Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Herrings, Battle of the, 1429, episode in the siege of Orléans by the English in the Hundred Years War. The French, under Jean, comte de Dunois, attacked a supply train commanded by Sir John Fastolf....

(Encyclopedia) Simon, Antoine äNtwänˈ sēmôNˈ [key], 1736–94, French revolutionary, often called “the shoemaker,” a member of the Commune of Paris. He and his wife guarded the dauphin, Louis XVII, in pris...

(Encyclopedia) French art, the artistic production of the region that constitutes the historic nation of France. See also French architecture. The innovations of postimpressionism, combined with the influence of C...

(Encyclopedia) Weygand, Maxime mäksēmˈ vāgäNˈ [key], 1867–1965, French general, b. Belgium. A career army officer, he was (1914–23) chief of staff to Marshal Foch, and in 1920 he directed the defense of Wa...

(Encyclopedia) primitivism, in art, the style of works of self-trained artists who develop their talents in a fanciful and fresh manner, as in the paintings of Henri Rousseau and Grandma Moses. The term primitive ha...

(Encyclopedia) Roncesvalles rōnˌthāsväˈlyās [key], Fr. Roncevaux, mountain pass (alt. 3,468 ft/1,057 m), in the Pyrenees, between Pamplona (Spain) and Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port (France). Tradition has made it th...

(Encyclopedia) Guadet, Marguerite Élie märgərētˈ ālēˈ güädāˈ [key], 1758–94, French revolutionary. A leader of the Girondists, he was outlawed (1793) for his attacks on Maximilien Robespierre and Jean ...

(Encyclopedia) Orléans ôrlāäNˈ [key], family name of two branches of the French royal line. The house of Valois-Orléans was founded by Louis, duc d'Orléans (see separate article), whose assassination (1407) c...

(Encyclopedia) Muffat, Georg gāˈôrk mo͝ofˈät [key], 1645–1704, German organist and composer. Muffat studied in Italy with Arcangelo Corelli and Bernardo Pasquini. He also spent six years in Paris studying Je...

(Encyclopedia) La Baie lə bī [key], city (1991 pop. 20,995), S Que., Canada, on Ha! Ha! Bay, an arm of the Saguenay River. Formed by the amalgamation of Bagotville, Port Alfred, and the parishes of Grande-Baie and...