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LAON

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 190 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LAON  , a

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town of
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northern France, capital of the department of
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Aisne, 87 m . N.E. of Paris on the Northern railway . Pop . (1906), town, 9787, commune (including troops) 15,288 . It is situated on an isolated ridge, forming two sides of a triangle, which rises some 33o ft. above the surrounding plain and the little
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river of Ardon . The suburbs of St Marcel and Vaux extend along the
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foot of the ridge to the north . From the railway station, situated in the plain to the north, a straight
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staircase of several
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hundred steps leads to the
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gate of the town, and all the roads connecting Laon with the surrounding
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district are cut in zigzags on the steep slopes, which are crowned by promenades on the site of the old ramparts . The 13th-century gates of Ardon, Chenizelles and
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Soissons, the latter in a state of ruin, have been preserved . At the eastern extremity of the ridge rises the citadel; at its
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apex is the parade-ground of St Martin, and at the
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southern end stands the ancient abbey of St Vincent . The deep depression between the arms of the ridge, known as the Cuve St Vincent, has its slopes covered with trees,
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vegetable gardens and vineyards . From the
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promenade along the
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line of the ramparts there is an extensive view northward beyond St Quentin, westward to the
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forest of St Gobain, and southward over the wooded hills of the Laonnais and Soissonnais . The
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cathedral of Laon (see ARCHITECTURE, Romanesque and
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Gothic Architecture in France) is one of the most important creations of the
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art of the 12th and 13th centuries .

It took the

place of the old cathedral, burned at the beginning of the communal struggles mentioned below . The
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building is cruciform, and the choir terminates in a straight wall instead of in an apse . Of the six towers flanking the facades, only four are
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complete to the height of the
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base of the spires, two at the west front with
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hugh figures of oxen beneath the arcades of their upper portion, and one at each end of the transept . A square central tower forms a lantern within the church . The west front, with three porches, the centre one surmounted by a
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fine rose window, ranks next to that of Notre-Dame at Paris in purity . The cathedral has stained glass of the 13th century and a choir
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grille of the 18th century . The chapter-house and the cloister contain beautiful specimens of the architecture of the beginning of the 13th century . The old episcopal palace, contiguous to the cathedral, is now used as a court-house . The front, flanked by turrets, is pierced by
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great pointed windows . There is also a Gothic cloister and an old
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chapel of two storeys, of a date anterior to the cathedral . The church of St Martin
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dates from the
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middle of the 12th century . The old abbey buildings of the same foundation are now used as the hospital .

The museum of Laon had collections of

sculpture and
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painting . In its garden there is a chapel of the
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Templars belonging to the 12th century . The church of the suburb of Vaux near the railway station dates from the 11th and 12th centuries . Numerous cellars of two or three storeys have taken the place of the old quarries in the hill-side . Laon forms with La Fere and Reims a triangle of important fortresses . Its fortifications consist of an inner line of
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works on the eminence of Laon itself, and two groups of detached forts, one some 2a m . S.E. about the
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village of Bruyeres, the other about 3 m . W.S.W., near Laniscourt . To the S.S.W. forts Malmaison and Conde connect Laon with the Aisne and with Reims . Laon is the seat of a prefect and a court of assizes, and possesses a tribunal of first instance, a lycee for boys, a college for girls, a school of agriculture and training colleges .
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Sugar-making and metal-founding are carried on, but neither industry nor trade, which is in grain and wine, are of much importance . The hilly district of Laon (Laudunum) has always had some strategic importance .

In the

time of Caesar there was a Gallic village where the Remi (inhabitants of the country round Reims) had to meet the onset of the confederated
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Belgae . Whatever may have been the precise locality of that battlefield, Laon was fortified by the Romans, and successively checked the invasions of the Franks, Burgundians, Vandals, Alani and
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Huns . St Remigius, the arch-bishop of Reims who baptized Clovis, was born in the Laonnais, and it was he who, at the end of the 5th century, instituted the bishopric of the town . Thenceforward Laon was one of the
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principal towns of the
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kingdom of the Franks, and the possession of it was often disputed . Charles the Bald had enriched its church with the gift of very numerous domains . After the fall of the
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Carolingians Laon took the
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part of Charles of
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Lorraine, their heir, and Hugh
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Capet only succeeded in making himself master of the town by the connivance of the bishop,who, in return for this service, was made second ecclesiastical peer of the kingdom . Early in the 12th century the communes of France set about emancipating themselves, and the
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history of the commune of Laon is one of the richest and most varied . The citizens had profited by a temporary absence of Bishop Gaudry to secure from his representatives a communal charter, but he, on his return,
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purchased from the king of France the revocation of this document, and re-commenced his oppressions . The consequence was a revolt, in which the episcopal palace was burnt and the bishop and several of his partisans were put to
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death . The fire spread to the cathedral, and reduced it to ashes . Uneasy at the result of their victory, the rioters went into hiding outside the town, which was anew pillaged by the
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people of the neighbourhood, eager to avenge the death of their bishop . The king alternately interfered in favour of the bishop and of the inhabitants till 1239 .

After that date the liberties of Laon were no more contested till 1331, when the commune was abolished . During the Hundred Years'

War it was attacked and taken by the Burgundians, who gave it up to the
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English, to be retaken by the French after the consecration of Charles VII . Under the
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League Laon took the part of the Leaguers, and was taken by Henry IV . During the
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campaign of 1814
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Napoleon tried in vain to dislodge Blucher from it . In 187o an engineer blew up the powder
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magazine of the citadel at the moment when the German troops were entering the town . Many lives were lost; and the cathedral and the old episcopal palace were damaged . At the Revolution Laon permanently lost its rank as a bishopric .

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