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Jacqueline

(Encyclopedia)Jacqueline, 1401–36, countess of Hainaut, Holland, and Zeeland (1417–33). The daughter and heiress of William IV, duke of Bavaria and count of Hainaut, Holland, and Zeeland, and of Margaret of Bur...

Angoumois

(Encyclopedia)Angoumois äNgo͞omwäˈ [key], region and former province, W France, now coextensive with most of Charente dept. Angoulême is the historic capital and chief city. In the region is the Charente valle...

Boiardo, Matteo Maria

(Encyclopedia)Boiardo or Bojardo, Matteo Maria mät-tĕˈō märēˈä bōyärˈdō [key], 1441?–1494, Italian poet, count of Scandiano. A favorite at the Este court in Ferrara, he served on diplomatic missions a...

Norris, Frank

(Encyclopedia)Norris, Frank (Benjamin Franklin Norris), 1870–1902, American novelist, b. Chicago. After studying in Paris, at the Univ. of California (1890–94), and at Harvard, he spent several years as a war c...

Low, Seth

(Encyclopedia)Low, Seth, 1850–1916, American political reformer and college president, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., grad. Columbia, 1870. He entered his father's tea and silk importing firm, but became interested in politi...

Mendele mocher sforim

(Encyclopedia)Mendele mocher sforim [Yid.,= Mendele the book peddler] shōˈləm yäˈkôv əbräməˈvĭch [key], 1836–1917, Yiddish novelist. Born in Minsk, and orphaned at 14, he traveled with beggars through ...

Lemonnier, Pierre Charles

(Encyclopedia)Lemonnier, Pierre Charles pyĕr shärl ləmônyāˈ [key], 1715–99, French astronomer. For many years he was professor of physics at the Collège de France. He studied the moon and the influence of ...

Vergennes, Charles Gravier, comte de

(Encyclopedia)Vergennes, Charles Gravier, comte de shärl grävyāˈ kôNt də vĕrzhĕnˈ [key], 1717–87, French statesman. After serving as ambassador at Trier, Constantinople, and Stockholm (where in 1772 he p...

Goodman, Benny

(Encyclopedia)Goodman, Benny (Benjamin David Goodman), 1909–86, American clarinetist, composer, and band leader, b. Chicago. Goodman studied clarinet at Hull House. In Chicago he had the opportunity to hear (and ...

Grellet, Stephen

(Encyclopedia)Grellet, Stephen grĕlĕtˈ [key], 1773–1855, Quaker missionary, b. France; son of well-to-do Roman Catholic parents. His name originally was Étienne de Grellet du Mabillier. He fled France at the ...

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