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Capetians
Capetians , royal house of France that ruled continuously from 987 to 1328; it takes its name from Hugh Capet . Related branches of the family (see Valois ; Bourbon ) ruled France until the final deposition of the monarchy in the 19th cent. The first historical ancestor was Robert the Strong , c...
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Melun
Melun , town (1990 pop. 36,489), capital of Seine-et-Marne dept., N central France, SE of Paris. It is an important industrial center where automobile bodies, airplane engines, leather products, pharmaceuticals, and elastics are produced. An ancient town of Île-de-France , Melun was founded o...
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Valois
Valois , royal house of France that ruled from 1328 to 1589. At the death of Charles IV, the last of the direct Capetians , the Valois dynasty came to the throne in the person of Philip VI , son of Charles of Valois and grandson of Philip III. The direct Valois line ended (1498) with Charles V...
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Charles Martel
Charles Martel [O.Fr.,=Charles the Hammer], 688?-741, Frankish ruler, illegitimate son of Pepin of Heristal and grandfather of Charlemagne. After the death of his father (714) he seized power in Austrasia from Pepin's widow, who was ruling as regent for her grandsons, and became mayor of the pala...
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Angevin
Angevin [Fr.,=of Anjou], name of two medieval dynasties originating in France. The first ruled over parts of France and over Jerusalem and England; the second ruled over parts of France and over Naples, Hungary, and Poland, with a claim to Jerusalem.
First House of Anjou
The older house i...
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Clovis I
Clovis I , c.466-511, Frankish king (481-511), son of Childeric I and founder of the Merovingian monarchy. Originally little more than a tribal chieftain, he became sole leader of the Salian Franks by force of perseverance and by murdering a number of relatives. In 486 he defeated the Roman legion...
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Carolingians
Carolingians , dynasty of Frankish rulers, founded in the 7th cent. by Pepin of Landen , who, as mayor of the palace, ruled the East Frankish Kingdom of Austrasia for Dagobert I. His descendants, Pepin of Heristal , Charles Martel , Carloman , and Pepin the Short , continued to govern the terri...
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Orléans
Orléans city (1990 pop. 107,965), capital of Loiret dept., N central France, on the Loire River. A commercial and transportation center, it has food-processing, tobacco, machine-building, electrical, pharmaceutical, chemical, and textile industries. The old city is surrounded by sprawling mo...
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Bourbon
Bourbon , European royal family, originally of France; a cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty. One branch of the Bourbons occupies the modern Spanish throne, and other branches ruled the Two Sicilies and Parma. It takes its name from the now ruined castle of Bourbon, at Bourbon-l'Archambault, Allier...
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Gothic architecture and art
Gothic architecture and art structures (largely cathedrals and churches) and works of art first created in France in the 12th cent. that spread throughout Western Europe through the 15th cent., and in some locations into the 16th cent.
The Nature of the Gothic
The essential character of t...
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