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García Lorca, Federico

(Encyclopedia)García Lorca, Federico fāᵺārēˈkō gärthēˈä lôrˈkä [key], 1898–1936, Spanish poet and dramatist, b. Fuente Vaqueros. The poetry, passion, and violence of his work and his own tragic and...

Alfonso VI, king of Portugal

(Encyclopedia)Alfonso VI, 1643–83, king of Portugal (1656–83), son and successor of John IV. Slightly paralyzed and mentally defective, he led a dissolute youth until he came under the influence of the count of...

Family Compact, in French and Spanish history

(Encyclopedia)Family Compact, several alliances between France and Spain in the form of agreements between the French and Spanish branches of the Bourbon family. The first of the three compacts, the Treaty of the E...

book of hours

(Encyclopedia)book of hours, form of prayer book developed in the 14th cent. from the prayers of clerics appended to the main service. The subjects of the miniature illustrations (see miniature painting) were frequ...

Fouillée, Alfred Jules Emile

(Encyclopedia)Fouillée, Alfred Jules Emile älfrĕdˈ zhül āmēlˈ fo͞oyāˈ [key], 1838–1912, self-educated French philosopher and sociologist. Until 1875, when he retired, he was a teacher at various French...

Janet, Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Janet, Pierre pyĕr zhänāˈ [key], 1859–1947, French physician and psychologist. As director (1890–98) of the laboratory of pathological psychology at Salpêtrière and as professor of experimen...

Aranguren, José Luis

(Encyclopedia)Aranguren, José Luis (José Luis López-Aranguren Jimenez) hōsāˈ lo͞oēsˈ ärängo͞oˈrān [key], 1909–96, Spanish philosopher, essayist, and literary critic, b. Ávila. A professor of ethics...

Diamond Necklace, Affair of the

(Encyclopedia)Diamond Necklace, Affair of the, scandal that took place at the court of King Louis XVI of France just before the French Revolution. An adventuress who called herself the comtesse de La Motte duped Ca...

Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de

(Encyclopedia)Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de zhôrzh lwē ləklĕrkˈ kôNt də büfôNˈ [key], 1707–88, French naturalist and author. From 1739 he was keeper of the Jardin du Roi (later the Jardin des ...

Sánchez, Florencio

(Encyclopedia)Sánchez, Florencio flōrānˈsyō sänˈchās [key], 1875–1910, Uruguayan playwright. His many plays concern pastoral life in the region of the Río de la Plata. Sánchez's style owes much to the n...