Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Orange ôräNzhˈ [key], town (1990 pop. 28,136), Vaucluse dept., SE France. An agricultural market center, the town also produces refined sugar, pâtés, preserves, wool, and shoes. Tourism is also i...

(Encyclopedia) Blanqui, Louis Auguste lwē ôgüstˈ [key], 1805–81, French revolutionary and radical thinker. While a student in Paris, he joined (1824) a branch of the Carbonari, a revolutionary secret society; ...

(Encyclopedia) Montespan, Françoise Athénaïs, marquise de fräNswäzˈ ätānäēsˈ märkēzˈ də môNtəspäNˈ [key], 1641–1707, mistress of King Louis XIV of France. She was maid of honor to Queen Marie Th...

(Encyclopedia) Maintenon, Françoise d'Aubigné, marquise de fräNswäzˈ dōbēnyāˈ märkēzˈ də măNtənôNˈ [key], 1635–1719, second wife of the French king Louis XIV. Her grandfather was Théodore Agrippa...

(Encyclopedia) Laffitte, Jacques zhäk läfētˈ [key], 1767–1844, French banker and politician. He rose from poverty to become one of the wealthiest and most influential men in France. He was director (1809) and ...

(Encyclopedia) Cheverus, Jean Louis Anne Madeleine Lefebvre de zhäN lwē än mädəlĕnˈ ləfĕˈvrə də shəvrüsˈ [key], 1768–1836, French churchman, first Roman Catholic bishop of Boston (1810–23). He was...

(Encyclopedia) Ferdinand II or Ferdinand the Catholic, 1452–1516, king of Aragón (1479–1516), king of Castile and León (as Ferdinand V, 1474–1504), king of Sicily (1468–1516), and king of Naples (1504–16...

(Encyclopedia) Louis, Séraphine sāräfēnˈ lwē [key], 1894–1934, French neoprimitive painter. Louis was a shepherdess and kitchen helper who taught herself to paint. Her powerful floral paintings are fantasies...

(Encyclopedia) Faidherbe, Louis Léon César lwē lāôNˈ sāzärˈ fādĕrbˈ [key], 1818–89, French colonial administrator. He was a leading participant in the establishment of the French colonial empire in Afr...

(Encyclopedia) Dunois, Jean, comte de zhäN kôNt də dünwäˈ [key], c.1403–1468, French general, called the Bastard of Orléans; natural son of Louis, duc d'Orléans. He joined the Armagnacs in the civil war du...