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Armagnacs and Burgundians

(Encyclopedia)Armagnacs and Burgundians, opposing factions that fought to control France in the early 15th cent. The rivalry for power between Louis d'Orléans, brother of the recurrently insane King Charles VI, an...

Cistercians

(Encyclopedia)Cistercians sĭstrˈshənz [key], monks of a Roman Catholic religious order founded (1098) by St. Robert, abbot of Molesme, in Cîteaux [Cistercium], Côte-d'Or dept., France. They reacted against Clu...

Parti Québécois

(Encyclopedia)Parti Québécois pärtē kēbĕkwäˈ [key] (PQ), provincial political party committed to the independence of Quebec. Founded in 1968, it soon became a force in provincial elections. In 1976, led by ...

Van Vechten, Carl

(Encyclopedia)Van Vechten, Carl văn vĕkˈtən [key], 1880–1964, American music critic, novelist, and photographer, b. Cedar Rapids, Iowa, grad. Univ. of Chicago, 1903. While he was a leading music and dance cri...

Mencken, H. L.

(Encyclopedia)Mencken, H. L. (Henry Louis Mencken) mĕngˈkən, mĕnˈ– [key], 1880–1956, American editor, author, and critic, b. Baltimore, studied at the Baltimore Polytechnic. Probably America's most influen...

Lilith

(Encyclopedia)Lilith lĭlˈĭth [key], female demon of Jewish mythology, originally probably the Assyrian storm demon Lilitu. In Talmudic tradition many evil attributes were given to this supposedly nocturnal creat...

Troubetzkoy, Paul, Prince

(Encyclopedia)Troubetzkoy, Paul, Prince tro͞obĕtskoiˈ, tro͞obĕtsˈkoi, Rus. tro͞obyĭtskoiˈ [key], 1866–1938, Russian sculptor, b. Italy. The son of a Russian nobleman and an American woman, Troubetzkoy wo...

Charlotte, grand duchess of Luxembourg

(Encyclopedia)Charlotte, 1896–1985, grand duchess of Luxembourg (1919–64). The second daughter of Duke William of Nassau-Weilburg and a Portuguese princess, Marie Anne of Braganza, she succeeded her sister, Mar...

Marengo, battle of

(Encyclopedia)Marengo, battle of, a major engagement of the French Revolutionary Wars, fought on June 14, 1800, at the village of Marengo in Piedmont, N Italy. Determined to throw the Austrians back from positions ...

Hoff, Ted

(Encyclopedia)Hoff, Ted (Marcian Edward Hoff, Jr.), 1937–, American computer-industry executive, b. Rochester, N.Y., Ph.D. Stanford (1962). He received his first two patents while working for the General Railway ...