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Saint-Vallier, Jean Baptiste de la Croix

(Encyclopedia)Saint-Vallier, Jean Baptiste de la Croix zhäN bätēstˈ də lä krwä săN-välyāˈ [key], 1653–1727, Roman Catholic bishop of Quebec, b. France. He succeeded François Xavier de Laval in 1688 af...

Mignard, Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Mignard, Pierre pyĕr mēnyärˈ [key], 1612–95, French painter. In 1657 he was summoned by Louis XIV to portray the king and celebrities of the court. In 1664 he decorated, in fresco, the cupola of...

Lanzmann, Claude

(Encyclopedia)Lanzmann, Claude, 1925–2018, French filmmaker and journalist, b. Paris. While his Jewish family was in hiding in rural France during World War II, Lanzmann joined the Resistance and fought the Nazis...

Bayard, Pierre Terrail, seigneur de

(Encyclopedia)Bayard, Pierre Terrail, seigneur de bāˈərd; pyĕr tĕrīˈyə sānyörˈ də bäyärˈ [key], c.1474–1524, French military hero, called le chevalier sans peur et sans reproche [the knight without...

Maupassant, Guy de

(Encyclopedia)Maupassant, Guy de gē də mōpäsäNˈ [key], 1850–93, French novelist and short-story writer, of an ancient Norman family. He worked in a government office at Paris and became known c.1880 as the ...

Tristan L'Hermite, François

(Encyclopedia)Tristan L'Hermite, François fräNswäˈ trēstäNˈ lĕrmētˈ [key], pseud. of François L'Hermite, 1601–55, French playwright and poet. Poor and plagued by ill health, he was a page in the court ...

Queneau, Raymond

(Encyclopedia)Queneau, Raymond rāmôNˈ kĕnōˈ [key], 1903–76, French author and critic. He was an advocate of surrealism during the middle and late 1920s. Queneau is best known for his manipulations of style ...

Barbazan, Arnaud Guillaume, seigneur de

(Encyclopedia)Barbazan, Arnaud Guillaume, seigneur de ärnōˈ gēyōmˈ sānyörˈ də bärbäzäNˈ [key], c.1360–1431, French general in the Hundred Years War. He was called le chevalier sans reproche [the kni...

Saint-Exupéry, Antoine de

(Encyclopedia)Saint-Exupéry, Antoine de (Antoine-Marie-Roger de Saint-Exupéry) äNtwänˈ-märēˈ-rôzhāˈ də săNtĕgzüpārēˈ [key], 1900–1944, French aviator and writer. He became a commercial pilot and...

Louis XIV, king of France

(Encyclopedia)Louis XIV, 1638–1715, king of France (1643–1715), son and successor of King Louis XIII. Although he had a series of mistresses, Louis XIV finally came under the influence of Mme de Maintenon, wh...

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