JOHN, KNIGHTS OF 267 JOHN OF GAUNT POLAND. John III. (John Sobieski), King of Poland, was youngest son of James Sobieski, governor of Cracow, and edu- cated at Paris. In 1665 he was made grand marshal and general of the Polish armies, after which he was appointed master of the Royal House and prelate of Cracovia. He retook several cities from the rebellious Cossacks of the Ukraine, and distinguished himself in many gallant actions. In 1673 he gained the memorable battle of Choczim, near the Dniester, in which the Turks lost 28,000 men. On the death of Michael in the following year he was elected King of Poland, and shortly aft- erward compelled the Turks to sue for peace. In 1683 he forced them to raise the siege of Vienna, which otherwise would inevitably have been taken. He died in Warsaw, 1696 BRITTANY. John, Duke of Brittany. Six princes of this name have worn the ducal crown, but only two are important: John IV. — commonly known as John de Montfort, — whose cause was espoused by the Eng- lish. When made prisoner by the French, he had his rights vigorously maintained by his heroic wife, who bravely held out her castle against the large force that encompassed it till the arrival of the English fleet with troops to her aid compelled the enemy to raise a fruitless siege. John VI., who, for the aid he afforded the English in their expedition under Henry V., was attacked by the Duke of Penthievre, who drew him into an ambuscade, and making him a prisoner, kept him in confinement for five years. His government, after he re- gained his liberty, was marked by weak- ness and indecision. He died in 1442. JOHN, KNIGHTS OF. See Hospi- tallers. JOHN" B. STETSON" TJNIVERSITY, a coeducational institution in De Land, Pla. ; founded in 1883 under the auspices of the Baptist Church; reported at the close of 1919 : Professors and instructors, 32; students, 649; president, Lincoln Hulley, Ph. D. JOHN BULL, a collective name, used in a sportive manner in order to desig- nate the English people. It was first employed by Dean Swift. JOHN DOE, a name formerly given to the fictitious lessee of the plaintiff in the mixed action of ejectment, that of the fictitious defendant being "Richard Roe." JOHN HIRCANUS, son of Simon Maccabaeus, whom he succeeded as high priest and prince of the Jews 135 B. c; died after a reign of 29 years, distin- guished by his victories and reforms, 106 B. C. JOHN OF AUSTRIA, or DON JOHN, a Spanish soldier; the natural son of the Emperor Charles V.; born in Ratisbon, Bavaria, Feb. 24, 1547. He was brought up in such ignorance of his birth that, till summoned by Philip II., his brother, to Spain — to whom Charles had revealed the fact on his death bed — and there acknowledged as the emperor's son, he had been in total darkness as to who his parents were. His first most illustrious triumph was a victory over the Turkish galleys in the Gulf of Lepanto, in which the Ottomans lost 30,000 men; he next invaded Tunis, and in 1576 was sent by Philip as governor of the Low Countries, then in open revolt, under command of the Prince of Orange and the Archduke Matthias; here, in a succession of splen- did victories, he so reduced his antago- nists, that the country must soon have submitted and returned to its allegiance, had he not been, unfortunately for the duration of the Spanish rule, suddenly carried off by poison, near Namur, Bel- gium, Oct. 1, 1578. JOHN OF GAUNT, DUKE OF LAN- CASTER, 3rd son of Edward III.; born June 24, 1340, in Ghent. In 1359 he married Blanche, heiress of the duchy of Lancaster, and himself was created duke in 1362. Three years after her death he married in 1372 Constance, daughter of Pedro the Cruel of Castile, and assumed the title of King of Castile, though the country and crown were seized and held by Henry of Trastamare. The military expeditions which John or- ganized against his rival all proved un- successful. Toward the close of his aged father's reign John gradually became the most influential personage in the realm. The young King Richard contrived to send him away on an expedition for the recovery of his crown in Spain. On this occasion John concluded a definite peace with Henry of Trastamare, in virtue of which John's daughter Catharine should succeed as queen of Castile. On his return to England after three years' absence he was able to reconcile the young king to his (John's) brother Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Glouces- ter. After this Richard II. seems to have reposed more confidence in John, for he made him Duke of Aquitaine and intrusted him with several embassies to France. But John of Gaunt gradually ceased to be a factor in English politics
