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Musset, Alfred de

(Encyclopedia)Musset, Alfred de (Louis Charles Alfred de Musset) älfrĕdˈ də müsāˈ [key], 1810–57, French romantic poet, dramatist, and fiction writer. His first collection of poems, Contes d'Espagne et d'I...

Malebranche, Nicolas

(Encyclopedia)Malebranche, Nicolas nēkôläˈ mälbräNshˈ [key], 1638–1715, French philosopher. Malebranche's philosophy is a highly original synthesis of Cartesian and Augustinian thought. Its purpose was to ...

Ramelli, Agostino

(Encyclopedia)Ramelli, Agostino ägōstēˈnō rämĕlˈlē [key], c.1531–c.1600, Italian engineer who served in the armies of the marquis de Marignan and of the duc d'Anjou (later Henry III of France). His book,...

Saint-Denis, city, France

(Encyclopedia)Saint-Denis săN-dənēˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 90,806), Seine–Saint-Denis dept., N central France. It is an industrial suburb N of Paris. Metals, chemicals, machinery, electronics, and food produc...

Bazard, Saint-Amand

(Encyclopedia)Bazard, Saint-Amand săNtämäNˈ bäzärˈ [key], 1791–1832, French socialist. He founded (1818) a republican society, Les Amis de la vérité [Friends of Truth], and was a member of the Carbonari....

Mansart, François

(Encyclopedia)Mansart or Mansard, François both: fräNswäˈ mäNsärˈ [key], 1598–1666, French architect. His work is noted as being an outstanding expression of French classical design. In 1635 he was commiss...

Boisguilbert, Pierre le Pesant, sieur de

(Encyclopedia)Boisguilbert, Pierre le Pesant, sieur de pyĕr lə pəzäNˈ syör də bwägēlbĕrˈ [key], 1646–1714, French economist. A local official of Rouen after 1689, he proposed a radical alteration of th...

French Academy

(Encyclopedia)French Academy (L'Académie française), learned society of France. It is one of the five societies of the Institut de France. The work of the French Academy has chiefly consisted of the preparation...

Louis VI, king of France

(Encyclopedia)Louis VI (Louis the Fat), 1081–1137, king of France (1108–37). He succeeded his father, Philip I, with whom he was associated in government from c.1100. He firmly established his authority within ...

Rheinfelden

(Encyclopedia)Rheinfelden rīnˈfĕldən [key], town, Aargau canton, N Switzerland, on the Rhine River, opposite the German town of the same name. Although it has one of the largest hydroelectric plants in Europe, ...