disco: Queer culture and political themes: …the gay anthem, including the Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.” (1978), Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” (1978), and Diana Ross’s “I’m Coming Out” (1980). Other disco songs proclaimed Black pride, such as McFadden and Whitehead’s “Ain’t No Stopping Us Now” and Sister Sledge’s “We Are Family” (both 1979), and feminism—in

Hannah More: Her Village Politics (1792; under the pseudonym of Will Chip), written to counteract Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man, was so successful that it led to the production of a series of “Cheap Repository Tracts.” Produced at the rate of three a month for three years with…

Russian literature: Thaws and freezes: A movement called “village prose” cultivated nostalgic descriptions of rural life. Particularly noteworthy is Valentin Rasputin’s elegiac novel Proshchaniye s Matyoroy (1976; Farewell to Matyora) about a village faced with destruction to make room for a hydroelectric plant. The novel’s regret for the past and suspicion of the…

Simon de Graaff: …Graaff also enacted the paternalistic Village Regulation, which made the village the instrument of Indonesian welfare, providing schools, banks, advice, and other services. It served only to turn villagers, who were more concerned with autonomy, against the Dutch.

Robert Redfield: …earlier work there and wrote A Village That Chose Progress (1950).

Bill Evans: …engagement at New York City’s Village Vanguard nightclub in June 1961. Evans often worked in small groups, but he was also an innovative solo player who took full advantage of the recording studio on such albums as Conversations with Myself (1963) and Further Conversations with Myself (1967), which featured multitracking…

Village Voice, American publication focused on culture and in-depth investigative news reporting that became the first alternative weekly newspaper in the United States when it began publication in the mid-1950s. Having ceased print distribution in 2017 and discontinued creating new content online

weaver: …species in Africa is the village weaver (Ploceus, formerly Textor, cucullatus). The baya weaver (P. philippinus) is abundant from Pakistan to Sumatra.

Mulk Raj Anand: Notable works: …his other major works are The Village (1939), The Sword and the Sickle (1942), and The Big Heart (1945; rev. ed. 1980). Anand wrote other novels and short-story collections and also edited numerous magazines and journals, including MARG, an art quarterly that he had founded in 1946. He intermittently worked…

Adrien Brody: Summer of Sam and The Piano: Night Shyamalan’s The Village (2004), a playwright in Peter Jackson’s King Kong (2005), Leonard Chess in Cadillac Records (2008), and Salvador Dalí in Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris (2011).

George Crabbe: …powers as a poet with The Village. Written in part as a protest against Oliver Goldsmith’s The Deserted Village (1770), which Crabbe thought too sentimental and idyllic, the poem was his attempt to portray realistically the misery and degradation of rural poverty. Crabbe made good use in The Village of…

The Village, city, Oklahoma county, central Oklahoma, U.S. The Village was founded by local store owners in 1949 to prevent the then-rural area from being annexed by Oklahoma City. It comprises only 2.5 square miles (6.5 square km) of land. Inc. town, 1950; city, 1959. Pop. (2000) 10,157; (2010)

Robert McAlmon: …best-received works is the novel Village: As It Happened Through a Fifteen Year Period (1924), a bleak portrait of the inhabitants of an American town presented in a series of sketches. His later books include Distinguished Air (Grim Fairy Tales) (1925), the poetry collection The Portrait of a Generation (1926),…

Ecuador: The arts of Ecuador: Jorge Icaza’s indigenist novel Huasipungo (1934), which depicts the plight of Andean Indigenous people in a feudal society, also received international attention. Many novelists have come from the coast, including those of the so-called Guayaquil group, who explored life among the region’s montuvio population (people of mixed Indigenous, African,…

American literature: Realism and metafiction: …revisited in a retrospective work, Villages (2004). In sharp contrast, Nelson Algren (The Man with the Golden Arm [1949]) and Hubert Selby, Jr. (Last Exit to Brooklyn [1964]), documented lower-class urban life with brutal frankness. Similarly, John Rechy

Émile Verhaeren: …inspired two collections in 1895: Les Villages illusoires (“The Illusory Villages”) and Les Villes tentaculaires (“The Tentacular Cities”). His more intimate Les Heures claires (1896; The Sunlit Hours) is an avowal of his love for his wife; it led to the series of his major works, among which the most…

Tanzania: Settlement patterns: …much larger scale, the “villagization” program of the 1970s moved millions of people into nucleated villages of 250 households or more, and by 1978 there were more than 7,500 villages, in comparison with only about 800 in 1969. Villagization was aimed not at collectivizing agriculture but at facilitating the…

Villahermosa, city, capital of Tabasco estado (state), southeastern Mexico. Located some 30 miles (50 km) south of the Gulf of Mexico, the city sprawls across the gulf lowlands at about 33 feet (10 metres) above sea level, on the banks of the Grijalva River, and has a hot and humid tropical

Alajuela, city, northwestern Costa Rica. It lies in the Valle Central at an elevation of 3,141 feet (957 metres). Known in colonial days as Villahermosa, the town was active in support of independence from Spain in 1821; five years later it suffered from a plot to restore Spanish control over Costa

Jean Marais was a French actor who was a protégé and longtime partner of French writer-director Jean Cocteau. Marais was one of the most popular leading men in French films during the 1940s and ’50s. Marais was first attracted to the stage in high school but was turned down by the Paris

Spain: The comunero movement: …defeat the comunero forces at Villalar (April 23, 1521).

Vilalba, town, Lugo provincia (province), in the comunidad autónoma (autonomous community) of Galicia, northwestern Spain. The town is on the left bank of the Ladra River, northwest of Lugo city. It has the remains of a 14th-century castle. Situated in a fertile agricultural and pastoral region,

Cristóbal de Villalpando was a Mexican painter known for his decorative and luminous Baroque style. Villalpando came of age as a painter during the era of Baroque exuberance in Mexican art, particularly in its Churrigueresque architecture. Rather than pursue the severe tenebrist Baroque of Spanish

villancico, genre of Spanish song, most prevalent in the Renaissance but found also in earlier and later periods. It is a poetic and musical form and was sung with or without accompanying instruments. Originally a folk song, frequently with a devotional song or love poem as text, it developed into

Villandry, village, Indre-et-Loire département, Centre région, central France. It is situated along the Cher River southwest of Tours and is the site of a château built in 1532 by Jean Le Breton, the secretary of state for Francis I. The château is most noted for its terraced gardens, which were

villanella, 16th-century Italian rustic part-song, usually for three unaccompanied voices, having no set form other than the presence of a refrain. The villanella was most often written in chordal style with clear, simple rhythm. Traditional rules of composition were sometimes broken; for instance,

villanella, 16th-century Italian rustic part-song, usually for three unaccompanied voices, having no set form other than the presence of a refrain. The villanella was most often written in chordal style with clear, simple rhythm. Traditional rules of composition were sometimes broken; for instance,

villanelle, rustic song in Italy, where the term originated (Italian villanella from villano: “peasant”); the term was used in France to designate a short poem of popular character favoured by poets in the late 16th century. Du Bellay’s “Vanneur de Blé” and Philippe Desportes’ “Rozette” are

Cédric Villani is a French mathematician and politician who was awarded the Fields Medal in 2010 for his work in mathematical physics. Villani studied mathematics at the École Normale Supériere in Paris. He received a master’s degree in numerical analysis from Pierre and Marie Curie University in

art criticism: Renaissance art criticism: In Filippo Villani’s portion (1364) of the family’s ongoing work, he celebrates his native city, Florence, as the climax of civilization. Villani discusses the lives of famous men, including some artists. His writing set an important precedent: the idea that painting is among the liberal arts…

Giovanni Villani was an Italian chronicler whose European attitude to history foreshadowed Humanism. In 1300 Villani became a partner in the banking firm of Peruzzi, for which he travelled to Rome (1300–01), where he negotiated with the pope, and (1302–07) to France, Switzerland, and Flanders. In

Villanova University, private, coeducational institution of higher learning in Villanova, Pennsylvania, U.S. It is affiliated with the Augustinian order of the Roman Catholic church. It offers degree programs at the associate, bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral, and professional levels. Degrees are

Villanovan culture, Early Iron Age culture in Italy, named after the village of Villanova, near Bologna, where in 1853 the first of the characteristic cemeteries was found. The Villanovan people branched from the cremating Urnfield cultures of eastern Europe and appeared in Italy in the 10th or 9th

Villanueva de la Serena, city, Badajoz provincia (province), in Extremadura comunidad autónoma (autonomous community), western Spain. It lies east of Badajoz city, near the confluence of the Guadiana and Júcar rivers. Villanueva is in the stock-raising district of La Serena, whence comes its name.

Vilanova i la Geltrú, city, Barcelona provincia (province), in the comunidad autónoma (autonomous community) of Catalonia, northeastern Spain, southwest of Barcelona. The city was chartered by James I of Aragon in 1274. It has a museum founded by the Catalan writer-politician Victor Balaguer

Carlos Raúl Villanueva was a Venezuelan architect often credited with being the father of modern architecture in his country. Villanueva’s best known works were buildings for the Ciudad Universitaria, Caracas; the Olympic Stadium (1951); the Auditorium (Aula Magna) and covered plaza (Plaza

Western architecture: Spain and Portugal: …the leading Neoclassical architect was Juan de Villanueva, who studied in Rome and returned to Spain in 1705 with a style similar to that evolved by the leading contemporary French and English architects. His buildings include three villas; the Casita de Arriba (1773) and the Casita de Abajo (1773), both…

submachine gun: …extent after the Italian double-barreled Villar Perosa, or VP, a 1915 innovation that fired so fast it emptied its magazine in two seconds. The Germans identified their weapon, the first true submachine gun, as the MP18, or the Bergmann Muskete. This weapon was first issued in 1918, the last year…

Antonio Villaraigosa is an American Democratic politician who served as the mayor of Los Angeles (2005–13), the first Hispanic to hold the post since 1872. Villaraigosa (whose name is an amalgamation of his own family name, Villar, and that of Corina Raigosa, whom he married in 1987 and divorced in

Antonio Villaraigosa is an American Democratic politician who served as the mayor of Los Angeles (2005–13), the first Hispanic to hold the post since 1872. Villaraigosa (whose name is an amalgamation of his own family name, Villar, and that of Corina Raigosa, whom he married in 1987 and divorced in

Villard De Honnecourt was a French architect remembered primarily for the sketchbook compiled while he travelled in search of work as a master mason. The book is made up of sketches and writings concerning architectural practices current during the 13th century. Honnecourt spent most of his life

Henry Villard was a U.S. journalist and financier, who became one of the major United States railroad and electric utility promoters. Villard emigrated to the U.S. in 1853 and was employed by German-American newspapers and later by leading American dailies. He reported (1858) the Lincoln–Douglas

The Nation: In 1918 Oswald Garrison Villard became editor, and The Nation ended its affiliation with the New York Evening Post and began moving steadily toward the political left. Its circulation dwindled to a few thousand but then, when one issue was refused mailing by the postmaster general, began…

atom: Discovery of radioactivity: …was identified by French chemist Paul Villard in 1900. Designated as the gamma ray, it is not deflected by magnets and is much more penetrating than alpha particles. Gamma rays were later shown to be a form of electromagnetic radiation, similar to light or X-rays, but with much shorter wavelengths.…

Spain: Phoenicians of Spain: …found at Almuñécar, Trayamar, and Villaricos, equipped with metropolitan goods such as alabaster wine jars, imported Greek pottery, and delicate gold jewelry. Maritime bases from the Balearic Islands to Cádiz on the Atlantic were set up to sustain commerce in salted fish, dyes, and textiles. Early Phoenician settlements are known…

Bolivia: The rise of new political groups and the Bolivian National Revolution: …a new-style government under Colonel Gualberto Villaroel (1943–46), but little was accomplished except for the MNR’s political mobilization of the Indian peasants. Opposed as fascist-oriented by the right and left, the Villaroel government was overthrown in 1946 in a bloody revolution in which Villaroel was hanged in front of the…

Villarreal, city, Castellón provincia (province), in the comunidad autónoma (autonomous community) of Valencia, eastern Spain. The city is northeast of Valencia city on the Mijares River, just southwest of Castellón de la Plana (Castelló de la Plana). It was founded in 1274 by King James I of

Diego Forlán: …him in 2004 to Spain’s Villarreal CF. Suddenly his Independiente-era scoring prowess returned, and he won the Pichichi Trophy as the leading scorer in La Liga—Spain’s top football league—with 25 goals. He added 13 goals in 2005–06 and 19 in 2006–07. Villarreal traded Forlán to Atlético Madrid in 2007, and…

Villarrica, town, southern Paraguay. Founded in 1576 on the Paraná River, the settlement was moved in 1682 to its present site at the edge of the westward extension of the Brazilian Highlands, including the Ybytyruzú mountains at 820 ft (250 m) above sea level. Villarrica is a commercial,

Villarrobledo, city, Albacete provincia (province), in Castile–La Mancha comunidad autónoma (autonomous community), south-central Spain. It lies northwest of Albacete city on the plateau of La Mancha. The centre of a cattle-raising area, Villarrobledo also produces wine, cheese, cereals, and

Claude-Louis-Hector, duke de Villars was a French soldier, King Louis XIV’s most successful commander in the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–14). The son of an army officer turned diplomat, Villars distinguished himself as a colonel of a cavalry regiment in Louis XIV’s war against the Dutch

Latin American literature: Romanticism: …Customs), by the Cuban exile Cirilo Villaverde, perhaps the best Latin American novel of the 19th century. Villaverde’s only competition comes from two other novels named after their women protagonists: María (1867; María: A South American Romance), by the Colombian Jorge Isaacs, and Amalia (1851–55; Amalia: A Romance of the…

Villavicencio, capital of Meta departamento, central Colombia, situated on the eastern slopes of the Andean Cordillera (mountains) Oriental. Founded in 1840, the city was named after Antonio Villavicencio, who was an early advocate of the struggle for independence from Spain. It serves as an

Villavicencio: …the city was named after Antonio Villavicencio, who was an early advocate of the struggle for independence from Spain. It serves as an important manufacturing and commercial centre for the Llanos (plains) and rainforests of eastern Colombia. Industries in Villavicencio include a distillery, a brewery, soap factories, coffee-roasting plants, rice…

Villaviciosa, port town, Asturias provincia (province) and comunidad autónoma (autonomous community), northwestern Spain, in the Costa Verde resort area. The town is a fishing port northeast of Oviedo city, where the Villaviciosa Inlet enters the Bay of Biscay. Used by the ancient Romans as a

Spain: The last years of Philip IV: …at Ameixial (1663) and at Villaviciosa on the northern coast of Spain (1665). Spain finally formally recognized Portugal’s independence in 1668.

Heredia, city, central Costa Rica. It is located in the Valle Central at an elevation of 3,729 feet (1,137 metres) above sea level, just northwest of San José, the national capital, via the Inter-American (Pan-American) Highway. Probably founded in the 1570s, the city was originally called

Carcassonne: The Ville Basse was founded in 1240 when rebellious citizens of the Cité were banished beyond the walls. It was burned by Edward the Black Prince in 1355 when he failed to take the citadel. The church of Saint-Vincent and the cathedral of Saint-Michel, both from…

Morlaix, seaport town, Finistère département, Brittany région, western France, situated on the Dossen estuary, a tidal inlet of the English Channel, northeast of Brest. Coins found in the vicinity suggest Roman occupation of the site (possibly Mons Relaxus). The counts of Léon held the lordship in

history of the Low Countries: Social and economic structure: …in the French-speaking areas as villes neuves), to which colonists were attracted by offers of advantageous conditions—which were also intended to benefit the original estates. Many of these colonists were younger sons who had no share in the inheritance of their fathers’ farms. The Cistercian and Premonstratensian monks, whose rules…

Jacques-François Blondel: …of Metz (1764), including the Hôtel de Ville (1765).

Sarah Bernhardt: International success: …is now known as the Théâtre de la Ville.

Île-de-France: Seine-et-Marne, Seine-Saint-Denis, Ville-de-Paris, Hauts-de-Seine, Val-de-Marne, Essonne, and Yvelines. Île-de-France is bounded by the régions of Hauts-de-France to the north, Grand Est to the east, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté to the southeast, Centre to the south, and Normandy

Étienne de La Ville-sur-Illon, comte de Lacépède was a French naturalist and politician who made original contributions to the knowledge of fishes and reptiles. Lacépède’s Essai sur l’électricité naturelle et artificielle (1781; “Essay on Natural and Artificial Electricity”) and Physique générale

Villefranche-sur-Mer, harbour town and Mediterranean resort, Alpes-Maritimes département, Provence–Alpes–Côte d’Azur région, southeastern France. Situated on the wooded slopes surrounding the magnificent roadsteads immediately east of Nice, the town is dominated by Mount Boron. It is connected by a

Villefranche-sur-Saône, town, Rhône département, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes région, east-central France, located 1 mile (1.6 km) west of the Saône River. Founded in the 12th century, the town became the capital of the Beaujolais district. After enduring three sieges in the 15th and 16th centuries, the

Villegagnon Island, island in Guanabara Bay, southeastern Brazil, connected by a causeway to Rio de Janeiro’s Santos Dumont Airport on the mainland. In 1555 French Huguenots from nearby Laje Island under Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon established the colony of La France Antarctique and Fort

Esteban Manuel de Villegas was a Spanish lyric poet who achieved great popularity with an early book of poems, Poesías eróticas y amatorias (1617–18). He first studied classics at the University of Madrid, translating works of the 6th-century-bc Greek poet Anacreon at the age of 14, and later

Geoffrey of Villehardouin was a French soldier, chronicler, marshal of Champagne, and one of the leaders of the Fourth Crusade (1201–04), which he described in his Conquest of Constantinople. He was the first serious writer of an original prose history in Old French. Although he was only one of the

Greece: The Peloponnese: …most successful under its prince William II Villehardouin (1246–78), but in 1259 he had to cede a number of fortresses, including Mistra, Monemvasiá, and Maina, to the Byzantines. Internecine squabbles weakened resistance to Byzantine pressure, especially from the 1370s onward, when Jacques de Baux hired the Navarrese Company to fight…

serfdom, condition in medieval Europe in which a tenant farmer was bound to a hereditary plot of land and to the will of his landlord. The vast majority of serfs in medieval Europe obtained their subsistence by cultivating a plot of land that was owned by a lord. This was the essential feature

feudal land tenure: …type of unfree tenancy was villenage, initially a modified form of servitude. Whereas the mark of free tenants was that their services were always predetermined, in unfree tenure they were not; the unfree tenant never knew what he might be called to do for his lord. Although at first the…

Sir Paul Gavrilovitch Vinogradoff: Vinogradoff’s most important work is Villeinage in England (1892; originally published in Russian, 1887), in which he advanced the theory that the Anglo-Norman manor developed not from a society based on serfdom but from a free village community. His most ambitious work, Outlines of Historical Jurisprudence (1920–22), was incomplete at…

Villejuif, town, Val-de-Marne département, Paris région, north-central France, a southern suburb of Paris. It has a psychiatric hospital and a cancer research institute. Glass, sheet metal, and aircraft parts are manufactured there. Pop. (1999) 47,384; (2014 est.)

Joseph, count de Villèle was a French conservative politician and prime minister during the reign of Charles X. Villèle was educated for the navy, made his first voyage in July 1789, and served in the West and East Indies. In 1807 he returned to France after having amassed a considerable fortune

Joseph, count de Villèle was a French conservative politician and prime minister during the reign of Charles X. Villèle was educated for the navy, made his first voyage in July 1789, and served in the West and East Indies. In 1807 he returned to France after having amassed a considerable fortune

Edward Villella is an American ballet dancer who was the founding artistic director (1986–2012) of the Miami City Ballet. As a dancer, he was one of the principal performers of the New York City Ballet, where he was noted for his powerful technique, particularly his soaring leaps and jumps.

Canadian literature: The Quiet Revolution: …"A Voice for Odile"]), and Yolande Villemaire (La Vie en prose [1980; “Life in Prose”]). In her utopian novel L’Euguélionne (1976; The Euguelion), Louky Bersianik (pseudonym of Lucile Durand) used the conventions of the fantastic to conjure up alternatives to the existing social structure and verbal discourse, and in Tryptique…

Barzaz Breiz: …literature of Breton peasants, by Théodore Hersart de La Villemarqué and was published in 1839. In the 1870s it was demonstrated that Barzaz Breiz was not an anthology of Breton folk poetry but rather a mixture of old poems, chiefly love songs and ballads, that were rearranged by the editor…

Jean Antoine Villemin was a French physician who proved tuberculosis to be an infectious disease, transmitted by contact from humans to animals and from one animal to another. Villemin studied at Bruyères and at the military medical school at Strasbourg, qualifying as an army doctor in 1853. He was

Villena, city, Alicante provincia (province), in the comunidad autónoma (autonomous community) of Valencia, southeastern Spain. It lies about 45 miles (70 km) northeast of Murcia. Dating from Roman times, Villena was later part of the Moorish kingdom of Valencia and was taken by the Christians in

Henry IV: …the quarrels of his favourites, Juan Pacheco, marqués de Villena, and Beltran de la Cueva, and their inability to maintain order.

Spanish literature: Poetry: …pensamiento (“poetry of thought”); and Luis Antonio de Villena, an outspoken representative of Spain’s gay revolution. Prominent women poets during the closing decades of the 20th century include María Victoria Atencia, known for poetry inspired by domestic situations, for her cultivation of the themes of art, music, and painting, and…

feudal land tenure: …type of unfree tenancy was villenage, initially a modified form of servitude. Whereas the mark of free tenants was that their services were always predetermined, in unfree tenure they were not; the unfree tenant never knew what he might be called to do for his lord. Although at first the…

feudal land tenure: …type of unfree tenancy was villenage, initially a modified form of servitude. Whereas the mark of free tenants was that their services were always predetermined, in unfree tenure they were not; the unfree tenant never knew what he might be called to do for his lord. Although at first the…

Denis Villeneuve is a French Canadian film director and writer known for his deft hand at making visually inventive, sensitive, and unflinching films that often focus on issues of human trauma and identity. His best-known movies include the crime drama Sicario (2015) and the sci-fi films Arrival

Jacques Villeneuve is a Canadian race-car driver who in 1995 became the first Canadian to win the Indianapolis 500 and the youngest winner of the IndyCar championship. Villeneuve was the son of Gilles Villeneuve and the nephew of Jacques Villeneuve, both Canadian race-car drivers. He spent much of

Pierre-Charles-Jean-Baptiste-Silvestre de Villeneuve was a French admiral who commanded the French fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar (1805). Belonging to a noble family, he entered the French Royal Navy and received rapid promotion, being named post captain in 1793 and rear admiral in 1796. He

Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, town, a southeastern suburb of Paris, Val-de-Marne département, Île-de-France région, north-central France. It is situated at the confluence of the Seine and Yerres rivers. The 17th-century château de Beauregard is a major attraction. Villeneuve-Saint-Georges has

Jeanne Villepreux-Power was a French-born naturalist best known as the inventor of the aquarium and for her research on the paper nautilus Argonauta argo, a cephalopod that resembles members of the genus Octopus in most respects. Villepreux-Power was the daughter of a shoemaker. She moved to Paris

Jeanne Villepreux-Power was a French-born naturalist best known as the inventor of the aquarium and for her research on the paper nautilus Argonauta argo, a cephalopod that resembles members of the genus Octopus in most respects. Villepreux-Power was the daughter of a shoemaker. She moved to Paris

François de Neufville, duc de Villeroi was a French courtier, a lifelong favourite of King Louis XIV, who became marshal of France in 1693. His ducal father, Nicolas de Neufville, had been governor (educational supervisor) of the infant Louis XIV and marshal of France from 1646. François is

François de Neufville, duc de Villeroi was a French courtier, a lifelong favourite of King Louis XIV, who became marshal of France in 1693. His ducal father, Nicolas de Neufville, had been governor (educational supervisor) of the infant Louis XIV and marshal of France from 1646. François is

French language: History: …legal reform known as the Edict of Villers-Cotterêts (1539), however, established Francien as the only official language (as opposed to both Latin and other dialects) after it proved to be the most popular written form. From then on, standard French began to replace local dialects, which were officially discouraged, though…

Émile Verhaeren: …illusoires (“The Illusory Villages”) and Les Villes tentaculaires (“The Tentacular Cities”). His more intimate Les Heures claires (1896; The Sunlit Hours) is an avowal of his love for his wife; it led to the series of his major works, among which the most outstanding are Les Visages de la vie…

Villette, novel by Charlotte Brontë, published in three volumes in 1853. Based on Brontë’s own experiences in Brussels (the “Villette” of the title), this tale of a poor young woman’s emotional trial-by-fire while teaching in a girl’s school in Belgium is one of the author’s most complex books, a

Villeurbanne, city, a suburb of Lyon, Rhône département, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes région, east-central France. Villeurbanne forms the eastern part of the metropolitan agglomeration of Lyon. It is located on the right bank of the Rhône River. The first skyscrapers in France were built there in the

villus, in anatomy any of the small, slender, vascular projections that increase the surface area of a membrane. Important villous membranes include the placenta and the mucous-membrane coating of the small intestine. The villi of the small intestine project into the intestinal cavity, greatly

Giacomo Puccini: Early life and marriage: …the same year, he entered Le villi in a competition for one-act operas. The judges did not think Le villi worthy of consideration, but a group of friends, led by the composer-librettist Arrigo Boito, subsidized its production, and its premiere took place with immense success at Milan’s Verme Theatre on…

ancient Rome: Citizenship and politics in the middle republic: …consulship, and in 180 the lex Villia annalis (Villian law on minimum ages) set minimum ages for senatorial magistrates and required a two-year interval between offices. The consulship (two elected to it per year) could be held from age 42, the praetorship (six per year) from age 39, and the…