedia)Newman, SaintJohn Henry, 1801–90, English churchman, theologian, and writer, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, one of the founders of the Oxford movement, b. London. Newman was canonized in 201...

Medici, Piero de', 1471–1503, Italian merchant prince

(Encyclopedia)Medici, Piero de', 1471–1503, Italian merchant prince. He succeeded his father, Lorenzo de' Medici (Lorenzo il Magnifico), as head of the Medici family and as leader of the Florentine state. In 1494...

William, count of Holland

(Encyclopedia)William, count of Holland, 1227?–1256, German king (1254–56), previously rival king (1247–54) to Conrad IV. William was chosen by Pope Innocent IV to succeed Henry Raspe (d. 1247) as antiking to...