Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Mandeville, Sir John, 14th-century English author of The Travels of Sir John Mandeville. Originally written in Norman French, the work became enormously popular and was translated into English, Latin,...

(Encyclopedia) French literature, writings in medieval French dialects and standard modern French. Writings in Provençal and Breton are considered separately, as are works in French produced abroad (as at Canadian ...

(Encyclopedia) Fouquet or Foucquet, Nicolas fo͞okāˈ [key], 1615–80, superintendent of finance (1653–61) under King Louis XIV of France. His loyalty to Cardinal Mazarin during the Fronde helped to secure his ...

(Encyclopedia) Gérin-Lajoie, Antoine äNtwänˈ zhārăNˈ-läzhwäˈ [key], 1824–82, French Canadian author and journalist, b. Quebec prov. After serving as an editor (1845–52) on the Minerve, a Montreal newsp...

(Encyclopedia) Janet: see Clouet, Jean.

(Encyclopedia) Jehannet: see Clouet, Jean.

(Encyclopedia) Bleimor: see Calloc'h, Jean Pierre. ...

(Encyclopedia) overture, instrumental musical composition written as an introduction to an opera, ballet, oratorio, musical, or play. The earliest Italian opera overtures were simply pieces of orchestral music and w...

(Encyclopedia) Chapais, Sir Thomas shäpāˈ [key], 1858–1946, Canadian politician and historian, b. Quebec prov.; son of Jean Charles Chapais (1811–85). Thomas Chapais became professor of history at Laval Univ....

(Encyclopedia) Taeuber-Arp, Sophie, 1889–1943, Swiss textile designer, painter, and sculptor, b. Sophie Henriette Gertrude Taeuber. She taught textile design (1916–29) at the School of Arts and Crafts in Zürich...