Charles Louis
(Archduke of Austria), third son of the Emperor Leopold II., and one of the first generals of his time, born in 1771. Appointed to an important military command, in 1796, he defeated the French generals Jourdan and Moreau, and in 1799 again defeated Jourdan in Suabia, and Marshal Massena at Zürich, and again again, in 1805, at Caldiero.
In 1809 he defeated the French under Napoleon at the bloody battle of Aspern and Esslingen (March 21-22), but was himself defeated at the decisive battle of Wagram (July 5-6). He died in 1847.
CHARLES I. (D'ANJOU), King of Naples, the son of Louis VIII. of France, waged war on King Manfred of Sicily, Neapolitan crown in 1266. His cruelty and exacting rule raised such a spirit of anarchy, and induced such a detestation of the French name, that the Sicilians, headed by John de Procida, rose in arms on the eve before Easter-day, 1282, and slaughtered all the French in the town and neighborhood of Palermo, the signal for rising being the tolling of the vesperbell; this tragedy is hence recorded in rs." By history as the "Sicilian Vespers." this act the French were entirely expelled from the island, and Sicily lost t Charles I.'s crown. Charles died in 1285 CHARLES I., King of Rumania; born in 1839; was the second son of Prince Charles Anthony of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. He was elected Prince of Rumania on April 20, 1866, and reigned as prince until 1881, and as king until his death, Oct. 10, 1914. His reign was characterized by wisdom and prudence, and signalized the entrance of Rumania as an important state in the family of nations. He introduced railways, established the national finances on a sound basis, and was foremost in every plan of commercial and national development.
He showed himself a brilliant military leader at the siege of Plevna, in the Russo-Turkish War, 1877-1878. In November, 1869, he married Princess Elizabeth of Wied, who under the pen-name of "CARMEN SYLVA" (q. v.) showed herself possessed of marked poetic gifts. At the opening of the World War he kept his kingdom neutral, though by birth and tradition his natural sympathies were with the Hohenzollerns. He was succeeded by his nephew Ferdinand, Oct. 11, 1914.