[Vladimir I. the Great or St.], grand-duke of Russia; converted to Christianity through his wife Anna Romanovna, laid the foundation of the Russian empire; has been canonised by the Russian Church; d. 1015.
[Vladimir II.], surnamed Monomachus; succeeded to the throne of Russia in 1113, and consolidated it by the establishment and enforcement of just laws; was married to Gida, a daughter of King Harold of England (1063-1126).
[Vogler, Abbé], composer, born in Würzburg; distinguished once both as a musical performer and teacher; lives only in Browning's "Dramatis Personæ" (1749-1814).
[Vogt, Carl], German naturalist, born at Giessen; a materialist and disciple of Darwin; has written on geology and anthropology; b. 1817.
[Voguls], a Finnish tribe on the E. slope of the Urals; are Christianised, but still practise many Shamanist rites; number some 20,000.
[Volapük], a universal language by Schleyer, a German pastor; as yet practically limited to its applicability to commercial intercourse.
[Volga], a river of European Russia, the largest in Europe, which rises in the Valdai Hills, and after a course of 2200 m. falls by a delta with 200 mouths into the Caspian Sea; it is navigable almost throughout, providing Russia with 7200 m. of water-carriage, and has extensive fisheries, especially of salmon and sturgeon.
[Volney], French philosopher, born at Craon; travelled in Egypt and Syria; wrote an account of his travels in his "Voyage"; was imprisoned during the Reign of Terror; patronised and promoted to honour by Napoleon, and by the Bourbons on their return; his principal work, "[Les Ruines, ou Méditations sur les Révolutions des Empires]," was an embodiment of 18th-century enlightenment (q. v.) (1757-1820).
[Volsungs], a race figuring in Norse and German legend of the 12th century, and with the fate in whose history it is so widely occupied, and that of its heroes.
[Volta, Alessandrino], Italian physicist, born at Como; professor of Physics at Pavia; made electrical discoveries which laid the foundation of what is called after him voltaic electricity; volt, the unit of electric motive force, being a term among sundry others in electric science similarly derived (1745-1827).