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Compiègne

(Encyclopedia)Compiègne kôNpyĕˈnyə [key], city, Oise dept., N France, in Île-de-France, on the Oise R...

Coypel

(Encyclopedia)Coypel kwäpĕlˈ [key], family of French painters. Noël Coypel, 1628–1707, director of the Académie de France à Rome and later of the Académie royale de péinture et de sculpture in Paris, was ...

Charlevoix, Pierre François Xavier de

(Encyclopedia)Charlevoix, Pierre François Xavier de pyĕr fräNswäˈ zävyāˈ də shärləvwäˈ [key], 1682–1761, French Jesuit traveler and historian. He taught at the Jesuit college in Quebec and at the Col...

Clement VIII, pope

(Encyclopedia)Clement VIII, 1536–1605, pope (1592–1605), a Florentine named Ippolito Aldobrandini; successor of Innocent IX. He reversed the policy of his predecessors by allying the Holy See with France rather...

Ems dispatch

(Encyclopedia)Ems dispatch, 1870, communication between King William of Prussia (later German Emperor William I) and his premier, Otto von Bismarck. In June, 1870, the throne of Spain was offered to Prince Leopold ...

Field of the Cloth of Gold

(Encyclopedia)Field of the Cloth of Gold, locality between Guines and Ardres, not far from Calais, in France, where in 1520 Henry VIII of England and Francis I of France met for the purpose of arranging an alliance...

Scheldt

(Encyclopedia)Scheldt skĕlt [key], Du. Schelde, Fr. Escaut, river, c.270 mi (435 km) long, rising in N France and flowing generally NE across W Belgium and into the North Sea through the Western Scheldt (De Honte)...

Sedan

(Encyclopedia)Sedan sədäNˈ [key], town (1990 pop. 22,407), Ardennes dept., NE France, on the Meuse River. A noted textile center since the 16th cent., Sedan also has metal and brewing industries. The town became...

Portsmouth, Louise Renée de Kéroualle, duchess of

(Encyclopedia)Portsmouth, Louise Renée de Kéroualle, duchess of lwēz rənāˈ də kāro͞oälˈ [key], 1649–1734, French mistress of Charles II of England. She exerted a powerful influence over the king in fav...

Saint-Vallier, Jean Baptiste de la Croix

(Encyclopedia)Saint-Vallier, Jean Baptiste de la Croix zhäN bätēstˈ də lä krwä săN-välyāˈ [key], 1653–1727, Roman Catholic bishop of Quebec, b. France. He succeeded François Xavier de Laval in 1688 af...

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