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Du Barry, Jeanne Bécu, comtesse

(Encyclopedia)Du Barry, Jeanne Bécu, comtesse zhän bāküˈ kôNtĕsˈ dü bärēˈ, do͞obărˈē [key], 1743–93, mistress of King Louis XV of France. A courtesan of illegitimate birth, she was the mistress of...

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...

Corday, Charlotte

(Encyclopedia)Corday, Charlotte (Marie Anne Charlotte Corday d'Armont) märēˈ än shärlôtˈ kōrdāˈ därmôNˈ [key], 1768–93, assassin of Jean Paul Marat. Although of aristocratic background, she sympathiz...

Churchill, town, Canada

(Encyclopedia)Churchill, town, NE Manitoba, Canada, a remote port on Hudson Bay at the mouth of the Churchill River. The northern terminus of the Hudson Bay Railway, ...

Schlegel, August Wilhelm von

(Encyclopedia)Schlegel, August Wilhelm von ouˈgo͝ost vĭlˈhĕlm fən shlāˈgəl [key], 1767–1845, German scholar and poet. With his brother, Friedrich von Schlegel, he founded the Athenaeum, which he edited (...

Schuman, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Schuman, Robert rōbĕrˈ sho͞omäNˈ [key], 1886–1963, French statesman and lawyer, b. grand duchy of Luxembourg. A member of the Catholic Mouvement Républicain Populaire (MRP), he was finance mi...

Tonton Macoutes

(Encyclopedia)Tonton Macoutes tŏntŏnˈ mäko͞otˈ [key] [Haitian Creole,=bogeymen], personal police force of dictator Francois Duvalier (Papa Doc) of Haiti. Unpaid volunteers who were directly responsible only t...

Carnot, Sadi

(Encyclopedia)Carnot, Sadi kärnōˈ [key], 1837–94, French statesman, president of the Third Republic (1887–94); son of Hippolyte Carnot. As minister of public works (1880–85) and of finance (1886), he rema...

Adrian, Gilbert

(Encyclopedia)Adrian, Gilbert, 1903–59, popularly known simply as Adrian, fashion designer, b. Naugatuk, Conn. Educated in New York City, he created designs for Broadway shows until 1925, when he moved to Hollywo...

French literature

(Encyclopedia)French literature, writings in medieval French dialects and standard modern French. Writings in Provençal and Breton are considered separately, as are works in French produced abroad (as at Canadian ...