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New Year's Day

(Encyclopedia)New Year's Day, among ancient peoples the first day of the year frequently corresponded to the vernal or autumnal equinox, or to the summer or winter solstice. In the Middle Ages it was celebrated amo...

Rogation Days

(Encyclopedia)Rogation Days, in the calendar of the Western Church, four days traditionally set apart for solemn processions to invoke God's mercy. They are Apr. 25, the Major Rogation, coinciding with St. Mark's D...

Fouquier-Tinville, Antoine Quentin

(Encyclopedia)Fouquier-Tinville, Antoine Quentin äNtwänˈ käNtăNˈ fo͞okyāˈ-tăNvēlˈ [key], 1746–95, French revolutionary. A lawyer, he was public prosecutor (Mar., 1793–July, 1794) of the Revolutionar...

Custine, Adam Philippe, comte de

(Encyclopedia)Custine, Adam Philippe, comte de ädäNˈ fēlēpˈ kôNt də küstēnˈ [key], 1740–93, French general. He served in the Seven Years War and in the American Revolution. Elected to the States-Genera...

Cassano d'Adda

(Encyclopedia)Cassano d'Adda käs-säˈnō dädˈdä [key], town, Lombardy, N Italy, on the Adda Ri...

Kléber, Jean Baptiste

(Encyclopedia)Kléber, Jean Baptiste zhäN bätēstˈ klābĕrˈ [key], 1753–1800, French general, b. Strasbourg. A trained architect, he attended military school in Munich and served in the Austrian army from 17...

Gérard, Étienne Maurice

(Encyclopedia)Gérard, Étienne Maurice ātyĕnˈ môrēsˈ zhārärˈ [key], 1773–1852, French army officer. He fought with distinction in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and in the Waterloo campai...

Blanqui, Louis Auguste

(Encyclopedia)Blanqui, Louis Auguste lwē ôgüstˈ [key], 1805–81, French revolutionary and radical thinker. While a student in Paris, he joined (1824) a branch of the Carbonari, a revolutionary secret society; ...

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