Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Campan, Jeanne Louise Henriette

(Encyclopedia)Campan, Jeanne Louise Henriette zhän lwēz äNrēĕtˈ käNpäNˈ [key], 1752–1822, French educator and author. She served as a reader to Louis XV's daughters and as lady-in-waiting to Marie Antoin...

San Ildefonso, Treaty of

(Encyclopedia)San Ildefonso, Treaty of, any of several treaties signed at the royal residence of San Ildefonso, Spain. 1 The Treaty of San Ildefonso of 1796 was an alliance of France with Spain against Great Britai...

Simplon

(Encyclopedia)Simplon sĭmˈplŏn [key], pass, 6,590 ft (2,009 m) high, in the Lepontine Alps, Valais canton, S Switzerland. It is crossed by the Simplon Road built (1800–1806) by Napoleon I. The Simplon Railway ...

Barclay de Tolly, Mikhail, Prince

(Encyclopedia)Barclay de Tolly, Mikhail, Prince mēkhəyēlˈ, bərklīˈ də tôˈlyē [key], 1761–1818, Russian field marshal, of Scottish descent. He gained prominence in the Napoleonic Wars, became minister o...

Quatre Bras

(Encyclopedia)Quatre Bras käˈtrə bräˈ [key], village, Walloon Brabant prov., central Belgium, just south of Waterloo. There, on June 16, 1815, in a battle of the Waterloo campaign, the British under Arthur Wel...

Neman

(Encyclopedia)Neman nyĕˈmən [key], Ger. Memel, Lithuanian Nemanos, Pol. Niemen, river, c.580 mi (930 km) long, rising in central Belarus, SW of Minsk. It flows generally W to Grodno, then N and W through S Lithu...

Comédie Française

(Encyclopedia)Comédie Française tāäˈtrə fräNsāˈ [key], state theater of France. Also known as La Maison de Molière, it was officially established by Louis XIV in 1680. His decree merged the two French com...

Charles IX, king of Sweden

(Encyclopedia)Charles IX, 1550–1611, king of Sweden (1604–11), youngest son of Gustavus I. He was duke of Södermanland, Närke, and Värmland before his accession. During the reign of his brother, John III (15...

Leo III, Byzantine emperor

(Encyclopedia)Leo III (Leo the Isaurian or Leo the Syrian), c.680–741, Byzantine emperor (717–41). He was probably born in N Syria (rather than in Isauria, as once thought). He held diplomatic and military post...

Achaemenids

(Encyclopedia)Achaemenids ăkˌəmĕnˈĭdz [key], dynasty of ancient Persia. They were descended presumably from one Achaemenes, a minor ruler in a mountainous district of SW Iran. His successors, when Elam declin...
 

Browse by Subject