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Jean de Meun

(Encyclopedia)Jean de Meun zhäN də möN [key], d. 1305, French poet, also known as Jean Chopinel (or Clopinel) of Meung-sur-Loire. He wrote the second part of the Roman de la Rose and made translations from Latin...

Jocelin de Brakelond

(Encyclopedia)Jocelin de Brakelond jŏsˈlĭn də brākˈlŏnd [key], fl. 1200, English chronicler, a monk of Bury St. Edmunds. His chronicle of St. Edmund's Abbey, covering the years 1173–1202, is written in a s...

Maupassant, Guy de

(Encyclopedia)Maupassant, Guy de gē də mōpäsäNˈ [key], 1850–93, French novelist and short-story writer, of an ancient Norman family. He worked in a government office at Paris and became known c.1880 as the ...

Medici, Alessandro de'

(Encyclopedia)Medici, Alessandro de' mĕˈdĭchē, Ital. māˈdēchē [key], 1510?–37, duke of Florence (1532–37); probably an illegitimate son of Lorenzo de' Medici, duke of Urbino. His prominence began when ...

Medici, Catherine de'

(Encyclopedia)Medici, Catherine de': see Catherine de' Medici. ...

Medici, Cosimo de'

(Encyclopedia)Medici, Cosimo de' dā mĕˈdĭchē, Ital. māˈdēchē [key], 1389–1464, Italian merchant prince, first of the Medici family to rule Florence. He is often called Cosimo the Elder. After the death ...

Medici, Cosimo I de'

(Encyclopedia)Medici, Cosimo I de', 1519–74, duke of Florence (1537–69), grand duke of Tuscany (1569–74); son of Giovanni de' Medici (Giovanni delle Bande Nere). In 1537, Lorenzino de' Medici murdered Cosimo'...

Medici, Ferdinand I de'

(Encyclopedia)Medici, Ferdinand I de', 1549–1609, grand duke of Tuscany (1587–1609); brother and successor of Francesco de' Medici. He was made a cardinal in his youth, and he built the famous Villa Medici at R...

Medici, Francesco de'

(Encyclopedia)Medici, Francesco de' dā mĕˈdĭchē, Ital. māˈdēchē [key], 1541–87, grand duke of Tuscany (1574–87); son and successor of Cosimo I de' Medici. In his reign the decline of the Medici family...

Medici, Giuliano de'

(Encyclopedia)Medici, Giuliano de' dā mĕˈdĭchē, Ital. māˈdēchē [key], 1479–1516, duke of Nemours (1515–16); younger son of Lorenzo de' Medici (Lorenzo il Magnifico) and brother of Pope Leo X. He enter...