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Rufinus

(Encyclopedia)Rufinus ro͞ofīˈnəs [key], d. 395, Roman statesman, minister of Theodosius I and Arcadius. After Theodosius' death (395) he virtually ruled the Eastern Empire for Arcadius, but his attempt to marry...

Maecenas

(Encyclopedia)Maecenas (Caius Maecenas) mĭsēˈnəs, mē– [key], d. 8 b.c., Roman statesman and patron of letters. He was born (between 74 b.c. and 64 b.c.) into a wealthy family and was a trusted adviser of Oct...

legate

(Encyclopedia)legate lĕgˈət [key] [Lat. legare=to send], one sent as a representative of a state or of some high authority. In Roman history a legate was sent by the senate to the provinces as an envoy of the em...

Ladislaus I, king of Hungary

(Encyclopedia)Ladislaus I or Saint Ladislaus lädˈĭslousˌ [key], 1040–95, king of Hungary (1077–95). He supported Pope Gregory VII against Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV, but rejected Gregory's suggestion that ...

Aosta

(Encyclopedia)Aosta äôˈstä [key], city, capital of Valle d'Aosta region and of Aosta prov., NW Italy, near the junction of the Great and Little St. Bernard roads. Aosta is an indust...

William II, king of Sicily

(Encyclopedia)William II (William the Good), c.1153–1189, king of Sicily (1166–89), son and successor of William I. He married (1177) Joan, daughter of Henry II of England. As an ally of Pope Alexander III and ...

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...

Stanislaus I

(Encyclopedia)Stanislaus I, 1677–1766, king of Poland (1704–1709, 1733–35) and duke of Lorraine (1735–66). He was born Stanislaus Leszczynski. Early in the Northern War (1700–1721), Charles XII of Sweden ...

Rákóczy

(Encyclopedia)Rákóczy räˈkôtsĭ [key], noble Hungarian family that played an important role in the history of Transylvania and Hungary in the 17th and 18th cent. Sigismund Rákóczy, 1544–1608, was elected (...

Hohenstaufen

(Encyclopedia)Hohenstaufen hōˌənshtouˈfən [key], German princely family, whose name is derived from the castle of Staufen built in 1077 by a Swabian count, Frederick. In 1079, Frederick married Agnes, daughter...