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Bayle, Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Bayle, Pierre pyĕr bāl [key], 1647–1706, French philosopher. Born a Huguenot, he converted to Roman Catholicism and then returned to Protestantism. To avoid French intolerance of Protestants, he m...

Soulages, Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Soulages, Pierre, 1919–, French abstract painter. Largely self-taught, he has been influenced by the carved prehistoric standing stones, Romanesque sculptures, and other art found where he was raise...

Soulé, Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Soulé, Pierre pyĕr so͞olāˈ [key], 1801–70, American political leader and diplomat, b. Castillon, France. A lawyer, he was imprisoned for republican activities against the conservative Bourbons,...

Cauchon, Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Cauchon, Pierre pyĕr kōshôNˈ [key], d. 1442, bishop of Beauvais, France, president of the ecclesiastic court that convicted (1431) Joan of Arc at Rouen. His violent partisanship for the English ma...

Cardin, Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Cardin, Pierre pyĕr kärdăNˈ [key], 1922–2020, French fashion designer, b. Italy. He spent most of his early years working in Paris for such firms as Schiaparelli and Dior and designed the costum...

Puget, Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Puget, Pierre pyĕr püzhāˈ [key], 1622–94, French painter and sculptor. At 17 he went on foot to Italy, where he worked for Pietro da Cortona on the ceilings of the Barberini and Pitti palaces. M...

Pierre, Abbé

(Encyclopedia)Pierre, Abbé äbāˈ pyĕr [key], 1912–2007, French priest and social activist, b. Lyons as Henri Antoine Grouès. Renouncing a wealthy inheritance to become a Capuchin monk in 1931, he left the mo...

Laplace, Pierre Simon, marquis de

(Encyclopedia)Laplace, Pierre Simon, marquis de pyĕr sēmôNˈ märkēˈ də läpläsˈ [key], 1749–1827, French astronomer and mathematician. At 18 he went to Paris, proved his gift for mathematical analysis to...

Argenson, Marc Pierre de Voyer de Paulmy, comte d'

(Encyclopedia)Argenson, Marc Pierre de Voyer de Paulmy, comte d' märk pyĕr də vwäyāˈ də pōmēˈ kôNt därzhäNsôNˈ [key], 1696–1764, French statesman and patron of literature; younger brother of René ...

Bodel, Jehan

(Encyclopedia)Bodel, Jehan zhäN bōdĕlˈ [key], b. c.1165, French trouvère of Arras. He is the author of one of the earliest dramas entirely in French, a mystery play entitled Le Jeu de Saint Nicolas (c.1200). ...