Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Jaurès, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Jaurès, Jean zhäN zhōrĕsˈ [key], 1859–1914, French Socialist leader and historian. A brilliant student and teacher, he entered the chamber of deputies in 1885 and subsequently became a Socialis...

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...

Cassin, René

(Encyclopedia)Cassin, René rənāˈ cäsăNˈ [key], 1887–1976, French jurist and humanitarian. He studied law at the universities of Aix-en-Provence and Paris, earned (1914) a doctorate, and practiced until Wor...

Mansard

(Encyclopedia)Mansard: for French architects thus named, use Mansart.

Lowe, Sir Hudson

(Encyclopedia)Lowe, Sir Hudson lō [key], 1769–1844, British general. He fought with credit throughout the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, mainly in the Mediterranean region, and served (1815–21) as g...

Auber, Daniel-François-Esprit

(Encyclopedia)Auber, Daniel-François-Esprit dänyĕlˈ fräNswäˈ ĕsprēˈ ōbĕrˈ [key], 1782–1871, French operatic composer. His greatest successes resulted from his collaboration with the librettist Scribe...

Marseillaise

(Encyclopedia)Marseillaise märˌsəlāzˈ [key] [Fr.,=of Marseille], the French national anthem, written and composed in 1792 for the army of the Rhine by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, a French officer in garriso...

Sagan, Françoise

(Encyclopedia)Sagan, Françoise kwärĕzˈ [key], 1935–2004, French novelist, b. Françoise Quoirez. She became famous with her precocious first book, Bonjour tristesse (1954, tr. 1955), a bittersweetly amoral po...

Saltillo

(Encyclopedia)Saltillo sältēˈyō [key], city (1990 pop. 420,947), capital of Coahuila state, N Mexico. It is located in an alluvial valley almost surrounded by mountains. Saltillo is a commercial and industrial ...

Seignobos, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Seignobos, Charles shärlˈ sānyōbōˈ [key], 1854–1942, French historian. He taught at the Univ. of Paris and wrote many works on French and European history and civilization, some being contribu...

Browse by Subject