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Louis period styles

(Encyclopedia)Louis period styles, 1610–1793, succession of modes of interior decoration and architecture that established France as a leading influence in the decorative arts. The restraint of the later Louis ...

Béjart

(Encyclopedia)Béjart or Béjard both: bāzhärˈ [key], French family of actors associated with Molière, who joined their amateur company, Les Enfants de Famille. Their professional debut in Paris (1643) was as t...

Orléans, French royal family

(Encyclopedia)Orléans ôrlāäNˈ [key], family name of two branches of the French royal line. The house of Valois-Orléans was founded by Louis, duc d'Orléans (see separate article), whose assassination (1407) c...

Tourville, Anne Hilarion de Cotentin, comte de

(Encyclopedia)Tourville, Anne Hilarion de Cotentin, comte de än ēläryôNˈ də kôtäNtăNˈ kôNt də to͞orvēlˈ [key], 1642–1701, French naval commander. He served in the wars of King Louis XIV and was mad...

Polignac, Melchior de

(Encyclopedia)Polignac, Melchior de də pôlēnyäkˈ [key], 1661–1742, French diplomat, churchman, and author, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. As ambassador to Poland he directed (1697) the unsuccessful ...

Beauharnais, Hortense de

(Encyclopedia)Beauharnais, Hortense de də bōärnāˈ [key], 1783–1837, queen of Holland (1806–10), daughter of Alexandre and Josephine de Beauharnais and wife of Louis Bonaparte. She was the mother of Napole...

Mayenne, Charles de Lorraine, duc de

(Encyclopedia)Mayenne, Charles de Lorraine, duc de shärl də lôrĕnˈ dük də mäyĕnˈ [key], 1554–1611, French Catholic general in the Wars of Religion (see Religion, Wars of); brother of Henri, 3d duc de Gu...

Barère de Vieuzac, Bertrand

(Encyclopedia)Barère de Vieuzac, Bertrand bĕrträNˈ bärĕrˈ də vyözäkˈ [key], 1755–1841, French revolutionary. A member of the Revolutionary National Assembly and of the Convention, he moved from a moder...

Spanish Succession, War of the

(Encyclopedia)Spanish Succession, War of the, 1701–14, last of the general European wars caused by the efforts of King Louis XIV to extend French power. The conflict in America corresponding to the period of the ...

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