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League

(Encyclopedia)League or Holy League, in French history, organization of Roman Catholics, aimed at the suppression of Protestantism and Protestant political influence in France. It was foreshadowed as early as 1561 ...

French architecture

(Encyclopedia)French architecture, structures created in the area of Europe that is now France. Engineers and architects, including François Hennebique, Auguste Perret, and Tony Garnier, pioneered the use of rei...

Waldenses

(Encyclopedia)Waldenses wôldĕnˈsēz [key] or Waldensians, Protestant religious group of medieval origin, called in French Vaudois. They originated in the late 12th cent. as the Poor Men of Lyons, a band organize...

Steenkerque

(Encyclopedia)Steenkerque stānkĕrkˈ [key], Du. Steenkerke, village, Hainaut prov., S Belgium, near Mons. There, in 1692, the French under Marshal François Henri de Luxembourg defeated William III of England in ...

Rochefort, Victor Henri, marquis de Rochefort-Luçay

(Encyclopedia)Rochefort, Victor Henri, marquis de Rochefort-Luçay vēktôrˈ äNrēˈ rôshfôrˈ märkēˈ də rôshfôrˈ-lüsāˈ [key], 1831–1913, French journalist and politician. The editor of Le Figaro in...

black humor

(Encyclopedia)black humor, in literature, drama, and film, grotesque or morbid humor used to express the absurdity, insensitivity, paradox, and cruelty of the modern world. Ordinary characters or situations are usu...

Bellows, George Wesley

(Encyclopedia)Bellows, George Wesley, 1882–1925, American painter, draftsman, and lithographer, b. Columbus, Ohio. The son of an engineer, architect, and builder, he left Ohio State Univ. in his senior year to st...

L'Enfant, Pierre Charles

(Encyclopedia)L'Enfant, Pierre Charles pyĕr shärl läNfäNˈ [key], 1754–1825, American soldier, engineer, and architect. Born in France, he volunteered as a private in the American Revolution. He won Gen. Wash...

Langlade, Charles Michel de

(Encyclopedia)Langlade, Charles Michel de shärl mēshĕlˈ də [key], 1729–1800, pioneer in present-day Wisconsin and soldier, b. Mackinac region, now in Mich.; son of a trader, Augustin Langlade, who establishe...

Laveran, Charles Louis Alphonse

(Encyclopedia)Laveran, Charles Louis Alphonse shärl lwē älfôNsˈ lävəräNˈ [key], 1845–1922, French physician. While an army surgeon in Algiers he discovered (1880) the parasite that causes malaria and wro...