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Cœur, Jacques

(Encyclopedia)Cœur, Jacques zhäk kör [key], c.1395–1456, French merchant prince and adviser of King Charles VII, who made him chief of finances and sent him on important diplomatic missions. His reforms restor...

United States Naval Academy

(Encyclopedia)United States Naval Academy, at Annapolis, Md.; for training young men and women to be officers of the U.S. navy or marine corps. George Bancroft, Secretary of the Navy, founded and opened (1845) it a...

Rouen

(Encyclopedia)Rouen ro͞oäNˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 105,470), capital of Seine-Maritime dept., N France. Situated on the Seine near its mouth at the English Channel, Rouen functions as the port of Paris, handling...

hostage

(Encyclopedia)hostage, person held by another as a guarantee that certain actions or promises will or will not be carried out. During periods of internal turmoil, insurgents often seize hostages; recent examples in...

John II, king of France

(Encyclopedia)John II (John the Good), 1319–64, king of France (1350–64), son and successor of King Philip VI. An inept ruler, he began his reign by executing the constable of France (whose office he gave to hi...

Agen

(Encyclopedia)Agen äzhäNˈ [key], town, capital of Lot-et-Garonne dept., SW France, on the Garonne River, in Guienne. It is an agricultural marketplace in the center of a fruit-growing ...

Belidor, Bernard Forest de

(Encyclopedia)Belidor, Bernard Forest de bĕrnärˈ fôrĕˈ də bālēdôrˈ [key], 1693–1761, French engineer. He wrote numerous books dealing with mathematics, artillery, and hydraulic, civil, and military eng...

Mount Holyoke College

(Encyclopedia)Mount Holyoke College hōlˈyōk [key], at South Hadley, Mass.; for women; chartered 1836, opened 1837 as Mount Holyoke Female Seminary under Mary Lyon, rechartered as Mount Holyoke College 1893. Ther...

Philip VI, king of France

(Encyclopedia)Philip VI, 1293–1350, king of France (1328–50), son of Charles of Valois and grandson of King Philip III. He succeeded his cousin Charles IV, invoking the Salic law to set aside both Charles's dau...

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