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Pleven, René

(Encyclopedia)Pleven, René rənāˈ plĕväNˈ [key], 1901–93, French political leader. He held various diplomatic and financial posts in the Free French government during World War II and served (1944–46) as ...

Seneffe

(Encyclopedia)Seneffe or Seneff both: sənĕfˈ [key], small town, Hainaut prov., S central Belgium, near Charleroi. At Seneffe, the French under Louis II de Condé defeated (1674) the Dutch, and the French under M...

Deraismes, Maria

(Encyclopedia)Deraismes, Maria märēäˈ dərāmˈ [key], 1828–94, French feminist. She was a founder (1869) of the first French society dedicated to improving conditions and securing greater educational advanta...

Vaugelas, Claude Favre de

(Encyclopedia)Vaugelas, Claude Favre de klōd fäˈvrə də vōzhəläˈ [key], 1585–1650, French grammarian. He set up, in his Remarques sur la langue française (1647), the usage of cultured people as the stand...

Bodel, Jehan

(Encyclopedia)Bodel, Jehan zhäN bōdĕlˈ [key], b. c.1165, French trouvère of Arras. He is the author of one of the earliest dramas entirely in French, a mystery play entitled Le Jeu de Saint Nicolas (c.1200). ...

Vincent de Paul, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Vincent de Paul, Saint, 1580?–1660, French priest renowned for charitable work, b. Gascony. He was ordained in 1600. There are conflicting stories about his capture by pirates and enslavement in Tun...

Condorcet, Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas Caritat, marquis de

(Encyclopedia)Condorcet, Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas Caritat, marquis de märēˈ zhäN äNtwänˈ nēkôläˈ kärētäˈ märkēˈ də kôNdôrsāˈ [key], 1743–94, French mathematician, philosopher, and politic...

Fort Duquesne

(Encyclopedia)Fort Duquesne dəkānˈ, do͞o– [key], at the junction of the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers, on the site of Pittsburgh, SW Pa. Because of its strategic location, it was a major objective in the l...

Hawke of Towton, Edward Hawke, 1st Baron

(Encyclopedia)Hawke of Towton, Edward Hawke, 1st Baron touˈtən [key], 1705–81, British admiral. He entered the navy in 1720 and first saw fighting as commander of a ship in the battle of Toulon (1744). He was p...

Augsburg, League of

(Encyclopedia)Augsburg, League of, defensive alliance formed (1686) by Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I with various German states, including Bavaria and the Palatinate, and with Sweden and Spain so far as their German...