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La Tour, Maurice Quentin de

(Encyclopedia)La Tour, Maurice Quentin de də lä to͞or [key], 1704–88, French portraitist working in pastel. From 1737 to 1773 he exhibited at the Salon portraits of considerable technical virtuosity and psych...

Montholon, Charles Tristan, marquis de

(Encyclopedia)Montholon, Charles Tristan, marquis de shärl trēstäNˈ märkēˈ də môNtōlôNˈ [key], 1783–1853, French general in the Napoleonic Wars. He accompanied the former emperor, Napoleon I, to St. H...

Balzac, Honoré de

(Encyclopedia)Balzac, Honoré de bălˈzăk, bôl–, Fr. ōnôrāˈ də bälzäkˈ [key], 1799–1850, French novelist, b. Tours. Balzac ranks among the great masters of the novel. Of a bourgeois family, he himsel...

Rooke, Sir George

(Encyclopedia)Rooke, Sir George ro͝ok [key], 1650–1709, English admiral. In the War of the Grand Alliance he defeated a French fleet under the comte de Tourville in the battle of La Hogue (1692) and by good judg...

Giscard d'Estaing, Valéry

(Encyclopedia)Giscard d'Estaing, Valéry (Valéry Marie René Georges Giscard d'Estaing) välārēˈ zhēskärˈ dĕstăNˈ [key], 1926–2020, French political leader, president of France (1974–81); b. French-oc...

De Smet, Pierre Jean

(Encyclopedia)De Smet, Pierre Jean pyĕr zhäN də smĕtˈ [key], 1801–73, Jesuit missionary in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, b. Belgium. He emigrated to the United States in 1821, served his novitiate in Florissan...

Vendée

(Encyclopedia)Vendée väNdāˈ [key], department (1990 pop. 509,356), W France, on the Bay of Biscay, in Poitou. The offshore islands of Noirmoutier and Yeu are included in the department. Largely an agricultural ...

Montespan, Françoise Athénaïs, marquise de

(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...

Croissy, Charles Colbert, marquis de

(Encyclopedia)Croissy, Charles Colbert, marquis de shärl kôlbĕrˈ märkē də krwäsēˈ [key], c.1625–96, French diplomat, brother of Jean Baptiste Colbert. He entered the service of Cardinal Mazarin and fill...

Charlevoix, Pierre François Xavier de

(Encyclopedia)Charlevoix, Pierre François Xavier de pyĕr fräNswäˈ zävyāˈ də shärləvwäˈ [key], 1682–1761, French Jesuit traveler and historian. He taught at the Jesuit college in Quebec and at the Col...

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