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Castile

(Encyclopedia)Castile kästēˈlyä [key], historic region and former kingdom, central and N Spain, traditionally divided into Old Castile and New Castile, and now divided among the autonomous communities of Castil...

Rochester, John Wilmot, 2d earl of

(Encyclopedia)Rochester, John Wilmot, 2d earl of, 1647–80, English poet and courtier, b. Ditchley, Oxfordshire. Most notorious and dissolute of the Restoration rakes, he lost the favor of Charles II on several oc...

Henry IV, king of France

(Encyclopedia)Henry IV, 1553–1610, king of France (1589–1610) and, as Henry III, of Navarre (1572–1610), son of Antoine de Bourbon and Jeanne d'Albret; first of the Bourbon kings of France. Henry's marri...

Granvelle, Antoine Perrenot de

(Encyclopedia)Granvelle, Antoine Perrenot de äNtwänˈ pĕrənōˈ də gräNvĕlˈ [key], 1517–86, statesman in the service of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and of King Philip II of Spain; cardinal of the Roman C...

Chaban-Delmas, Jacques

(Encyclopedia)Chaban-Delmas, Jacques zhäk shäbäNˈ-dĕlmäˈ [key], 1915–2000, French political leader, born Jacques Delmas. He joined (1940) the resistance, using the nom de guerre “Chaban,” which he late...

Sainte-Beuve, Charles Augustin

(Encyclopedia)Sainte-Beuve, Charles Augustin shärl ōgüstăNˈ săNt-böv [key], 1804–69, French literary historian and critic. The first major professional literary critic, he developed the art of appreciating...

French literature

(Encyclopedia)French literature, writings in medieval French dialects and standard modern French. Writings in Provençal and Breton are considered separately, as are works in French produced abroad (as at Canadian ...

Philip IV, king of Spain, Naples, and Sicily

(Encyclopedia)Philip IV, 1605–65, king of Spain, Naples, and Sicily (1621–65) and, as Philip III, king of Portugal (1621–40); son and successor of Philip III of Spain. Philip IV was intelligent but lacked int...

Institut de France

(Encyclopedia)Institut de France ăNstētüˈ də fräNs [key], cultural institution of the French state. Founded in 1795 by the Directory, it replaced five learned societies that had been suppressed in 1793 by the...
 

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