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Kazan

(Encyclopedia)Kazan kəzänˈ, –zănˈ, Rus. kəzäˈnyə [key], city (1989 est. pop. 1,094,000), capital of Tatarstan, E European Russia, on the Volga. It is a major historic, cultural, industrial, and commercia...

electors

(Encyclopedia)electors, in the history of the Holy Roman Empire, the princes who had the right to elect the German kings or, more exactly, the kings of the Romans (Holy Roman emperors). Until the reign (1493–1519...

Mélusine

(Encyclopedia)Mélusine mĕlyo͝osēˈnä [key], in French legend, a fairy who changed into a serpent from the waist down every Saturday. She married a mortal, Count Raymond, said to be the ancestor of the house of...

Chambord

(Encyclopedia)Chambord, château, park, and village (1993 est. pop. 200), all owned by the state, in Loir-et-Cher dept., N central France. The huge Renaissance château, built by Francis I and set in an immense par...

Peter II, king of Aragón

(Encyclopedia)Peter II, 1174–1213, king of Aragón (1196–1213) and count of Barcelona, son and successor of Alfonso II. He had himself crowned (1204) at Rome by Pope Innocent III, whom he accepted as overlord o...

Pigalle, Jean Baptiste

(Encyclopedia)Pigalle, Jean Baptiste zhäN bätēstˈ pēgälˈ [key], 1714–85, French sculptor. His skill embraced a wide range, from small works appealing to the taste of the court to large and elaborate tombs....

Blessington, Marguerite, countess of

(Encyclopedia)Blessington, Marguerite, countess of, 1789–1849, English author and famous beauty, b. Ireland. At the age of 14 she was forced by her father into marriage with Capt. Maurice St. Leger Farmer, a sadi...

Eustace II

(Encyclopedia)Eustace II yo͞oˈstĭs [key], d. 1093, count of Boulogne. He was the brother-in-law of Edward the Confessor of England. Visiting England in 1051, he and his followers became involved in a brawl with ...

Medici, Italian family

(Encyclopedia)Medici mĕˈdĭchē, Ital. māˈdēchē [key], Italian family that directed the destinies of Florence from the 15th cent. until 1737. Of obscure origin, they rose to immense wealth as merchants and ba...

Rosenfeld, Morris

(Encyclopedia)Rosenfeld, Morris rōˈzənfĕlt [key], 1862–1923, Jewish poet, b. Russian Poland. His name was originally Moshe Jacob Alter. He worked as a tailor in London and as a diamond grinder in Amsterdam be...