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Kirkaldy of Grange, Sir William

(Encyclopedia)Kirkaldy of Grange, Sir William kərkôlˈdē [key], d. 1573, Scottish soldier and politician. Associated with his father in the murder of Cardinal Beaton in 1546, he was captured by the French in 154...

Lancelot, king of Naples

(Encyclopedia)Lancelot lădˈĭslôs, –ləs [key], c.1376–1414, king of Naples (1386–1414), son and successor of Charles III. Almost his entire reign was consumed by his struggle with the Angevin rival king o...

George III, king of Great Britain and Ireland

(Encyclopedia)George III, 1738–1820, king of Great Britain and Ireland (1760–1820); son of Frederick Louis, prince of Wales, and grandson of George II, whom he succeeded. He was also elector (and later king) of...

Louise

(Encyclopedia)Louise ləwēzˈ [key], 1776–1810, queen of Prussia, consort of Frederick William III; a princess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. During the Napoleonic Wars her patriotism and bravery won her lasting popul...

Æthelbert, king of Wessex

(Encyclopedia)Æthelbert, d. 865, king of Wessex (860–65), son of Æthelwulf. After the death of his father in 858 he ruled Kent, Surrey, Sussex, and Essex, and he reunited them with Wessex when in 860 he succeed...

Poland, partitions of

(Encyclopedia)Poland, partitions of. The basic causes leading to the three successive partitions (1772, 1793, 1795) that eliminated Poland from the map were the decay and the internal disunity of Poland and the eme...

Ferdinand, king of Romania

(Encyclopedia)Ferdinand, 1865–1927, king of Romania (1914–27), nephew of Carol I. The second son of the Prussian prince, Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, he was designated successor to the heirless Carol I ...

Henry VII, king of England

(Encyclopedia)Henry VII, 1457–1509, king of England (1485–1509) and founder of the Tudor dynasty. Henry was an astute political leader. He established the Tudor tradition of strong rule tempered by a sense ...

Charles XI, king of Sweden

(Encyclopedia)Charles XI, 1655–97, king of Sweden (1660–97), son and successor of Charles X. Charles ascended the throne at the age of five, so a council of regency ruled until 1672. The regency ended Swedish w...

Henry VI, king of England

(Encyclopedia)Henry VI, 1421–71, king of England (1422–61, 1470–71). Henry was a mild, honest, and pious man, a patron of literature and the arts and the founder of Eton College (1440). He was, however, u...