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Balzac, Honoré de

(Encyclopedia)Balzac, Honoré de bălˈzăk, bôl–, Fr. ōnôrāˈ də bälzäkˈ [key], 1799–1850, French novelist, b. Tours. Balzac ranks among the great masters of the novel. Of a bourgeois family, he himsel...

Charles X, king of Sweden

(Encyclopedia)Charles X, 1622–60, king of Sweden (1654–60), nephew of Gustavus II. The son of John Casimir, count palatine of Zweibrücken, he brought the house of Wittelsbach to the Swedish throne when his cou...

Baldwin, Stanley

(Encyclopedia)Baldwin, Stanley, 1867–1947, British statesman; cousin of Rudyard Kipling. The son of a Worcestershire ironmaster, he was educated at Harrow and at Trinity College, Cambridge, and entered the family...

Philip VI, king of France

(Encyclopedia)Philip VI, 1293–1350, king of France (1328–50), son of Charles of Valois and grandson of King Philip III. He succeeded his cousin Charles IV, invoking the Salic law to set aside both Charles's dau...

ordeal

(Encyclopedia)ordeal, ancient legal custom whereby an accused person was required to perform a test, the outcome of which decided the person's guilt or innocence. By an ordeal, appeal was made to divine authority t...

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...

De Lancey

(Encyclopedia)De Lancey də lănˈsē [key], family of political leaders, soldiers, and merchants prominent in colonial New York. Étienne De Lancey or Stephen De Lancey, 1663–1741, b. Caen, France, was among the...

Poincaré, Raymond

(Encyclopedia)Poincaré, Raymond pwăNkärāˈ [key], 1860–1934, French statesman, president of France (1913–20); cousin of Jules Henri Poincaré. A member of the chamber of deputies from 1887, he held numerou...

Edward IV

(Encyclopedia)Edward IV, 1442–83, king of England (1461–70, 1471–83), son of Richard, duke of York. He succeeded to the leadership of the Yorkist party (see Roses, Wars of the) after the death of his father i...

Hainaut

(Encyclopedia)Hainaut ĕnōˈ [key], Du. Henegouwen, province, 1,437 sq mi (3,722 sq km), S Belgium, border...