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Ville-sous-La-Ferté

(Encyclopedia)Ville-sous-La-Ferté vēl-so͞o-lä-fĕrtāˈ [key], village (1993 est. pop. 1,455), NE France. It is famous for its nearby abbey (now a prison) of Clairvaux, founded (1115) by St. Bernard of Clairvau...

Malachy, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Malachy, Saint mălˈəkē [key], 1095–1148, Irish churchman, reformer of the church in Ireland. His Irish name was Máel Máedoc ua Morgair. He was assistant to Cellach (Celsus), bishop of Armagh, ...

Bongo, Omar

(Encyclopedia)Bongo, Omar (El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba) bôngˈgō [key], 1935–2009, Gabonese political leader, president of Gabon (1967–2009), b. Albert-Bernard Bongo. He entered the civil service (1958), becam...

Apocrypha

(Encyclopedia)Apocrypha əpŏkˈrĭfə [key] [Gr.,=hidden things], term signifying a collection of early Jewish writings excluded from the canon of the Hebrew scriptures. It is not clear why the term was chosen. Th...

Herrera, Abraham Cohen de

(Encyclopedia)Herrera, Abraham Cohen de ār-rāˈrä [key], c.1570–1635, Jewish philosopher and kabbalist, also called Alonso Nunez de Herrera and Abraham Irira. Born possibly in Portugal of a Marrano family, his...

Jussieu

(Encyclopedia)Jussieu zhüsyöˈ [key], French family of distinguished botanists. Antoine de Jussieu, 1686–1758, was director of the Jardin des Plantes, Paris. He edited Jacques Barrelier's posthumously published...

M'Ba, Léon

(Encyclopedia)M'Ba, Léon lāôNˈ əmbäˈ [key], 1902–67, Gabonese political leader. He was a member of the dominant Fang ethnic group. When Gabon became a self-governing republic in the French Community (1958)...

Delaherche, Félix Auguste

(Encyclopedia)Delaherche, Félix Auguste fālēksˈ ōgüstˈ dəläârshˈ [key], 1857–1940, French potter. He is considered the greatest ceramist since Bernard Palissy. Working alone in the village of La Chapel...

Arsonval, Arsène d'

(Encyclopedia)Arsonval, Arsène d' ärsĕnˈ därsôNvälˈ [key], 1851–1940, French physicist and physician. He worked under Claude Bernard and under C. E. Brown-Séquard (whom he succeeded in 1897 at the Collè...

Armagnacs and Burgundians

(Encyclopedia)Armagnacs and Burgundians, opposing factions that fought to control France in the early 15th cent. The rivalry for power between Louis d'Orléans, brother of the recurrently insane King Charles VI, an...