peine forte et dure

peine forte et dure(French; “strong and hard punishment”)

Formerly in English law, punishment inflicted on those accused of a felony who refused to enter a plea. By a statute of 1275, the peine was usually to imprison and starve the prisoner until he submitted; in 1406 pressing by heavy weights was added to this. In one of the few instances of its use in the American colonies, during the Salem witch trials, 80-year-old Giles Corey, who had decided not to stand trial rather than forfeit his family's goods, was pressed to death by interrogators. The practice was abolished in 1772.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

Frontenac, Louis de Buade, count de Palluau and de

(born May 22, 1622, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, France—died Nov. 28, 1698, Quebec, New France) French courtier and governor of New France (1672–82, 1689–98). Despite a record of misgovernment, he encouraged exploration that led to the expansion of the French empire in Canada. He established fur-trading posts that brought him into conflict with the Montreal fur traders and later expanded the posts west. He engaged in disputes with the officials and clergy of New France. The Iroquois Confederacy, which had remained on good terms with the French until 1675, turned against the French, and the colony was left defenseless. Louis XIV recalled Frontenac in 1682. Reappointed when the French and Indian War started (1689), he distinguished himself by repulsing British attacks on Quebec.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

Indre-et-Loire

Indre-et-Loire is a department in west-central France named after the Indre and the Loire rivers.

History

Indre-et-Loire is one of the original 83 départements created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from the former province of Touraine.

Tours was a center of learning in the early Middle Ages.

Geography

Indre-et-Loire is part of the current region of Centre (Val de Loire) and is surrounded by the départements of Loir-et-Cher, Indre, Vienne, Maine-et-Loire, and Sarthe.