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Jarnac

(Encyclopedia)Jarnac zhärnäkˈ [key], town, Charente dept., in the Cognac region, on the Charente River. At Jarnac in 1569 French Catholics under the duke of Anjou (later Henry III) defeated the Huguenots, whose ...

Jagiello

(Encyclopedia)Jagiello yägĕˈlō [key], dynasty that ruled Poland and Lithuania from 1386 to 1572, Hungary from 1440 to 1444 and again from 1490 to 1526, and Bohemia from 1471 to 1526. It took its name from Ladis...

Charles III, king of Spain, and of Naples and Sicily

(Encyclopedia)Charles III, 1716–88, king of Spain (1759–88) and of Naples and Sicily (1735–59), son of Philip V and Elizabeth Farnese. Recognized as duke of Parma and Piacenza in 1731, he relinquished the duc...

Vendôme, Louis Joseph, duc de

(Encyclopedia)Vendôme, Louis Joseph, duc de dük də väNdōmˈ [key], 1654–1712, marshal of France; grandson of César de Vendôme and son of Laura Mancini. He fought in the War of the Grand Alliance. In the W...

Schoelcher, Victor

(Encyclopedia)Schoelcher, Victor vēktôrˈ shölshĕrˈ [key], 1804–93, French humanitarian and statesman. Long involved in the abolition movement, he presided (1848) over a commission that secured the abolition...

St. Laurent, Louis Stephen

(Encyclopedia)St. Laurent, Louis Stephen săN lôräNˈ [key], 1882–1973, Canadian political leader. A well-known lawyer, he entered (1941) political life as minister of justice and attorney general in the Macken...

Bonaparte

(Encyclopedia)Bonaparte bwōnäpärˈtā [key], family name of Napoleon I, emperor of the French. Of the second generation of the family the most important was Louis Bonaparte's son, Louis Napoleon, who became e...

Malus, Étienne Louis

(Encyclopedia)Malus, Étienne Louis ātyĕnˈ lwē mälüsˈ [key], 1775–1812, French artillery officer and physicist. In 1810 he stated his discovery of the polarization of light by reflection and published a me...

Céline, Louis Ferdinand

(Encyclopedia)Céline, Louis Ferdinand lwē fĕrdēnNˈ sālēnˈ [key], 1894–1961, French author, whose real name was Louis Ferdinand Destouches. Céline wrote grim, scatological, and blackly funny novels. His f...

Charles I, duke of Lower Lorraine

(Encyclopedia)Charles I, 953–992?, duke of Lower Lorraine (977–91); younger son of King Louis IV of France. He claimed the French throne when his nephew, Louis V of France, died (987) without issue, but he was ...