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Vendôme, Louis Joseph, duc de, 1654-1712, marshal of France; grandson of César de Vendôme and son of Laura Mancini. He fought in the War of the Grand Alliance. In the War of the Spanish Succession he was appointed (1702) commander in Italy and decisively defeated his cousin, the Austrian commander Prince Eugene of Savoy, at Cassano (1705). Sent to Flanders to repair the French defeat at Ramillies (1706), he was at first successful against the duke of Marlborough and Eugene but was defeated at Oudenarde (1708). In 1710 he went to the aid of King Philip V of Spain, Louis XIV's grandson, and by his victories at Brihuega and Villaviciosa helped ensure Philip's retention of the Spanish crown.

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Vendôme, François de

Vendôme, François de: see Beaufort, François de Vendôme, duc de.

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Vendôme, César, duc de

Vendôme, César, duc de, 1594-1665, French general and politician; son of King Henry IV and his mistress Gabrielle d'Estrées. Legitimized in 1595, he was made duke of Vendôme in 1598, and also acquired Brittany through marriage. He rebelled against Marie de' Medici (1614-16) and against the duc de Luynes (1620) and was imprisoned (1626-30) for conspiring against Cardinal Richelieu. In 1641 he was forced to flee after being accused of plotting against Richelieu. Returning after Richelieu's death, he was exiled (1643) for conspiring against Cardinal Mazarin. However, he was reconciled, married his son to a niece of Mazarin's, and fought on the government side in the Fronde; he captured (1653) Bordeaux, and in 1655 he defeated a Spanish fleet at Barcelona.

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Vendôme

Vendôme, town (1990 pop. 18,359), Loir-et-Cher dept., N central France, in Orléanais. It is a manufacturing town with food processing, computer, and metal and electrical industries. The town developed around the Abbey of the Trinity (11th cent.) and during the Middle Ages was the prosperous center of the county (duchy after 1515) of Vendôme. Henry IV inherited the duchy as part of the Bourbon lands, united it with the royal domain in 1589, and gave the title of the duke of Vendôme to his illegitimate son César in 1598. Among the numerous monuments are the ruins of a château built during the 12th, 14th, and 15th cent.

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Système International d'Unités

Système International d'Unités (SI): see International System of Units.

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Saint Jérôme

Saint Jérôme, city (1991 pop. 23,384), S Que., Canada, on the North River, NW of Montreal. It is an industrial center with woolen and paper mills. Rubber and wood products are also manufactured. Saint Jérôme is a commercial center for the Laurentian resort area.

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Pétion de Villeneuve, Jérôme

Pétion de Villeneuve, Jérôme, 1756-94, French revolutionary. A leader of the Jacobins, Pétion sat in the Constituent Assembly, was elected (Nov., 1791) mayor of Paris over the marquis de Lafayette, and by inaction aided the antiroyal demonstration of June 20, 1792. Elected to the Convention, he clashed with Maximilien Robespierre and allied himself with the Girondists. Early in June his arrest was ordered but he escaped; he died probably by suicide while in hiding near Bordeaux.

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Puy-de-Dôme

Puy-de-Dôme, department (1990 pop. 598,800), S central France, in Auvergne. Clermont-Ferrand is the capital.

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Puy de Dôme

Puy de Dôme, extinct volcano of the Massif Central and the second highest peak (4,806 ft/1,465 m) of the Auvergne Mts., central France, W of Clermont-Ferrand. Crops are raised on the lower slopes; the highlands are used as pasturage. On its level summit (it has no crater) are a meteorological observatory and the ruins of a temple of Mercury. There Florence Périer conducted (1648), upon instructions of his brother-in-law, Blaise Pascal, the famous experiment that confirmed Torricelli's theory on air pressure (see Pascal's law).

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Montluc, Blaise de Lasseran-Massencôme, seigneur de

Montluc or Monluc, Blaise de Lasseran-Massencôme, seigneur de, c.1502-1577, marshal of France. A Gascon soldier of fortune, he fought in the Italian Wars and the Wars of Religion. His famous Commentaires (1592), which King Henry IV called "the soldier's bible," are admirable military history.

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Margaret of Angoulěme

Margaret of Angoulěme: see Margaret of Navarre.

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Louise of Savoy, duchesse d'Angoulěme

Louise of Savoy, duchesse d'Angoulěme, 1476-1531, regent of France; daughter of Duke Philip II of Savoy and mother of King Francis I of France and Margaret, queen of Navarre. During Francis's absence in the Italian Wars, she acted as regent. She had much influence over Francis, and during his captivity in Spain (1525-26) she made an alliance with King Henry VIII of England, in which Henry deserted his alliance with Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, Francis's opponent in the Italian Wars. She also negotiated (1529) the so-called Ladies' Peace (see Cambrai, Treaty of) with Margaret of Austria, Charles V's aunt.

See her journal (in French; ed. by J. F. Michaud and J. J. F. Poujoulat, 1854); D. M. Mayer, The Great Regent (1966).

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Lalemant, Jérôme

Lalemant, Jérôme, 1593-1673, French Jesuit missionary in North America, brother of Charles Lalemant and uncle of Gabriel Lalemant. He was an active missionary among the Huron (1638-45) and then was director (1645-56) of all Jesuit missions in Canada. He returned to France but went again (1659-73) to Canada, where he was again the director of missions and served as vicar general to Bishop Laval.

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Lalande, Joseph Jérôme Lefrançais de

Lalande, Joseph Jérôme Lefrançais de, 1732-1807, French astronomer. Under the direction of the French Academy of Science, he went to Berlin in 1751 to make observations on the parallax of the moon for comparison with those that Nicolas Lacaille was making at the Cape of Good Hope. In spite of his youth, he was admitted to the Berlin Academy. In 1760 he became professor of astronomy in the Collège de France, holding the post for 46 years. In 1768 he became director of the Paris Observatory. The Lalande Prize, which he established in 1802, is awarded for the outstanding achievement in astronomy each year. His works include Traité d'astronomie (1764); Histoire céleste française (1801), including a catalog of over 47,000 stars; and Bibliographie astronomique (1802).

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Gérôme, Jean Léon

Gérôme, Jean Léon, 1824-1904, French historical and genre painter. He enjoyed a successful career in his day. He studied with Delaroche and adhered to academic technique. A good draftsman and facile illustrator, he produced a large number of paintings, meticulous in execution. In his last years he gave up painting for sculpture. His painting The Cock Fight (1847) is in the Louvre.

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Drôme

Drôme, department (1990 pop. 417,100), SE France. Valence is the capital.

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Carěme, Marie Antoine

Carěme, Marie Antoine, 1784-1833, celebrated French cook and gastronomist. He was chef for Talleyrand, Czar Alexander I, George IV, and Baron Rothschild. His writings on the culinary art include L'Art de la cuisine française (5 vol., 1833-34).

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Brantôme, Pierre de Bourdeille, seigneur de

Brantôme, Pierre de Bourdeille, seigneur de, 1540?-1614, French courtier, soldier, and author of memoirs. He accompanied Mary Stuart to Scotland, served in the Spanish army in Africa, and joined the expedition of the Knights of St. John against the sultan. His Vies des hommes illustres et des grands capitaines and his Livre des dames (tr., Lives of Fair and Gallant Ladies, 1933) give a racy and vivid account of his time.

Beaufort, François de Vendôme, duc de

Beaufort, François de Vendôme, duc de, 1616-69, French courtier and politician; grandson of King Henry IV of France and his mistress Gabrielle d'Estrées. Implicated in the conspiracy of the Marquis de Cinq Mars against Louis XIII's minister Cardinal Richelieu, he fled (1642) to England but returned after Richelieu's death. He was one of the Importants, a clique opposing Richelieu's successor, Cardinal Mazarin, and was imprisoned from 1643 to 1648. A leader of the Fronde, he was nicknamed King of the Markets because of his popularity with the Parisian mob. Exiled in 1652, he was later recalled and given command (1666) of the French fleet against the Turks and the Barbary pirates.

Angoulěme, Marie Thérèse Charlotte, duchesse d'

Angoulěme, Marie Thérèse Charlotte, duchesse d', 1778-1851, wife of Louis Antoine d'Angoulěme; daughter of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. She was imprisoned (1792-95) during the French Revolution. Energetic and ambitious, she exerted considerable political influence after the restoration of the French monarchy during the reigns of Louis XVIII and Charles X. She died in Frohsdorf, Austria.

Angoulěme, Margaret of

Angoulěme, Margaret of or Marguerite d': see Margaret of Navarre.

Angoulěme, Charles de Valois, comte d'Auvergne, duc d'

Angoulěme, Charles de Valois, comte d'Auvergne, duc d', 1573-1650, illegitimate son of King Charles IX of France. He turned against King Henry IV, conspired with Henriette d'Entragues, his half sister, and was imprisoned until 1616. After his release he held military commands. He left memoirs.

Angoulěme

Angoulěme, city (1990 pop. 42,194), capital of Charente dept., W France, on the Charente River. A former river port, it is now a major road and rail center. Its paper industry dates from the 15th cent., and it has copper foundries, and plants making electric motors, soap, and shoes. It was an early episcopal see and became (9th cent.) the seat of the counts of Angoumois. Ceded (1360) to England, it was reconquered (1373) by Charles V. Its remarkable Cathedral of St. Pierre was begun c.1110.

forget-me-not

Woods forget-me-not (Myosotis sylvatica)

Any of about 50 species of plants that make up the genus Myosotis, in the borage family, native to temperate Eurasia and North America and to mountains of the Old World tropics. Some are favoured as garden plants for their clusters of blue flowers. The woods forget-me-not (M. sylvatica), like most other species, changes colour from pink to blue as the tubular, flaring, five-lobed flower matures.

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Margaret of Angoulême

or Margaret of Navarra French Marguerite d'Angoulême

(born April 11, 1492, Angoulême, France—died Dec. 21, 1549, Odos-Bigorre) Queen consort of Henry II of Navarra and an outstanding figure of the French Renaissance. She was the daughter of the count d'Angoulême. When her brother Francis I acceded to the crown in 1515, she became highly influential in his court. After her first husband died, she married Henry in 1525. She was noted as a patron of humanists and reformers and of such writers as François Rabelais. She was a writer and poet herself; her most important work was the Heptaméron, 72 tales modeled on Boccaccio's Decameron and published posthumously in 1558–59.

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