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Clement VI, pope

(Encyclopedia)Clement VI, 1291–1352, pope (1342–52), a Frenchman named Pierre Roger; successor of Benedict XII. His court was at Avignon. He had been archbishop of Sens, archbishop of Rouen, and cardinal (1338)...

Pétion, Alexandre

(Encyclopedia)Pétion, Alexandre älĕksäNˈdrə pātyôNˈ [key], 1770–1818, Haitian revolutionist. After taking part in the expulsion (1798) of the English from Haiti, he joined (1799) André Rigaud against To...

Rouen

(Encyclopedia)Rouen ro͞oäNˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 105,470), capital of Seine-Maritime dept., N France. Situated on the Seine near its mouth at the English Channel, Rouen functions as the port of Paris, handling...

Vichy

(Encyclopedia)Vichy vĭshˈē, Fr. vēshēˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 28,048), Allier dept., central France, on the Allier River. Vichy's hot mineral springs made it one of the foremost spas in Europe, with a casino ...

Laffite, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Laffite, Jean zhäN läfētˈ [key], c.1780–1826?, leader of a band of privateers and smugglers. The name is often spelled Lafitte. He and his men began operating (1810) off the Baratarian coast S o...

London Symphony Orchestra

(Encyclopedia)London Symphony Orchestra (LSO), founded 1904 by musicians who had left the Queen's Hall Orchestra. Established as a self-governing, profit-sharing cooperative, with members selecting the conductors, ...

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 ...

Gregory XI

(Encyclopedia)Gregory XI, 1330–78, pope (1370–78), a Frenchman named Pierre Roger de Beaufort. He was the successor of Urban V, who had made an unsuccessful attempt to remove the papacy from Avignon to Rome (13...

Breton literature

(Encyclopedia)Breton literature brĕtˈən [key], in the Celtic language of Brittany. Although there are numerous allusions in other literatures of the 12th to 14th cent. to the “matter of Brittany,” which incl...

Mitterrand, François Maurice

(Encyclopedia)Mitterrand, François Maurice fräNswäˈ mōrēsˈ mētəräNˈ [key], 1916–96, French political leader, president of France, 1981–95. Initially a supporter of Pétain's Vichy government during W...