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Portsmouth, Louise Renée de Kéroualle, duchess of

(Encyclopedia)Portsmouth, Louise Renée de Kéroualle, duchess of lwēz rənāˈ də kāro͞oälˈ [key], 1649–1734, French mistress of Charles II of England. She exerted a powerful influence over the king in fav...

Alphonse

(Encyclopedia)Alphonse älfôNsˈ [key], 1220–71, count of Poitiers and of Toulouse, brother of King Louis IX of France. By his marriage to the daughter of Raymond VII, count of Toulouse, he inherited Raymond's l...

Ems dispatch

(Encyclopedia)Ems dispatch, 1870, communication between King William of Prussia (later German Emperor William I) and his premier, Otto von Bismarck. In June, 1870, the throne of Spain was offered to Prince Leopold ...

Sorel, Albert

(Encyclopedia)Sorel, Albert sôrĕlˈ [key], 1842–1906, French historian. After a diplomatic career that gave him unique access to the archives of the foreign ministry, Sorel concentrated on diplomatic history. ...

Cambrai

(Encyclopedia)Cambrai käNbrāˈ [key], city, Nord dept., N France, a port on the Escaut (Scheldt) River. I...

William II, prince of Orange

(Encyclopedia)William II, 1626–50, prince of Orange, stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands (1647–50), son and successor of Frederick Henry. He married (1641) Mary, eldest daughter of Charles I ...

Washburne, Elihu Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Washburne, Elihu Benjamin, 1816–87, American politician and diplomat, b. Livermore, Maine. Admitted to the bar in Massachusetts, he opened (1840) his law practice in Galena, Ill. As a U.S. Represent...

Chadwick, Florence May

(Encyclopedia)Chadwick, Florence May, 1918–95, American distance swimmer, b. San Diego, Calif. She began swimming at the age of six, and four years later she swam the San Diego Bay Channel, the first child to do ...

Blanche of Castile

(Encyclopedia)Blanche of Castile bläNsh, kăstēlˈ [key], 1185?–1252, queen of Louis VIII of France and regent during the minority (1226–34) of their son Louis IX. A forceful and capable ruler, she checked th...

Boisguilbert, Pierre le Pesant, sieur de

(Encyclopedia)Boisguilbert, Pierre le Pesant, sieur de pyĕr lə pəzäNˈ syör də bwägēlbĕrˈ [key], 1646–1714, French economist. A local official of Rouen after 1689, he proposed a radical alteration of th...