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Rochelle salt

(Encyclopedia)Rochelle salt, colorless to blue-white orthorhombic crystalline salt with a saline, cooling taste. It is also called Seignette salt after Pierre Seignette, an apothecary of La Rochelle, France, who wa...

Peter I, duke or count of Brittany

(Encyclopedia)Peter I (Pierre Mauclerc), d. 1250, duke or count of Brittany (1213–37). The son of Robert II, count of Dreux, he married Alix, half-sister and heiress of Arthur I duke of Brittany. His surname, mea...

Petitot, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Petitot, Jean lwēˈ [key], 1653–c.1730, was in the service of Charles II of England. Specimens of his work are preserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum. ...

Saint-Germain-en-Laye

(Encyclopedia)Saint-Germain-en-Laye săN-zhĕrmăNˈ-äN-lā [key], town (1990 pop. 41,710), Yvelines dept., N central France, on the Seine River, a residential suburb W of Paris. It is the last station on the expr...

parimutuel betting

(Encyclopedia)parimutuel betting părˌĭmyo͞oˈtyo͞oĕl [key], system of cooperative wagering invented (c.1870) in France by Pierre Oller. According to the system, the holders of winning tickets divide the total...

Biel

(Encyclopedia)Biel byĕn [key], city (1990 est. pop. 52,020), Bern canton, NW Switzerland, at the northeast end of the Lake of Biel. A watchmaking center, Biel also manufactures chains and machinery. There is a 16t...

Belloc, Hilaire

(Encyclopedia)Belloc, Hilaire (Joseph Hilaire Pierre Belloc) bĕlˈŏk [key], 1870–1953, English author, b. France. He became a British subject in 1902, and from 1906 to 1910 was a Liberal member of Parliament fo...

La Trémoille, Georges de

(Encyclopedia)La Trémoille or La Trimouille, Georges de zhôrzh də lä trāmoiˈyə or trēmo͞oˈyə [key], c.1385–1446, favorite of King Charles VII of France, sometime chamberlain to John the Fearless of Bur...

mansard roof

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Mansard roof mansard roof mănˈsärd [key], type of roof, so named because it was frequently used by the French architect François Mansart. It was not devised by him but was used early in th...

Don Juan

(Encyclopedia)Don Juan dŏn wän, jo͞oˈən, Span. dōn hwän [key], legendary profligate. He has a counterpart in the legends of many peoples, but the Spanish version of the great libertine has become the most un...