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Poison Affair

(Encyclopedia)Poison Affair, in French history, scandal implicating a number of prominent persons at the court of King Louis XIV. It began with the trial of Marie Madeleine d'Aubray, marquise de Brinvilliers (c.163...

Battenberg

(Encyclopedia)Battenberg bătˈənbûrg [key], German princely family, issued from the morganatic union of Alexander, a younger son of Louis II, grand duke of Hesse-Darmstadt, and Countess Julia von Hauke, who was ...

Dunes, Battle of the

(Encyclopedia)Dunes, Battle of the, 1658, decisive engagement fought near Dunkirk in the struggle between France and Spain that had resulted from Spanish intervention in the Fronde. The Spanish under the command of...

Sophia Dorothea

(Encyclopedia)Sophia Dorothea sōfīˈə dŏrəthēˈə [key], 1666–1726, electress of Hanover, wife of Elector George Louis (later King George I of England); sometimes called Sophia Dorothea of Celle. Married to...

Baliol, John de, 1249–1315, king of Scotland

(Encyclopedia)Baliol, John de, 1249–1315, king of Scotland (1292–96), son of John de Baliol (d. 1269). He became head of the family after the death of his elder brothers in 1278. At the death of Margaret Maid o...

gavotte

(Encyclopedia)gavotte gəvŏtˈ [key], originally a peasant dance of the Gavots in upper Dauphiné, France. A type of circle dance characterized by lively, skipping steps, it was introduced at the court of Louis XI...

Garat, Dominique Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Garat, Dominique Joseph dōmēnēkˈ zhôzĕfˈ gäräˈ [key], 1749–1833, French revolutionary. He was minister of justice (1792–93) during the trial of King Louis XVI and notified the king of th...

Rohan, Louis René Édouard, prince de

(Encyclopedia)Rohan, Louis René Édouard, prince de rôäNˈ [key], 1734–1803, French churchman and politician, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. Although he succeeded (1779) his uncle as archbishop of Str...

Vouet, Simon

(Encyclopedia)Vouet, Simon sēmôNˈ vwā [key], 1590–1649, French portrait and decorative painter. He first established himself as a successful painter in Rome. Recalled to France in 1627 as court painter to Lou...

Vatel, François

(Encyclopedia)Vatel, François fräNswäˈ vätĕlˈ [key], fl. 17th cent., French chef, famous in the time of Louis XIV. Mme Marie de Sévigné, in her letters, speaks of him as the chef of the prince of Condé an...
 

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