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Talma, François Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Talma, François Joseph fräNswäˈ zhôzĕfˈ tälmäˈ [key], 1763–1826, French actor. The greatest tragedian of his time, he broke with tradition and foreshadowed the romanticists. He continued L...

Stendal

(Encyclopedia)Stendal shtĕnˈdäl [key], city (1994 pop. 47,252), Saxony-Anhalt, N central Germany, on the Uchte River. It is a major rail junction and has sugar refineries, metalworks, food canneries, and chemica...

Poison Affair

(Encyclopedia)Poison Affair, in French history, scandal implicating a number of prominent persons at the court of King Louis XIV. It began with the trial of Marie Madeleine d'Aubray, marquise de Brinvilliers (c.163...

Theresa, Saint (Theresa of Lisieux)

(Encyclopedia)Theresa or Thérèse, Saint (Theresa of Lisieux), 1873–97, French Carmelite nun, one of the most widely loved saints of the Roman Catholic Church, b. Alençon. Her original name was Marie-Françoise...

Montespan, Françoise Athénaïs, marquise de

(Encyclopedia)Montespan, Françoise Athénaïs, marquise de fräNswäzˈ ätānäēsˈ märkēzˈ də môNtəspäNˈ [key], 1641–1707, mistress of King Louis XIV of France. She was maid of honor to Queen Marie Th...

Napoleon II

(Encyclopedia)Napoleon II, 1811–32, son of Napoleon I and Marie Louise, known as the king of Rome (1811–14), as the prince of Parma (1814–18), and after that as the duke of Reichstadt. Napoleon's abdication i...

Hamilton, Emma, Lady

(Encyclopedia)Hamilton, Emma, Lady, 1765?–1815, mistress of the British naval hero Horatio Nelson. Born Emma Lyon, she became the mistress of Charles Greville, then of Sir William Hamilton, ambassador to Naples, ...

Jørgensen, Jens Johannes

(Encyclopedia)Jørgensen, Jens Johannes yĕns yōhäˈnəs yörˈgənsən [key], 1866–1956, Danish poet and religious writer. He reacted against the naturalism of Georg Brandes and, in such works as Poems (1898),...

Corday, Charlotte

(Encyclopedia)Corday, Charlotte (Marie Anne Charlotte Corday d'Armont) märēˈ än shärlôtˈ kōrdāˈ därmôNˈ [key], 1768–93, assassin of Jean Paul Marat. Although of aristocratic background, she sympathiz...

Dablon, Claude

(Encyclopedia)Dablon, Claude klōd däblôNˈ [key], 1619?–1697, French Jesuit missionary in North America. He went from France to Canada in 1655 and worked first among the Onondaga Indians in New York, then (166...