Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Cambert, Robert rōbĕrˈ käNbĕrˈ [key], c.1628–1677, French composer; pupil of Chambonnières. His Pastorale d'Issy (1659) and other works are among the first real French operas. With the libret...

(Encyclopedia) Favras, Thomas de Mahy, marquis de tômäˈ də mäēˈ märkēˈ də fävräsˈ [key], 1744–90, French royalist. After the outbreak of the French Revolution, he plotted (1789) with the comte de La ...

(Encyclopedia) Viviani, René rənāˈ vēvyänēˈ [key], 1863–1925, French statesman. He entered politics as a Socialist and joined Jean Jaurès in founding the journal Humanité and in forming (1905) the united...

(Encyclopedia) Vercors vĕrkôrˈ [key], 1902–91, French writer and illustrator, whose original name was Jean Bruller. Vercors served in the French resistance movement and helped to found Les Éditions de Minuit, ...

(Encyclopedia) Richelieu rĭshˈəlo͞o [key], river, c.75 mi (120 km) long, issuing from the north end of Lake Champlain, near the N.Y.–Que. border, and flowing N across S Que. to the St. Lawrence River at Sorel....

(Encyclopedia) Grasse, town, Alpes-Maritime dept., SE France. Probably founded in Roman times, Grasse was a commercial center during the Middle Ages. Destroyed many ti...

(Encyclopedia) Lalemant, Gabriel (Saint Gabriel Lalemant) lälmäNˈ [key], 1610–49, French Jesuit missionary in North America, nephew of Charles Lalemant and Jérôme Lalemant, one of the Jesuit Martyrs of North...

(Encyclopedia) Laporte, Roland rōläNˈ läpôrtˈ [key], 1675–1704, a leader of the Camisards, known as Roland. He was noted for his fearlessness, his knowledge of military tactics, and his ability at organizing...

(Encyclopedia) Laurence, Margaret (Jean Margaret Laurence), 1926–87, Canadian novelist, b. Manitoba. She lived in Somaliland, Ghana, and England and many of her early works had an African setting. Laurence was par...

(Encyclopedia) Meiss, Millard mēs [key], 1904–75, American art historian, b. Cincinnati. Meiss taught art history at Columbia from 1934 to 1953 and thereafter was professor at Harvard until 1958, when he joined t...