Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

John Maurice of Nassau

(Encyclopedia)John Maurice of Nassau, 1604–79, Dutch general and colonial administrator, a prince of the house of Nassau-Siegen; grandnephew of William the Silent. The Dutch West India Company appointed him (1636...

Westphalia, Peace of

(Encyclopedia)Westphalia, Peace of, 1648, general settlement ending the Thirty Years War. It marked the end of the Holy Roman Empire as an effective institution and inaugurated the modern European state system. The...

Thrasybulus

(Encyclopedia)Thrasybulus thrăsˌəbyo͞oˈləs [key], d. c.389 b.c., Athenian statesman. A strong supporter of the democratic and anti-Spartan party, he successfully opposed (411 b.c.) the oligarchical Four Hundr...

Rohan, Henri, duc de

(Encyclopedia)Rohan, Henri, duc de äNrēˈ dük də rôäNˈ [key], 1579–1638, French Protestant general; son-in-law of the duc de Sully. A leader of the Huguenots, Rohan took up arms against the French governme...

Charles IV, duke of Lorraine

(Encyclopedia)Charles IV, 1604–75, duke of Lorraine. He succeeded to the duchy in 1624 but was to lose it several times because of his anti-French policy. In 1633, French troops invaded Lorraine in retaliation fo...

Urban VIII

(Encyclopedia)Urban VIII, 1568–1644, pope (1623–44), a Florentine named Maffeo Barberini; successor of Gregory XV. Throughout his pontificate the Thirty Years War raged in Germany. For various political reasons...

Pyrenees, Peace of the

(Encyclopedia)Pyrenees, Peace of the, 1659, treaty ending the warfare between France and Spain that, continuing after the Peace of Westphalia, which ended the Thirty Years War, had been complicated by French interv...

Frederick Henry

(Encyclopedia)Frederick Henry, 1584–1647, prince of Orange; son of William the Silent by Louise de Coligny. He became stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands upon the death (1625) of his brother Ma...

Gallas, Matthias, Graf von

(Encyclopedia)Gallas, Matthias, Graf von mätēˈäs gräf fən gälˈäs [key], 1584–1647, imperial general in the Thirty Years War. He served under Tilly, commander of the Catholic League, in Germany until 1629...

Piccolomini, Ottavio

(Encyclopedia)Piccolomini, Ottavio ōt-täˈvyō pēk-kōlôˈmēnē [key], 1599–1656, Italian general in the service of the Holy Roman emperor during the Thirty Years War (1618–48). He came of a distinguished ...