William Louis of Nassau-Dillenburg was Count of Nassau-Dillenburg from 1606 to 1620, and stadtholder of Friesland, Groningen, and Drenthe. He was the eldest son of John VI, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg. William Louis served as a cavalry offic...

Don Francisco Gómez de Sandoval, 1st Duke of Lerma, a favourite of Philip III of Spain, was the first of the validos ('most worthy') through whom the later Habsburg monarchs ruled. He was succeeded by Don Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Oli...

Louis of Nassau was the third son of William, Count of Nassau and Juliana of Stolberg, and the younger brother of Prince William of Orange Nassau. Louis was a key figure in the revolt of the Netherlands against Spain and a strongly convince...

Lady Jane Grey, also known as Lady Jane Dudley or The Nine Days Queen, was an English noblewoman and de facto monarch of England from 10 July until 19 July 1553. The great-granddaughter of Henry VII through his younger daughter Mary, Jan...

Count John VI of Nassau-Dillenburg was a Count of Nassau in Dillenburg. Other names he had were Jan VI or Jan de Oude ("John the Elder", to distinguish him from his 2nd son, "John the Middle", and his grandson "John the Younger"). John VI w...

Anna van Egmont was a wealthy Dutch heiress who became the first wife of William the Silent, Prince of Orange. As the only child of Maximiliaan van Egmond and Françoise de Lannoy, she was suo jure Countess of Buren and Lady of Egmond. She w...

Margaret, Duchess of Parma, Governor of the Netherlands from 1559 to 1567 and from 1578 to 1582, was the illegitimate daughter of Charles V and Johanna Maria van der Gheynst. She was a Duchess consort of Florence and a Duchess consort of Pa...

René of Châlon was a Prince of Orange and stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht and Gelre. René was born in Breda, the only son of Count Henry III of Nassau-Breda and Claudia of Châlon. Claudia's brother, Philibert of Châlon, and the anc...

William I, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg (nicknamed William the Rich, Dutch: Willem de Rijke) was a count of Nassau-Dillenburg from the House of Nassau. He was not wealthy; his nickname the Rich refers to him having many children. He was t...

Ludovico Sforza was Duke of Milan from 1489 until his death. A member of the Sforza family, he was the fourth son of Francesco Sforza. He was famed as a patron of Leonardo da Vinci and other artists, and presided over the final and most pro...

Engelbert II of Nassau was count of Nassau and Vianden, lord of Breda and Lek, Diest, Roosendaal, Nispen and Wouw. He was a soldier and courtier, for some time leader of the Privy council of the Duchy of Burgundy, and a significant patron o...

Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick KG, known as Warwick the Kingmaker, was an English nobleman, administrator, and military commander. The son of Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury, Warwick was the wealthiest and most powerful Englis...

Piero di Cosimo de' Medici (the Gouty), was the de facto ruler of Florence from 1464 to 1469, during the Italian Renaissance. He was the father of Lorenzo the Magnificent and Giuliano de' Medici. Piero was born in Florence, the son of Cosim...

John Hunyadi was a leading Hungarian military and political figure in Central and Southeastern Europe during the 15th century. According to most contemporary sources, he was son of a noble family of Romanian ancestry. He mastered his milita...

Cosimo di Giovanni de' Medici, called 'the Elder' and posthumously Father of the Nation (Latin pater patriae) was an Italian banker and politician, the first of the Medici political dynasty, de facto rulers of Florence during much of the It...