Val-de-Grace. Paris. 1645-1667. Built by Anne of Austria to thank God for birth of Louis XIV after 23 childless years of marriage. Mansart.

Valdemar IV. Atterdag. 1320-75. Danish king 1340-. Re-united Denmark. Opposed Hanseatic League. Sold Estonia to Teutonic Knights.

Valens. 328-78. East Roman Emperor 364-. Killed at Adrianople.

Valentine, St. c270. 2 Christians martyred by Claudius II. Modern celebration derives from Roman Lupercalia fertility festival.

Valentinian III. 419-55. Roman Emperor 425-. Lost Africa to Vandals, Gaul to Huns.

Valkyries. Sisters of Odin, choosers of the doomed in battle.

Valla, Lorenzo. 1407-57. Italian Humanist scholar. Exposed Donation of Constantine, 1440.

Vallee, Rudy. 1901-86. US. First pop music star.

Valmy. Last French navy sailing ship.

Valmy, Battle. 1792. French revolutionaries defeat Austria-Prussia invasion.

Valois. 1328-1589. Second Capetian French dynasty. Tudor.

Van de Graaff, Robert. 1901-67. US physicist. Particle accelerator 1929. High voltage generator 1932.

Van Gogh, Vincent. 1853-90. Dutch expressionist painter. Passionate intensity revealed in colors. Sunflowers. Potato Eaters 1885. Starry Night 1889. Wheat Fields. Self Portrait with Bandaged Ear 1889.

Van Rensselaer, Stephen. 1764-1839. US politician. Key to Erie Canal.

Vanbrugh, John. 1664-1726. English Restoration dramatist, Baroque architect: Castle Howard 1702. Blenheim Palace 1705.

Vandals. Germans fleeing Huns, invaded Gaul, Spain 409 and Africa 429-534. Sacked Rome 455. Arians, persecuted other Christians. Routed by Byzantines 533.

Vanderlyn, John. 1775-1852. US Neoclassical artist. Ariadne 1812.

Varro, Marcus. 116-27BC. Prolific Roman scholar, satirist. 600 books. “Know thyself”.

Vasa. 1523-1818. Swedish dynasty. Ruled Poland 1587-1668. Dominated 17C Baltic.

Vasari, Giorgio. 1511-74. Italian Mannerist painter, architect, writer. Coined term Renaissance. Painters Lives 1550. Uffizi Palace architect.

Vatican. 1146 Palace begun. 1377 Principal Papal residence. 11,000 rooms; world’s largest residence. 1929 Sovereign. Lateran Treaty.

Vatican City. 1929 State established by Lateran Treaty.

Vauban, Sébastien de. 1633-1707. French military engineer. Invented trenches 1673, socket bayonet 1688.

Vaughan Williams, Ralph. 1872-1958. English Nationalist composer of symphonies, ballads, songs. Combined folk idiom with 16C polyphony. Sea 1910. Pastoral Symphony 1922.

Veblen, Thorstein. 1857-1929. US sociologist. Theory of the Leisure Class 1899-“conspicuous consumption”.

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