Baring family: …family banking firm, originally named John & Francis Baring & Company, in London in 1763. He built it into a large and successful business, and from 1792 the house of Baring was instrumental in helping to finance the British war effort against Revolutionary and then Napoleonic France. In 1803 the…

John (XX), nonexistent pope. A confusion in the numbering of popes named John after John XIV resulted because Marianus Scotus and other 11th-century historians mistakenly believed that there had been a pope named John between antipope Boniface VII and the true John XV. Therefore they mistakenly

Cincinnati: The contemporary city: The John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge (1856–67), designed by Roebling, has a main span of 1,057 feet (322 metres) and links Cincinnati and Covington; it was the second bridge across the Ohio. The Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, the second oldest zoo in the United States,…

Paul Giamatti: …character in the HBO miniseries John Adams (2008); he won a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award for his performance. In 2009 Giamatti played a fictionalized version of himself in the surreal comedy Cold Souls, a scheming CEO in the thriller Duplicity, and Vladimir Chertkov, a disciple of Leo…

Library of Congress: The John Adams Building, completed in 1939, received its current name in 1980 to honour the president who in 1800 signed the act of Congress establishing the library. The Adams Building was built in Art Deco style and faced with white Georgia marble. The James Madison…

Stefan Dušan: Background and early years: …with the new Bulgarian emperor, John Alexander, by marrying his sister Helen in 1332. Relations with Bulgaria remained untroubled to the end of Dušan’s reign.

Sarasota: Sarasota is known for the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, which includes the art museum itself with its large collection of Baroque art, notably works by Peter Paul Rubens; the Asolo Theatre (1790), brought from Venice (Italy) and reassembled by the state of Florida; Ca’ d’Zan, the palatial…

Ivan Asen II was the tsar of the Second Bulgarian empire from 1218 to 1241, son of Ivan Asen I. Ivan Asen overthrew his cousin Tsar Boril (reigned 1207–18) and blinded him, proclaiming himself tsar. A good soldier and administrator, he restored law and order, controlled the boyars, and, after

Anthony Powell: …study of the 17th-century author John Aubrey and His Friends (1948).

John bar Qursos was a monk and bishop of Tella (near modern Aleppo, Syria), a leading theological propagator of miaphysitism. A soldier before becoming a monk, John was made bishop in 519 and undertook the spread of a doctrine of Christ’s person and work common to Syrian and Egyptian monasticism, a

Steve Winwood: …known for its hit albums John Barleycorn Must Die (1970) and The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys (1971). During the seven years Traffic played together, Winwood briefly quit the group to play with Ginger Baker, Eric Clapton, and Ric Grech in Blind Faith; the members of both bands changed…

John Bartholomew and Son, former mapmaking and publishing company of the United Kingdom that was located in Edinburgh and specialized in the use of hypsometric (layer) colouring in relief maps. The company was established in 1826 by John Bartholomew (1805–61). It originally published such diverse

John Bates Clark: …1947 the AEA established the John Bates Clark Medal, which is awarded annually (biennially until 2009) to a U.S.-based economist under the age of 40 for outstanding contributions to economic thought.

John Belushi was an American comic actor and musician best known as an original cast member of the groundbreaking sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live (SNL; 1975–79). He is also known for portraying bluesman-on-a-mission “Joliet” Jake Blues in the musical comedy film The Blues Brothers (1980).

John Birch Society, private organization founded in the United States on Dec. 9, 1958, by Robert H.W. Welch, Jr. (1899–1985), a retired Boston candy manufacturer, for the purpose of combating communism and promoting various ultraconservative causes. The name derives from John Birch, an American

Seven Holy Founders: Bonfilius, Alexis Falconieri, John Bonagiunta, Benedict dell’Antella, Bartholomew Amidei, Gerard Sostegni, and Ricoverus Uguccione. Formally Ordo Fratrum Servorum Sanctae Mariae (“Order of Friar Servants of St. Mary”), the order is a Roman Catholic congregation of mendicant friars dedicated to apostolic work.

John Brown’s Body, epic poem in eight sections about the American Civil War by Stephen Vincent Benét, published in 1928 and subsequently awarded a Pulitzer Prize. The scrupulously researched narrative begins just before John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry and ends after the assassination of Pres.

John Bull, in literature and political caricature, a conventional personification of England or of English character. Bull was invented by the Scottish mathematician and physician John Arbuthnot as a character in an extended allegory that appeared in a series of five pamphlets in 1712 and later in

George Bernard Shaw: International importance of George Bernard Shaw: …only with the production of John Bull’s Other Island (performed 1904) in London, with a special performance for Edward VII, that Shaw’s stage reputation was belatedly made in England.

John Carroll University, private, coeducational institution of higher learning in University Heights, Ohio, U.S., just east of Cleveland. It is affiliated with the Jesuit order of the Roman Catholic church. The university comprises the College of Arts and Sciences, the Boler School of Business, and

Edgar Rice Burroughs: …and adapted as the film John Carter [2012].) The first Tarzan story appeared in 1912; it was followed in 1914 by Tarzan of the Apes, the first of 25 such books about the son of an English nobleman abandoned in the African jungle during infancy and brought up by apes.…

Jan van Hembyze: …by the radical Calvinist elector John Casimir of the Palatinate (now in Germany), again instituted a policy of harsh discrimination. As a result, the Prince invaded Ghent (August 1579), and Hembyze fled to the Palatinate, where he remained in exile until August 1583. At that time, while the Roman Catholic…

Liturgy of Saint Basil: John Chrysostom, which is a shortened form in daily use.

St. John Chrysostom ; Western feast day September 13; Eastern feast day November 13) was an early Church Father, biblical interpreter, and archbishop of Constantinople. The zeal and clarity of his preaching, which appealed especially to the common people, earned him the Greek surname meaning

Germany: The princes and the Landstände: The elector John Cicero took up the battle 38 years later, when the cities of the Altmark in west Brandenburg refused to pay an excise tax on beer voted by the assembly of estates. He discomfited the cities in the ensuing “Beer War” and radically revised their…

Saint John Climacus ; feast day March 30) was a Byzantine monk and author of Climax tou paradeisou (The Ladder of Divine Ascent, the source of his name “John of the Ladder”), a handbook on the ascetical and mystical life that has become a Christian spiritual classic. He is considered one of the

Blue Mountains: …Blue Mountains, together with the John Crow Mountains to the east and the Port Royal Mountains to the west, form Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park. In 2015 the Blue and John Crow mountains were collectively designated a mixed (cultural and natural) UNESCO World Heritage site. They were cited…

MacArthur Foundation, private, independent foundation established in 1970 by philanthropists John and Catherine MacArthur. The MacArthur Foundation’s mission is to “support creative people and effective institutions committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world.” Based in Chicago,

St. John of Damascus ; Eastern and Western feast day December 4) was an 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

St. John of Damascus ; Eastern and Western feast day December 4) was an 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

John Day, city, Grant county, northeast-central Oregon, U.S., situated at the confluence of John Day River and Canyon Creek, near the Strawberry Mountain Wilderness Area. (The North Fork of the John Day is part of the U.S. Wild and Scenic Rivers system.) A stopover on the Pony Express trail from

John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, series of rock formations in north-central Oregon, U.S., consisting of three widely separated units in the badlands of the John Day River valley. It is noted for the record of life extending over some 40 million years of the Cenozoic Era (the past 65.5

John Day Fossil Beds National Monument: …in the badlands of the John Day River valley. It is noted for the record of life extending over some 40 million years of the Cenozoic Era (the past 65.5 million years) preserved in its fossil beds. Authorized in 1974 and established in 1975, the monument covers a total area…

Deere & Company, major American brand and manufacturer of farm machinery and industrial equipment. It is headquartered in Moline, Illinois. The company’s origin dates to 1837, when John Deere invented one of the first steel plows that could till American Midwest prairie soil without clogging. That

Paul Giamatti: …reporter in the horror comedy John Dies at the End (2012). His credits from 2013 include the animated film Turbo, in which he provided the voice of a snail; Parkland, a drama about the assassination of Pres. John F. Kennedy; 12 Years a Slave, in which he played a slave…

dory: The John Dory (Zenopsis conchifera), a food fish of the Atlantic and Mediterranean, is one of the better-known species. It ranges from the shore to waters about 200 m (650 feet) deep and reaches a maximum length of about 90 cm (3 feet). Grayish, with a…

The Kennedy Center, large cultural complex in Washington, D.C., that hosts a variety of theater, dance, and musical performances, both national and international, and is the home of the National Symphony Orchestra. Created by the National Cultural Center Act of 1958, the Kennedy Center was renamed

Wexford: …government and was developed as John F. Kennedy Park, a memorial to the former president of the United States. Area 914 square miles (2,367 square km). Pop. (2006) 131,615; (2011) 145,320.

Caroline Kennedy: Her own career of public service: …is involved in running the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library as its foundation’s honorary president and until 2020 served as an adviser at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. She has written a number of books on topics as diverse as the right to privacy and her mother’s…

John Lewis: …Peace Prize in 1975, the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award in 2001, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s (NAACP) Spingarn Medal in 2002. In 2011 he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. His memoirs are Walking with the Wind (1998; cowritten with Michael D’Orso)…

Samantha Power: …1998 she had joined the Harvard Kennedy School as the founder and executive director (1998–2002) of a human rights initiative that would become in 1999 the Carr Center for Human Rights. In 2006 Power became the Anna Lindh Professor of Practice of Global Leadership and Public Policy and taught at…

Kennedy Space Center, one of NASA’s 10 field centers and from 1968 its primary launch center for human spaceflight, located on Merritt Island, Florida. It encompasses 144,000 acres (58, 275 hectares) and includes among its facilities the Vehicle Assembly Building and the Launch Control Center as

tank: Earliest developments: …in 1900 in England when John Fowler & Company armoured one of their steam traction engines for hauling supplies in the South African (Boer) War (1899–1902). The first motor vehicle used as a weapon carrier was a powered quadricycle on which F.R. Simms mounted a machine gun in 1899 in…

John Frederick (II) was an Ernestine duke of Saxony, or Saxe-Coburg-Eisenach, whose attempts to regain the electoral dignity, lost by his father to the rival Albertine branch of the House of Wettin, led to his capture and incarceration until his death. On the imprisonment of his father, the former

John Frederick was the last elector of the Ernestine branch of the Saxon House of Wettin and leader of the Protestant Schmalkaldic League. His wars against the Holy Roman emperor Charles V and his fellow princes caused him to lose both the electoral rank and much of his territory. The elder son of

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz: The Hanoverian period of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz: …position in the employment of John Frederick, the duke of Braunschweig-Lüneburg. John Frederick, a convert to Catholicism from Lutheranism in 1651, had become duke of Hanover in 1665. He appointed Leibniz librarian, but, beginning in February 1677, Leibniz solicited the post of councillor, which he was finally granted in 1678.

John Frederick was the last elector of the Ernestine branch of the Saxon House of Wettin and leader of the Protestant Schmalkaldic League. His wars against the Holy Roman emperor Charles V and his fellow princes caused him to lose both the electoral rank and much of his territory. The elder son of

John Fritz: The John Fritz Medal, established on Fritz’s 80th birthday in 1902, is awarded each year by the American Association of Engineering Societies for “scientific or industrial achievement in any field of pure or applied science.”

John Frost Bridge, bridge over the Lower Rhine River in Arnhem, Netherlands, that was the site of a major battle during Operation Market Garden, an Allied campaign of World War II. A floating bridge had existed in that location since 1603 but was not replaced by a permanent stucture until 1935. It

Vanuatu: History of Vanuatu: …inspired the transformation of the Jon (or John) Frum cargo cult on Tanna into an important anti-European political movement. After the war, local political initiatives originated in concern over land ownership. At that time more than one-third of the New Hebrides continued to be owned by foreigners.

Shedd Aquarium, one of the largest indoor aquariums in the world, located in Chicago, Illinois, U.S. Built with funds donated by John Graves Shedd, a prominent local businessman, the aquarium opened in 1930. The aquarium houses in excess of 20,000 speciments of some 1,500 species of fishes (both

Henrik Ibsen: Later plays and legacy of Henrik Ibsen: …Lille Eyolf (1894; Little Eyolf), John Gabriel Borkman (1896), and Naar vi døde vaagner (1899; When We Dead Awaken). Two of these plays, Hedda Gabler and The Master Builder, are vitalized by the presence of a demonically idealistic and totally destructive female such as first appeared in Catiline. Another obsessive…

John George was the elector of Brandenburg who in 1571 succeeded his father, Joachim II. Under his rule the divided electorate was reunited. His economies earned him the surname Oekonom (Steward) and made him popular with the nobility, to whom he granted concessions at the expense of the peasant

John George I of Saxony was the elector of Saxony from 1611, and the “foremost Lutheran prince” of Germany, whose policies lost for Saxony opportunities for ascendancy and territorial expansion. The leader of the German Lutherans, for most of his life John George proved an implacable enemy of

John George II was the elector of Saxony (1657–80), under whom Dresden became the musical centre of Germany. In 1657, just after his accession, he made an arrangement with his three brothers with the object of preventing disputes over their separate territories, and in 1664 he entered into friendly

John George III was the elector of Saxony (1680–91). He forsook the vacillating foreign policy of his father, John George II, and in June 1683 joined an alliance against France. Having raised the first standing army in the electorate, he helped to drive the Turks from Vienna in September 1683,

John George IV was the elector of Saxony (1691–94). At the beginning of his reign his chief adviser was Hans Adam von Schöning (1641–96), who counselled a union between Saxony and Brandenburg and a more independent attitude toward the emperor Leopold I. In accordance with this advice certain

Konni Zilliacus: …is best known for the John Grafton affair of 1905–06. The John Grafton was the largest of three vessels that Zilliacus sought to land on the Finnish coast. He guided the ships, which were laden with arms purchased with Japanese money and destined for various anti-Tsarist groups, through many near…

Chicago: Health: The system is anchored by John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County (formerly Cook County Hospital), one of the largest such public institutions in the country with one of the busiest emergency rooms; it also operates a branch at Provident Hospital, a historic African American institution. Stroger Hospital is…

John Hancock Center, 100-story mixed-use skyscraper, located at 875 North Michigan Avenue in Chicago and named after one of its early developers and tenants, the John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co. The architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill was responsible for the design of the tower,

Margaret Maultasch: …was married to the nine-year-old John Henry of Luxembourg in 1330. On her father’s death (1335), she and her husband inherited Tirol but were forced to cede Carinthia to the House of Habsburg. The Tirolese, unhappy with the government of Charles (later the Holy Roman emperor Charles IV), brother of…

Bill Shoemaker: In 1981 he rode John Henry, winner of the Arlington Million, the first million-dollar stake race for Thoroughbreds. Other notable horses he rode included Gallant Man, Damascus, Spectacular Bid, and Swaps. The Shoe: Willie Shoemaker’s Illustrated Book of Racing, written with Dan Smith, was published in 1976.

John Henry, hero of a widely sung African American folk ballad. It describes his contest with a steam drill, in which John Henry crushed more rock than did the machine but died “with his hammer in his hand.” Writers and artists see in John Henry a symbol of the worker’s foredoomed struggle against

Saint Clement Mary Hofbauer was canonized on May 20, 1909; his feast day is March 15 and he is the patron saint of Vienna. The son of a butcher, Hofbauer worked as a butcher until 1780. Educated at Vienna University and ordained in 1785, he was authorized to establish Redemptorist monasteries in

Tulsa: (John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park, which opened in 2010, commemorates the massacre and honours Franklin, who grew up in Tulsa and became a historian and civil rights leader. The Greenwood Rising history centre also commemorates the massacre and its victims.) In the following decade Tulsa’s…

John Hyrcanus I was a high priest and ruler of the Jewish nation from 135/134 to 104 bc. Under his reign, the Hasmonean kingdom of Judaea in ancient Palestine attained power and great prosperity, and the Pharisees, a scholarly sect with popular backing, and the Sadducees, an aristocratic sect that

John Hyrcanus II was the high priest of Judaea from 76 to 40 bc, and, with his brother Aristobulus II, last of the Maccabean (Hasmonean) dynastic rulers. Under Hyrcanus’ vacillating leadership, Judaea (southern of the three traditional divisions of ancient Palestine, today mostly in Israel) fell

John I was the king of Castile from 1379 to 1390, son of Henry II, founder of the dynasty of Trastámara. In the beginning of his reign John had to contend with the hostility of John of Gaunt, who claimed the crown by right of his wife Constance, daughter of Peter I the Cruel. The king of Castile

John I was the king of France, the posthumous son of Louis X of France by his second consort, Clémence of Hungary. He died just a few days after his birth but is nevertheless reckoned among the kings of France. His uncle, who succeeded him as Philip V, has been accused of having caused his death,

Holland: At that time John I of Avesnes, count of Hainaut and a relative of John I, the last of the old house of the counts of Holland, took the title of John II of Holland, uniting Holland with Hainaut to the south.

John I was the king of Portugal from 1385 to 1433, who preserved his country’s independence from Castile and initiated Portugal’s overseas expansion. He was the founder of the Aviz, or Joanina (Johannine), dynasty. John was the illegitimate son of King Pedro I and Teresa Lourenço. At age six he was

John I was the king of Aragon (1387–1395), son of Peter IV. Influenced by his wife, Violante, he pursued a pro-French policy but refused to become involved in the Hundred Years’ War. He died by a fall from his horse, like his namesake, cousin, and contemporary of Castile, John I. He was a man of

John II was the count of Hainaut (1280–1304) and of the Dutch provinces of Holland and Zeeland (1299–1304), who united the counties and prevented the northward expansion of the house of Dampierre, the counts of Flanders. Eldest son of John of Avesnes, count of Hainaut, and Alida, sister of Count

John I was the duke of Brittany (from 1237), son of Peter I. Like his father, he sought to limit the temporal power of the clergy; consequently he was excommunicated, upon which he journeyed to Rome to win absolution. Subsequently, he and his wife, Blanche of Champagne, traveled with St. Louis on

John I Albert was the king of Poland and a military leader whose reign marked the growth of Polish parliamentary government. The second son of King Casimir IV of Poland and Elizabeth of Habsburg, John Albert received a comprehensive education. He proved his military ability by defeating the Tatars

Greece: Thessaly and surrounding regions: About 1267 John I Doukas established himself as an independent ruler, with the Byzantine title sebastokrator, at Neopatras, but in expanding his control eastward he came into conflict with Michael VIII, whose attacks he repelled with the assistance of the dukes of Athens and Charles I of…

John II was the count of Hainaut (1280–1304) and of the Dutch provinces of Holland and Zeeland (1299–1304), who united the counties and prevented the northward expansion of the house of Dampierre, the counts of Flanders. Eldest son of John of Avesnes, count of Hainaut, and Alida, sister of Count

Limburg: …militarily and sold them to John I of Brabant. After five years of war against Reinald and his ally, John was victorious. Limburg was united with Brabant under his rule but maintained its separate institutions and laws. In 1430 the duchy of Limburg was united with the rest of the…

John I Tzimisces was a Byzantine emperor (969–976) whose extension of Byzantine influence into the Balkans and Syria and maintenance of domestic tranquillity assured the prestige and stability of the empire for his immediate successors. Descended from an aristocratic Armenian family, John was

Saint John I ; feast day May 18) was the pope from 523 to 526. He ended the Acacian Schism (484–519), thus reuniting the Eastern and Western churches by restoring peace between the papacy and the Byzantine emperor Justin I. He also ratified the Alexandrian computation of the date of Easter, which

John was the king of Denmark (1481–1513) and Norway (1483–1513) and king (as John II) of Sweden (1497–1501) who failed in his efforts to incorporate Sweden into a Danish-dominated Scandinavian union. He was more successful in fostering the commercial development of Danish burghers to challenge the

history of the Low Countries: Town opposition to the prince: Duke John II, however, left such formidable debts that Brabant merchants were arrested abroad, which made them claim control over the duke’s finances during Duke John III’s minority (1312–20). The fact that from 1248 to 1430 only two dynastic successions involved a direct adult male heir…

John II was the king of Aragon (1458–79) and also king of Navarre (1425–79); he was the instigator of the union of Castile and Aragon through the historic marriage of his son Ferdinand with Isabella of Castile. John was a younger son of Ferdinand of Antequera, elected king of Aragon (as Ferdinand

John II was the duke of Brittany (from 1286) and count of Richemont, son of John I. He accompanied his father on St. Louis’s crusade to Tunisia (1270) and also fought in Palestine. He returned to Europe in 1272 and, in subsequent years, shifted repeatedly from one side to another in the wars

John II was the pope from 533 to 535. He was the first pontiff to change his original name, which he considered pagan, assuming the name of the martyred St. John (523–526). John’s pontificate opposed Nestorianism, the heresy that separated the divine and human natures of Christ and denied the

John II was the king of Castile from 1406 to 1454; his political weakness led him to rely on his favourite, Álvaro de Luna, whom he made constable. He was nevertheless considered a man of cultivated taste and a patron of poets. John succeeded his father, Henry III, as an infant of less than two

John II was the king of Portugal from 1481 to 1495, regarded as one of the greatest Portuguese rulers, chiefly because of his ruthless assertion of royal authority over the great nobles and his resumption of the exploration of Africa and the quest for India. John was the great-grandson of the

John II was the king of France from 1350 to 1364. Captured by the English at the Battle of Poitiers on Sept. 19, 1356, he was forced to sign the disastrous treaties of 1360 during the first phase of the Hundred Years’ War (1337–1453) between France and England. After becoming king on Aug. 22, 1350,

John II was the count of Hainaut (1280–1304) and of the Dutch provinces of Holland and Zeeland (1299–1304), who united the counties and prevented the northward expansion of the house of Dampierre, the counts of Flanders. Eldest son of John of Avesnes, count of Hainaut, and Alida, sister of Count

John II Casimir Vasa was the king of Poland (1648–68) and pretender to the Swedish throne, whose reign was marked by heavy losses of Polish territory incurred in wars against the Ukrainians, Tatars, Swedes, and Russians. The second son of Sigismund III Vasa, king of Poland and of Sweden, John

John II Comnenus was a Byzantine emperor (1118–43) whose reign was characterized by unremitting attempts to reconquer all important Byzantine territory lost to the Arabs, Turks, and Christian Crusaders. A son of Emperor Alexius I Comnenus and Irene Ducas, John kept an austere court and spent most

John II Comnenus was a Byzantine emperor (1118–43) whose reign was characterized by unremitting attempts to reconquer all important Byzantine territory lost to the Arabs, Turks, and Christian Crusaders. A son of Emperor Alexius I Comnenus and Irene Ducas, John kept an austere court and spent most

John III was the king of Sweden (1568–92), a deeply religious ruler who attempted to reconcile the Swedish Lutheran Church with the Catholic leadership in Rome and to revive discarded elements of the Catholic liturgy. After being named duke of Finland by his father in 1556, John, the elder son of

John III was the king of Portugal from 1521 to 1557. His long reign saw the development of Portuguese seapower in the Indian Ocean, the occupation of the Brazilian coast, and the establishment of the Portuguese Inquisition and of the Society of Jesus. Shortly after succeeding his father, Manuel I,

history of the Low Countries: Town opposition to the prince: …the duke’s finances during Duke John III’s minority (1312–20). The fact that from 1248 to 1430 only two dynastic successions involved a direct adult male heir gave the cities (which had incurred massive debts) recurrent opportunities to intervene in the government and to impose their conditions on the successors in…

John Scholasticus was the 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. A lawyer and priest, John served as Antioch’s patriarchal

John III was the duke of Brittany (from 1312), son of Arthur II. His death without heirs resulted in the War of the Breton Succession, pitting two indirect heirs, John of Montfort and Charles of Blois. Despite three marriages—to Isabella of Valois, Isabella of Castile, and Joan of Savoy—he was left

John III was the pope from 561 to 574. Records of John’s pontificate were destroyed during an invasion of Italy by the Lombards, whose kingdom was in northern Italy. John fled to the safety of Naples and in 571 persuaded the Byzantine general Narses to defend Rome. The Romans opposed Narses because

John III Ducas Vatatzes was the emperor of Nicaea (1222–54) who, by acquiring territory, encouraging economic growth, and supporting a cultural revival from his capital at Nicaea (modern İznik, Turkey), paved the way for the recovery of Constantinople from the Latin emperors and the reestablishment

John III Sobieski was the 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. Sobieski’s ancestors were of the lesser nobility, but one of his great-grandfathers was the famous