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Puy-en-Velay, Le

(Encyclopedia)Puy-en-Velay, Le lə püēˈ-äN-vəlāˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 23,434), capital of Haute-Loire dept., S central France. Le Puy-en-Velay is the center of an old lace industry, as well as traditional ...

Briggs, Le Baron Russell

(Encyclopedia)Briggs, Le Baron Russell, 1855–1934, American educator, b. Salem, Mass., grad. Harvard (B.A., 1875; M.A., 1882). As a teacher at Harvard he developed, with Barrett Wendell, a prescribed and widely i...

Tonti, Henri de

(Encyclopedia)Tonti or Tonty, Henri de both: äNrēˈ də tôNtēˈ [key], c.1650–1704, French explorer in North America, b. Italy. Serving in the French army, he lost a hand in battle; his skillful use of the ap...

Don Juan

(Encyclopedia)Don Juan dŏn wän, jo͞oˈən, Span. dōn hwän [key], legendary profligate. He has a counterpart in the legends of many peoples, but the Spanish version of the great libertine has become the most un...

Vienne, town, France

(Encyclopedia)Vienne, town (1990 pop. 30,386), Isère dept., SE France, on the Rhône River. It is a farm trade center with textile, metallurgical, and footwear industries. The capital of the Allobroges, Vienne (th...

Notre-Dame de Paris

(Encyclopedia)Notre-Dame de Paris nôˈtrə-däm də pärēˈ [key] [Fr.,=Our Lady of Paris], cathedral church of Paris, a noble achievement of early Gothic architecture in France. It stands upon the Île de la Cit...

La Salle, Robert Cavelier, sieur de

(Encyclopedia)La Salle, Robert Cavelier, sieur de rōbĕrˈ kävəlyāˈ syör də lä sälˈ [key], 1643–87, French explorer in North America, one of the most celebrated explorers and builders of New France. He ...

Breton literature

(Encyclopedia)Breton literature brĕtˈən [key], in the Celtic language of Brittany. Although there are numerous allusions in other literatures of the 12th to 14th cent. to the “matter of Brittany,” which incl...

Sainte-Chapelle

(Encyclopedia)Sainte-Chapelle săNt-shäpĕlˈ [key], former chapel in Paris. Forming part of the buildings of the Palais de Justice (once the royal palace) on the Île-de-la-Cité, it was built by Pierre de Montre...

Frontenac, Louis de Buade, comte de Palluau et de

(Encyclopedia)Frontenac, Louis de Buade, comte de Palluau et de frŏnˈtĭnăk, Fr. lwē də büädˈ koNt də pälüōˈ ā də frôNtənäkˈ [key], 1620–98, French governor of New France. His early military ca...

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