elective king of Poland (1674-96), a soldier who drove back the Ottoman Turks and briefly restored the kingdom of Poland-Lithuania to greatness for the last time.
also called (1630-40) Joao, 8o Duque (8th duke) De Braganca, byname John The Fortunate, Portuguese Joao O Afortunado king of Portugal from 1640 as a result of the national revolution, or restoration, which ended 60 years of Spanish rule. He ...
duke of Brittany from 1365, whose support for English interests during the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453) nearly cost him the forfeit of his duchy to the French crown. The instability of his reign is attributable not only to his alliances ...
emperor of Nicaea whose brief reign as a minor was filled with intrigue and conspiracies that culminated in the seizure of power by Michael Palaeologus, the future Byzantine emperor Michael VIII.
Armenian Hovhannes Iv Otznetzi Armenian Orthodox catholicos (supreme head of the Armenian Church), a learned theologian and jurist who strove for greater ecclesiastical autonomy for the Armenian Church and supported the movement in the Eastern Church in favour of orthodox ...
founder of the Roman Catholic Ordo Clericorum Regularium Matris Dei (Clerks Regular of the Mother of God), whose members were commonly called Leonardini; the order was distinguished for learning and was originally devoted to combatting Protestantism and to promoting the ...
Dutch colonial governor and military commander who consolidated Dutch rule in Brazil (1636-44), thereby bringing the Dutch empire in Latin America to the peak of its power.
village-near Dunnet Head, the northernmost point of mainland Great Britain-in the Highland council area, historic county of Caithness, Scotland. The scattered village is the site of a house, now only a mound, connected with a story first recorded in 1793 ...
reformer, one of the greatest preachers of his time, author and spiritual director whose religious leadership in 16th-century Spain earned him the title Apostle of Andalusia.
Eastern monk and theological doctor of the Greek and Latin churches whose treatises on the veneration of sacred images placed him in the forefront of the 8th-century Iconoclastic Controversy, and whose theological synthesis made him a preeminent intermediary between Greek ...
first chronicler to attempt a continuous history of Scotland. His work is nationalistic in attitude and reliable where he is not dealing with legendary subjects. Evidence about his life is derived from the prologues to Walter Bower's Scotichronicon. He may ...
English prince, fourth but third surviving son of the English king Edward III and Philippa of Hainaut; he exercised a moderating influence in the political and constitutional struggles of the reign of his nephew Richard II. He was the immediate ...
founder of the Hospitaller Order of St. John of God (Brothers Hospitallers), a Roman Catholic religious order of nursing brothers. In 1886 Pope Leo XIII declared him patron of hospitals and the sick.
theologian and bishop, a strong advocate of the Platonistic Alexandrian tradition during the 5th-century doctrinal controversies of the Eastern church, and co-author of a celebrated collection of catechetical conferences on the Jerusalem Christian creed.
Russian Orthodox priest-ascetic whose pastoral and educational activities, particularly among the unskilled poor, contributed notably to Russia's social and spiritual reform.
cofounder of the Order of the Most Holy Trinity for the Redemption of Captives, commonly called Trinitarians, or Mathurins, a Roman Catholic mendicant order originally dedicated to freeing Christian slaves from captivity under the Muslims.
French Cistercian monk, philosopher, and theologian whose skepticism about certitude in human knowledge and whose limitation of the use of reason in theological statements established him as a leading exponent of medieval Christian nominalism (the doctrine that universals are only ...
also called John The Deaf, or John Quidort, French Jean De Paris, Jean Le Sourd, or Jean Quidort, medieval Latin Johannes De Soardis Dominican monk, philosopher, and theologian who advanced important ideas concerning papal authority and the separation of church ...
philosopher and theologian whose comprehensive commentaries on Roman Catholic doctrine made him a leading spokesman for post-Reformation Thomism, a school of thought named after its foremost theorist, St. Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225-74), who systematically integrated Catholic teaching with Aristotelian concepts.
Byzantine theologian and bishop of Scythopolis, in Palestine (c. 536-550), whose various treatises on the person and work of Christ and commentaries on Neoplatonic philosophy sought to integrate all possible elements among contrary doctrinal positions. He is sometimes confused with ...
one of the greatest Christian mystics and Spanish poets, doctor of the church, reformer of Spanish monasticism, and cofounder of the contemplative order of Discalced Carmelites.
pope whose 33-day pontificate in 1978 was the shortest in modern times. He was the first pope to choose a double name and did so in commemoration of his two immediate predecessors, John XXIII and Paul VI.
the bishop of Rome and head of the Roman Catholic church (1978-2005), the first non-Italian pope in 455 years and the first from a Slavic country. His pontificate of more than 26 years was the third longest in history. As ...
patriarch of Constantinople (as John III), theologian, and ecclesiastical jurist whose systematic classification of the numerous Byzantine legal codes served as the basis for Greek Orthodox Church (canon) law.
theologian and bishop of Alexandria, Egypt, whose struggle to maintain his episcopal office and preserve the ascendancy of the orthodox party in conjunction with Popes Simplicius (468-483) and Felix III (483-492), against the incursion of Acacius, the heterodox patriarch of ...
in Christian tradition, the author of three letters, the Fourth Gospel, and the Revelation to John in the New Testament. He played a leading role in the early church at Jerusalem.
Jewish prophet of priestly origin who preached the imminence of God's Final Judgment and baptized those who repented in self-preparation for it; he is revered in the Christian Church as the forerunner of Jesus Christ.
patriarch of Constantinople (John IV) and mediator of theological disputes between the Orthodox and Monophysites (q.v.). He reinforced Constantinople's preeminence among patriarchal cities in the Eastern Church by assuming the contested title of ecumenical patriarch. His sobriquet "the Faster" derived ...
king of Portugal from 1706 to 1750, whose relatively peaceful reign saw an increase in the wealth and power of the crown and a generous patronage of learning, culture, and the church.
Byzantine emperor (1341-91) whose rule was marked by civil war and increased domination by the Ottoman Turks, despite his efforts to salvage the empire.
prince regent of Portugal from 1799 to 1816, and king from 1816 to 1826, whose reign saw the revolutionary struggle in France, the Napoleonic invasion of Portugal (during which he established his court in Brazil), and the implantation of representative ...
statesman, Byzantine emperor, and historian whose dispute with John V Palaeologus over the imperial throne induced him to appeal for help to the Turks, aiding them in their conquest of the Byzantine Empire.
Dutch prince of Nassau-Dietz and of Orange and stadholder of the provinces of Friesland and Groningen, whose rejection as stadholder by five of the seven Dutch provinces in 1702 marked the return to political supremacy of the States General (national ...
