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Estrées, Gabrielle d'

(Encyclopedia)Estrées, Gabrielle d' gäbrēĕlˈ dĕstrāˈ [key], 1573–99, famous beauty, mistress (1592–99) of Henry IV of France, who made her marquise of Monceaux and duchess of Beaufort. She divorced her ...

Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra

(Encyclopedia)Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis, Mo. Founded in 1880, it is the country's second-oldest orchestra (the New York Philharmonic is the oldest). It performed in the Kiel Opera House until 1966, ...

Champs Élysées

(Encyclopedia)Champs Élysées shäN zālēzāˈ [key], avenue of Paris, France, leading from the Place de la Concorde to the Arc de Triomphe. It is celebrated for its tree-lined beauty, its commodious breadth, the...

Saint-Arnaud, Armand Jacques Leroy de

(Encyclopedia)Saint-Arnaud, Armand Jacques Leroy de ärmäNˈ zhäk lərwäˈ də săNtärnōˈ [key], 1798?–1854, marshal of France. After serving in the French Foreign Legion in Algeria from 1837, he was one of...

Louvois, François Michel Le Tellier, marquis de

(Encyclopedia)Louvois, François Michel Le Tellier, marquis de fräNswäˈ mēshĕlˈ lə tĕlyāˈ märkēˈ də lo͞ovwäˈ [key], 1641–91, French statesman, minister during the reign of King Louis XIV. After 1...

Religion, Wars of

(Encyclopedia)Religion, Wars of, 1562–98, series of civil wars in France, also known as the Huguenot Wars. The immediate issue was the French Protestants' struggle for freedom of worship and the right of establis...

Kahn, Louis Isadore

(Encyclopedia)Kahn, Louis Isadore , kän [key], 1901–74, American architect, b. Estonia. He and his family moved to Philadelphia in 1905, and he later studied at the Univ. of Pennsylvania. From the 1920s through ...

Berlioz, Louis-Hector

(Encyclopedia)Berlioz, Louis-Hector lwē ĕktôrˈ bĕrlyôzˈ [key], 1803–69, French romantic composer. He abandoned medical study to enter the Paris Conservatory as a composition student. In 1830 his Symphonie ...

Mansart, François

(Encyclopedia)Mansart or Mansard, François both: fräNswäˈ mäNsärˈ [key], 1598–1666, French architect. His work is noted as being an outstanding expression of French classical design. In 1635 he was commiss...

de Vries, Hugo

(Encyclopedia)de Vries, Hugo hüˈgō də vrēs [key], 1848–1935, Dutch botanist. He opened a new approach to the study of evolution by using the experimental method to investigate the processes of evolution. His...