See BUSSORAH AND KUFA.
KULANAPAN FAMILY, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: KULANAPAN FAMILY.
KULM, OR CULM, Battle of.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1813 (AUGUST).
KULTURKAMPF, The.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1873-1887.
KUNAXA, Battle of (B. C. 401).
See PERSIA: B. C. 401-400.
KUNBIS.
See CASTE SYSTEM OF INDIA.
KUNERSDORF, Battle of.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1759 (JULY-NOVEMBER).
KURDISTAN: A. D. 1514.
Annexed to the Ottoman Empire.
See TURKS: A. D. 1481-1520.
KURDS, OR KOORDS.
See CARDUCHI, THE.
KUREEM KHAN, Shah of Persia, A. D. 1759-1779.
KURFÜRST.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1125-1152.
KURUCS, Insurrection of the.
See HUNGARY: A. D. 1487-1526.
KUSAN FAMILY, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: KUSAN FAMILY.
{1949}
KUSH.
KUSHITES.
See CUSH.—CUSHITES.
KUTAYAH, Peace of (1833).
See TURKS: A. D. 1831-1840.
KUTCHINS, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ATHAPASCAN FAMILY.
KUTSCHUK KAINARDJI, Battle and Treaty of (1774).
See TURKS: A. D. 1768-1774.
KYLON, Conspiracy of.
See ATHENS: B. C. 612-595.
KYMRY, OR CYMRY, The.
The name which the Britons of Wales and Cumberland gave to
themselves during their struggle with the Angles and Saxons,
meaning "Cym-bro (Combrox) or the compatriot, the native of
the country, the rightful owner of the soil. … From the
occupation by the English of the plain of the Dee and the
Mersey, the Kymry dwelt in two lands, known in quasi-Latin as
Cambria, in Welsh Cymru, which denotes the Principality of
Wales, and Cumbria, or the kingdom of Cumberland. … Kambria
was regularly used for Wales by such writers as Giraldus in
the twelfth century, … but the fashion was not yet
established of distinguishing between Cambria and Cumbria as
we do."
J. Rhys,
Celtic Britain,
chapter 4.
The term Cymry or Kymry is sometimes used in a larger sense to
denote the whole Brythonic branch of the Celtic race, as
distinguished from the Goidelic, or Gaelic; but that use of it
does not seem to be justified. On the question whether the
name Kymry, or Cymry, bears any relation to that of the
ancient Cimbri.
See CIMBRI AND TEUTONES.
KYNOSSEMA, Battle of.
See CYNOSSEMA.
KYNURIANS, OR CYNURIANS, The.
One of the three races of people who inhabited the
Peloponnesian peninsula of Greece before the Dorian
conquest,—the other two races being the Arcadians and the
Achæans. "They were never (so far as history knows them) an
independent population. They occupied the larger portion of
the territory of Argolis, from Orneæ, near the northern or
Phliasian border, to Thyrea and the Thyreatis, on the Laconian
border: and though belonging originally (as Herodotus imagines
rather than asserts) to the Ionic race—they had been so long
subjects of Argos in his time that almost all evidence of
their ante-Dorian condition had vanished."
G. Grote,
History of Greece,
part 2, chapter 4.
KYRENE.
See CYRENAICA.
KYZICUS.
See CYZICUS.
LABARUM, The.
"The chief banner of the Christian emperors [Roman] was the
so-called 'labarum.' Eusebius describes it as a long lance
with a cross-piece; to the latter a square silk flag was
attached, into which the images of the reigning emperor and
his children were woven. To the point of the lance was
fastened a golden crown enclosing the monogram of Christ and
the sign of the cross."
E. Guhl and W. Koner,
Life of the Greeks and Romans,
section 107.
ALSO IN:
E. Gibbon,
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,
chapter 20.
See CHRISTIANITY: A.D. 312-337.
LA BICOQUE, Battle of (1522).
See FRANCE: A. D. 1520-1523.
LABOR ORGANIZATION.
See SOCIAL MOVEMENTS.
LABRADOR, The Name.
"Labrador—Laboratoris Terra—is so called from the
circumstance that Cortereal in the year 1500 stole thence a
cargo of Indians for slaves."
F. Parkman,
Pioneers of France in the New World: Champlain,
chapter 1, foot-note.
LABYRINTHS.
MAZES.
"The Labyrinths of the classical age and the quaint devices of
later times, the Mazes, of which they were the prototypes,
present to the archaeologist a subject of investigation which
hitherto has not received that degree of attention of which it
appears so well deserving. … Labyrinths may be divided into
several distinct classes, comprising complicated ranges of
caverns, architectural labyrinths or sepulchral buildings,
tortuous devices indicated by coloured marbles or cut in turf,
and topiary labyrinths or mazes formed by clipped hedges. …
Of the first class we may instance the labyrinth near Nauplia
in Argolis, termed that of the Cyclops, and described by
Strabo; also the celebrated Cretan example, which from the
observations of modern travellers is supposed to have
consisted of a series of caves, resembling in some degree the
catacombs of Rome or Paris. It has been questioned, however,
whether such a labyrinth actually existed. … Of
architectural labyrinths, the most extraordinary specimen was
without doubt that at the southern end of the lake Mœris in
Egypt, and about thirty miles from Arsinoe. Herodotus, who
describes it very distinctly, says that … it consisted of
twelve covered courts, 1,500 subterranean chambers, in which
the bodies of the Egyptian princes and the sacred crocodiles
were interred, and of as many chambers above ground, which
last only he was permitted to enter."
E. Trollope,
Notices of Ancient and Mediaeval Labyrinths
(Archaeological Journal, volume 15).
ALSO IN:
Herodotus,
History,
book 2, chapter 148.
LA CADIE,
ACADIA.
See NOVA SCOTIA.
LACEDÆMON.
See SPARTA: THE CITY.
LACEDÆMONIAN EMPIRE, The.
See SPARTA: B. C. 404-403.
LACONIA.
See SPARTA: THE CITY.
LACONIA, the American Province.
See NEW ENGLAND: A. D. 1621-1631.
LACUSTRINE HABITATIONS.
See LAKE DWELLINGS.
LADE, Naval Battle of (B. C. 495).
See PERSIA: B. C. 521-493.
LADIES' PEACE, The.
See ITALY: A. D. 1527-1529.
LADISLAS, King of Naples, A. D. 1386-1414.
LADISLAUS I. (called Saint),
King of Hungary, A. D. 1077-1095.
Ladislaus II., King of Hungary, 1162.
Ladislaus III., King of Hungary, 1204-1205.
Ladislaus IV. (called The Cuman),
King of Hungary, 1272-1290.
Ladislaus V. (called The Posthumous),
King, of Hungary and Bohemia, 1439-1457.
Ladislaus VI. (Jagellon),
King of Hungary, 1440-1444;
King of Poland, 1434-1444.
{1950}
LADOCEA, OR LADOKEIA, Battle of.
Fought in what was called the Cleomenic War, between
Cleomenes, king of Sparta, and the Achæan League, B. C. 226.
The battle was fought near the city of Megalopolis, in
Arcadia, which belonged to the League and which was threatened
by Cleomenes. The latter won a complete victory, and Lydiades,
of Megalopolis, one of the noblest of the later Greeks, was
slain.
C. Thirlwall,
History of Greece,
chapter 62.
LADY, Original use of the title.
"Hlæfdige," the Saxon word from which our modern English word
"lady" comes, was the highest female title among the
West-Saxons, being reserved for the king's wife.
E. A. Freeman,
History of the Norman Conquest of England,
volume 1, note F.
LADY OF THE ENGLISH.
By the custom of the West Saxons, the king's wife was called
Lady, not Queen, and when the Wessex kingdom widened to cover
England, its queen was known as the Lady of the English.
LÆNLAND.
"Either book land or folkland could be leased out by its
holders [in early England]; and, under the name of 'lænland,'
held by free cultivators."
W. Stubbs,
Constitutional History of England,
chapter 5, section 36 (volume 1).
ALSO IN:
J. M. Kemble,
The Saxons in England,
book 1, chapter 11.
LÆTI.
LÆT.
LAZZI.
"Families of the conquered tribes of Germany, who were
forcibly settled within the 'limes' of the Roman provinces, in
order that they might repeople desolated districts, or replace
the otherwise dwindling provincial population—in order that
they might bear the public burdens and minister to the public
needs, i. e., till the public land, pay the public tribute,
and also provide for the defence of the empire. They formed a
semi-servile class, partly agricultural and partly military;
they furnished corn for the granaries and soldiers for the
cohorts of the empire, and were generally known in later times
by the name of Læti or Liti."
F. Seebohm,
English Village Community,
chapter 8.
"There seems to be no reason for questioning that the eorl,
ceorl and læt of the earliest English laws, those of
Ethelbert, answer exactly to the edhiling, the friling and the
lazzus of the old Saxons. Whether the Kentish læts were of
German origin has been questioned. Lappenberg thinks they were
'unfree of kindred race.' K. Maurer thinks them a relic of
ancient British population who came between the free wealh and
the slave. … The name (lazzus= slow or lazy) signifies
condition, not nationality. … The wer-gild of the Kentish
læt was 40, 60, or 80 shillings, according to rank, that of
the ceorl being 200."
W. Stubbs,
Constitutional History of England,
chapter 4, section 31, foot-note (volume 1).
LA FAVORITA, Battle of (1797).
See FRANCE: A. D. 1796-1797 (OCTOBER-APRIL).
LAFAYETTE IN THE WAR OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1778 (JUNE), (JULY-NOVEMBER);
1780 (JULY); 1781 (JANUARY-MAY),
and (MAY-OCTOBER).
LAFAYETTE:
And the French Revolution.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1789 (JULY), to 1792 (AUGUST).
LA FÈRE, Siege and capture by Henry IV. of France (1596).
See FRANCE: A. D. 1593-1598.
LA FÈRE-CHAMPENOISE, Battle of.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1814 (JANUARY-MARCH).
LAGIDE PRINCES.
The Egyptian dynasty founded by Ptolemy Soter, the Macedonian
general, is sometimes called the Lagide dynasty and its
princes the Lagide princes, with reference to the reputed
father of Ptolemy, who bore the name of Lagus.
LAGOS, Naval Battle of.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1759 (AUGUST-NOVEMBER).
LAGTHING.
See CONSTITUTION OF NORWAY.
LA HOGUE, Naval Battle of.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1692.
LAKE DWELLINGS.
"Among the most interesting relics of antiquity which have yet
been discovered are the famous lake-dwellings of Switzerland,
described by Dr. Keller and others. … Dr. Keller … has
arranged them in three groups, according to the character of
their substructure.
[1] Those of the first group, the Pile Dwellings, are, he
tells us, by far the most numerous in the lakes of Switzerland
and Upper Italy. In these the substructure consists of piles
of various kinds of wood, sharpened sometimes by fire,
sometimes by stone hatchets or celts, and in later times by
tools of bronze, and probably of iron, the piles being driven
into the bottom of the lake at various distances from the
shore. …
[2] The Frame Pile-Dwellings are very rare. 'The distinction
between this form and the regular pile-settlement consists in
the fact that the piles, instead of having been driven into
the mud of the lake, had been fixed by a mortise-and-tenon
arrangement into split trunks, lying horizontally on the bed
of the lake.' …
[3] In the Fascine Dwellings, as Dr. Keller terms his third
group of lake-habitations, the substructure consisted of
successive layers of sticks or small stems of trees built up
from the bottom of the lake till they reached above the
lake-level. …
Lake-dwellings have been met with in many other regions of
Europe besides Switzerland and Italy, as in Bavaria, Austria,
Hungary, Mecklenburg, Pomerania, France, Wales, Ireland, and
Scotland. The 'Crannoges' of Ireland and Scotland were rather
artificial islands than dwellings like those described above."
J. Geikie,
Prehistoric Europe,
pages 369-372.
ALSO IN:
F. Keller,
Lake Dwellings.
R. Munro,
Ancient Scottish Lake Dwellings.
E. P. S.,
Crannoges (in Archaeological Journal, volume 3).
LAKE GEORGE, Battle of.
See CANADA: A. D. 1755 (SEPTEMBER).
LAMARTINE, and the French Government of 1848.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1848 (FEBRUARY-MAY),
and (APRIL-DECEMBER).
LAMAS.
LAMAISM.
"The development of the Buddhist doctrine which has taken
place in the Panjab, Nepal, and Tibet … has resulted at last
in the complete establishment of Lamaism, a religion not only
in many points different from, but actually antagonistic to,
the primitive system of Buddhism; and this not only in its
doctrine, but also in its church organization." Tibet is "the
only country where the Order has become a hierarchy, and
acquired temporal power. Here, as in so many other countries,
civilization entered and history began with Buddhism. When the
first missionaries went there is not, however, accurately
known; but Nepal was becoming Buddhist in the 6th century, and
the first Buddhist king of Tibet sent to India for the holy
scriptures in 632 A. D. A century afterwards an adherent of
the native devil-worship drove the monks away, destroyed the
monasteries, and burnt the holy books; but the blood of the
martyrs was the seed of the church—it returned triumphant
after his death, and rapidly gained in wealth and influence.
…
{1951}
As the Order became wealthy, rival abbots had contended for
supremacy, and the chiefs had first tried to use the church as
a means of binding the people to themselves, and then,
startled at its progress, had to fight against it for their
own privilege and power. When, in the long run, the crozier
proved stronger than the sword, the Dalai Lama became in 1419
sole temporal sovereign of Tibet."
T. W. Rhys Davids,
Buddhism,
chapters 8-9.
"Up to the moment of its conversion to Buddhism, a profound
darkness had rested on [Tibet]. The inhabitants were ignorant
and uncultivated, and their indigenous religion, sometimes
called Bon, consisted chiefly of magic based on a kind of
Shamanism. … The word is said to be of Tungusic origin, and
to be used as a name for the earliest religion of Mongolia,
Siberia and other Northern countries. … It is easy to
understand that the chief function of the Shamans, or
wizard-priests, was to exorcise evil demons, or to propitiate
them by sacrifices and various magical practices. … The
various gradations of the Tibetan hierarchy are not easily
described, and only a general idea of them can be given. …
First and lowest in rank comes the novice or junior monk,
called Gethsul (Getzul). … Secondly and higher in rank we
have the rull monk, called Gelong (or Gelon). … Thirdly we
have the superior Gelong or Khanpo (strictly mKhan po), who
has a real right to the further title Lama. … As the chief
monk in a monastery he may be compared to the European Abbot.
… Some of the higher Khanpo Lamas are supposed to be living
re-incarnations or re-embodiments of certain canonized saints
and Bodhi-sattvas who differ in rank. These are called Avatara
Lamas, and of such there are three degrees. … There is also
a whole class of mendicant Lamas. … Examples of the highest
Avataras are the two quasi-Popes, or spiritual Kings, who are
supreme Lamas of the Yellow sect—the one residing at Lhassa,
and the other at Tashi Lunpo (Krashi Lunpo), about 100 miles
distant. … The Grand Lama at Lhassa is the Dalai Lama, that
is, 'the Ocean-Lama, or one whose power and learning are as
great as the ocean. … The other Grand Lama, who resides in
the monastery of Tashi Lunpo, is known in Europe under the
names of the Tashi Lama."
Sir M. Monier-Williams,
Buddhism,
lecture 11.
"Kublai-Khan, after subduing China [see CHINA: A. D.
1259-1294], adopted the Buddhist doctrines, which had made
considerable progress among the Tartars. In the year 1261 he
raised a Buddhist priest named Mati to the dignity of head of
the Faith in the empire. This priest is better known under the
name of Pakbo Lama, or supreme Lama: he was a native of
Thibet, and had gained the good graces and confidence of
Kublai, who, at the same time that he conferred on him the
supreme sacerdotal office, invested him with the temporal
power in Thibet, with the titles of 'King of the Great and
Precious Law,' and 'Institutor of the Empire.' Such was the
origin of the Grand Lamas of Thibet, and it is not impossible
that the Tartar Emperor, who had had frequent communications
with the Christian missionaries, may have wished to create a
religious organisation after the model of the Romish
hierarchy."
Abbé Huc,
Christianity in China, Tartary and Thibet,
volume 2, page 10.
ALSO IN:
Abbé Huc,
Journey through Tartary, Thibet and China,
volume 2.
W. W. Rockhill,
The Land of the Lamas.
LAMBALLE, Madame de, The death of.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1792 (AUGUST-SEPTEMBER).
LAMBETH, Treaty of.
A treaty of September 11, A. D. 1217, which was, in a certain
sense, the sequel of Magna Carta. The barons who extorted the
Great Charter from King John in 1215 were driven subsequently
to a renewal of war with him. They renounced their allegiance
and offered the crown to a French prince, Louis, husband of
Blanche of Castile, who was John's niece. The pretensions of
Louis were maintained after John's death, against his young
son, Henry III. The cause of the latter triumphed in a
decisive battle fought at Lincoln, May 20, 1217, and the
contest was ended by the treaty named above. "The treaty of
Lambeth is, in practical importance, scarcely inferior to the
Charter itself.
W. Stubbs,
Constitutional History of England,
chapter 14, section 170 (volume 2).
LAMEGO, The Cortes of.
See PORTUGAL: A. D. 1095-1325.
LAMIAN WAR, The.
See GREECE: B. C. 323-322.
LAMONE, Battle of (1425).
See ITALY: A. D. 1412-1447.
LAMPADARCHY, The.
See LITURGIES.
LANCASTER, Chancellorship of the Duchy of.
"The Chancellorship of the Duchy of Lancaster is an office
more remarkable for its antiquity than for its present
usefulness. It dates from the time of Henry the Fourth, when
the County of Lancashire was under a government distinct from
the rest of the Kingdom. About the only duty now associated
with the office is the appointment of magistrates for the
county of Lancashire. In the other English and Welsh counties,
these appointments are made by the Lord High Chancellor, who
is the head of the Judicial system. The duties of the
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster are thus exceedingly
light. The holder of the office is often spoken of as 'the
maid of all work to the Cabinet,' from the fact that he is
accorded a place in the Cabinet without being assigned any
special duties likely to occupy the whole of his time. Usually
the office is bestowed upon some statesman whom it is
desirable for special reasons to have in the Cabinet, but for
whom no other office of equal rank or importance is
available."
E. Porritt,
The Englishman at Home,
chapter 8.
LANCASTER, House of.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1399-1471.
LANCASTRIANS.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1455-1471.
LANCES, Free.
With Sir John Hawkwood and his "free company" of English
mercenaries, "came first into Italy [about 1360] the use of
the term 'lances,' as applied to hired troops; each 'lance'
being understood to consist of three men; of whom one carried
a lance, and the others were bowmen. … They mostly fought on
foot, having between each two archers a lance, which was held
as men hold their hunting-spears in a boar-hunt."
T. A. Trollope,
History of the Commonwealth of Florence,
volume 2, page 144.
LAND GRANTS FOR SCHOOLS IN THE UNITED STATES.
See EDUCATION, MODERN: AMERICA:
A. D. 1785-1800; 1862; and 1862-1886.
{1952}
LAND LEAGUE, The.
See IRELAND: A. D. 1873-1879; and 1881-1882.
LAND QUESTION AND LAND LAWS, The Irish.
See IRELAND: A. D. 1870-1894.
LANDAMMANN.
See SWITZERLAND: A. D. 1803-1848.
----------LANDAU: Start--------
LANDAU: A. D. 1648.
Cession to France.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1648.
LANDAU: A. D. 1702-1703.
Taken by the Imperialists and retaken by the French.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1702; and 1703.
LANDAU: A. D. 1704.
Taken by the Allies.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1704.
LANDAU: A. D. 1713.
Taken and retained by France.
See UTRECHT: A. D. 1712-1714.
----------LANDAU: End--------
LANDEN, OR NEERWINDEN, Battle of.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1693 (JULY).
LANDFRIEDE.
FEHDERECHT.
THE SWABIAN LEAGUE.
"Landfriede—Peace of the Land.
The expression, Public Peace, which, in deference to numerous
and high authorities I have generally used in the text, is
liable to important objections. 'A breach of the public peace'
means, in England, any open disorder or outrage. But [in
mediæval Germany] the Landfriede (Pax publica) was a special
act or provision directed against the abuse of an ancient and
established institution,—the Fehderecht (jus diffidationis,
or right of private warfare). The attempts to restrain this
abuse were, for a long time, local and temporary. … The
first energetic measure of the general government to put down
private wars was that of the diet of Nürnberg (1466). … The
Fehde is a middle term between duel and war. Every affront or
injury led, after certain formalities, to the declaration,
addressed to the offending party, that the aggrieved party
would be his foe, and that of his helpers and
helpers'-helpers. … I shall not go into an elaborate
description of the evils attendant on the right of diffidation
or private warfare (Fehderecht); they were probably not so
great as is commonly imagined."
L. Ranke,
History of the Reformation in Germany,
volume 1, pages 77 (foot-note), 71, and 81.
"The right of diffidation, or of private warfare, had been the
immemorial privilege of the Germanic nobles—a privilege as
clear as it was ancient, which no diet attempted to abolish,
but which, from the mischiefs attending its exercise, almost
everyone had endeavoured to restrain. … Not only state,
could declare war against state, prince against prince, noble
against noble, but any noble could legally defy the emperor
himself." In the reign of Frederick III. (1440-1493) efforts
were made to institute a tribunal—an imperial chamber—which
should have powers that would operate to restrain these
private wars; but the emperor and the college of princes could
not agree as to the constitution of the court proposed. To
attain somewhat the same end, the emperor then "established a
league both of the princes and of the imperial cities, which
was destined to be better observed than most preceding
confederations. Its object was to punish all who, during ten
years, should, by the right of diffidation, violate the public
tranquillity. He commenced with Swabia, which had ever been
regarded as the imperial domain; and which, having no elector,
no governing duke, no actual head other than the emperor
himself, and, consequently, no other acknowledged protector,
was sufficiently disposed to his views. In its origin the
Swabian league consisted only of six cities, four prelates,
three counts, sixteen knights; but by promises, or reasoning,
or threats, Frederic soon augmented it. The number of towns
was raised to 22, of prelates to 13, of counts to 12, of
knights or inferior nobles to 350. It derived additional
strength from the adhesion of princes and cities beyond the
confines of Swabia; and additional splendour from the names of
two electors, three margraves, and other reigning princes. It
maintained constantly on foot 10,000 infantry and 1,000
cavalry,—a force generally sufficient for the preservation of
tranquillity. Of its salutary effects some notion may be
formed from the fact that, in a very short period,
one-and-forty bandit dens were stormed, and that two powerful
offenders, George duke of Bavaria, and duke Albert of Munich,
were compelled by an armed force to make satisfaction for
their infraction of the public peace."
S. A. Dunham,
History of the Germanic Empire,
volume 2, pages 281-283.
The final suppression of the Fehderecht was brought about in
the succeeding reign, of Maximilian, by the institution of the
Imperial Chamber and the organization of the Circles to
enforce its decrees.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1493-1519.
LANDO, Pope, A. D. 913-914.
----------LANDRECIES: Start--------
LANDRECIES: A. D. 1647.
Spanish siege and capture.
See NETHERLANDS (SPANISH PROVINCES): A. D. 1647-1648.
LANDRECIES: A. D. 1655.
Siege and capture by Turenne.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1653-1656.
LANDRECIES: A. D. 1659.
Ceded to France.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1659-1661.
LANDRECIES: A. D. 1794.
Siege and capture by the Allies.
Recovery by the French.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1794 (MARCH-JULY).
----------LANDRECIES: End--------
LANDRIANO, Battle of (1529).
See ITALY: A. D. 1527-1529.
LANDSHUT, Battle of (1760).
See GERMANY: A. D. 1760.
LANDSHUT, Battle of (1809.)
See GERMANY: A. D. 1809, (JANUARY-JUNE).
LANDSQUENETS.
"After the accession of Maximilian I. [Emperor, A. D.
1493-1519], the troops so celebrated in history under the name
of 'Landsquenets' began to be known in Europe. They were
native Germans, and soon rose to a high degree of military
estimation. That Emperor, who had studied the art of war, and
who conducted it on principles of Tactics, armed them with
long lances; divided them into regiments, composed of ensigns
and squads; compelled them to submit to a rigorous discipline,
and retained them under their standards after the conclusion
of the wars in which he was engaged. … Pikes were
substituted in the place of their long lances, under Charles
V."
Sir N. W. Wraxall,
History of France, 1574-1610,
volume 2, page 183.
LANDSTING.
See SCANDINAVIAN STATES
(DENMARK-ICELAND): A. D. 1849-1874;
and CONSTITUTION OF SWEDEN.
LANDWEHR, The.
See FYRD.
LANGENSALZA, Battle at (1075).
See SAXONY: A. D. 1073-1075.
LANGENSALZA, Battle at (1866.)
See GERMANY: A. D. 1866.
LANGOBARDI, The.
See LOMBARDS.
LANGPORT, Battle of.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1645 (JULY-SEPTEMBER).
{1953}
LANG'S NEK, Battle of (1881).
See SOUTH AFRICA: A. D. 1806-1881.
LANGSIDE, Battle of (1568).
See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1561-1568.
LANGUE D'OC.
"It is well known that French is in the main a descendant from
the Latin, not the Latin of Rome, but the corrupter Latin
which was spoken in Gaul. Now these Latin-speaking Gauls did
not, for some reason, say 'est,' 'it is,' for 'yes,' as the
Romans did; but they used a pronoun, either 'ille,' 'he,' or
'hoc,' 'this.' When, therefore, a Gaul desired to say 'yes,'
he nodded, and said 'he' or else 'this,' meaning 'He is so,'
or 'This is so.' As it happens the Gauls of the north said
'ille,' and those of the south said 'hoc,' and these words
gradually got corrupted into two meaningless words, 'oui' and
'oc.' It is well known that the people in the south of France
were especially distinguished by using the word 'oc' instead
of 'oui' for 'yes,' so that their 'dialect' got to be called
the 'langue d'oc,' and this word Langue-doc gave the name to a
province of France."
C. F. Keary,
Dawn of History,
chapter 3.
ALSO IN:
F. Hueffer,
The Troubadours,
chapter 1.
Sir G. C. Lewis,
The Romance Languages,
page 52, and after.
LANGUEDOC.
When, as a consequence of the Albigensian wars, the dominions
of the Counts of Toulouse were broken up and absorbed for the
most part in the domain of the French crown, the country which
had been chiefly ravaged in those wars, including Septimania
and much of the old county of Toulouse, acquired the name by
which its language was known—Languedoc. The 'langue d'oc'
was spoken likewise in Provence and in Aquitaine; but it gave
a definite geographical name only to the region between the
Rhone and the Garonne.
See ALBIGENSES: A. D. 1217-1229;
also, PROVENCE: A. D. 1179-1207.
LANNES, Marshal, Campaigns of.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1800-1801 (MAY-FEBRUARY);
GERMANY: A. D. 1806 (OCTOBER);
SPAIN: A. D. 1808 (SEPTEMBER-DECEMBER),
1808-1809 (DECEMBER-MARCH), 1809 (FEBRUARY-JULY);
and GERMANY: A. D. 1809 (JANUARY-JUNE).
LANSDOWNE, Lord, The Indian administration of.
See INDIA: A. D. 1880-1893.
----------LAON: Start--------
LAON:
The last capital of the Carolingian kings.
The rock-lifted castle and stronghold of Laon, situated in the
modern department of Aisne, about 74 miles northeast from
Paris, was the last refuge and capital—sometimes the sole
dominion—of the Carolingian kings, in their final struggle
with the new dynasty sprung from the Dukes of France. The
"King of Laon" and the "King of St. Denis," as the contestants
are sometimes called, disputed with one another for a monarchy
which was small when the sovereignty of the two had been
united in one. In 991 the "King of Laon" was betrayed to his
rival, Hugh Capet, and died in prison. "Laon ceased to be a
capital, and became a quiet country town; the castle, relic of
those days, stood till 1832, when it was rased to the ground."
G. W. Kitchin,
History of France,
volume 1, book 3, chapter 2.
ALSO IN:
Sir F. Palgrave,
History of Normandy and England,
book 1, part 2, chapter 4,
parts 1-2 (volume 2).
See, also,
FRANCE: A. D. 877-987.
LAON: A. D. 1594.
Siege and capture by Henry IV.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1593-1598.
LAON, Battle of.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1814 (JANUARY-MARCH).
----------LAON: End--------
LAPITHÆ, The.
A race which occupied in early times the valley of the Peneus,
in Thessaly; "a race which derived its origin from Almopia in
Macedonia, and was at least very nearly connected with the
Minyans and Æolians of Ephyra."
C. O. Müller,
History and Antiquity of the Doric Race,
book 1, chapter 1.
LA PLATA, Provinces of.
See ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.
LA PUERTA, Battle of (1814).
See COLOMBIAN STATES: A. D. 1810-1821.
LARGS, Battle of.
See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1263.
LARISSA.
There were several ancient cities in Greece and Asia Minor
called Larissa.
See ARGOS, and PERRHÆBIANS.
LAROCHEJACQUELIN, Henri de, and the insurrection in La Vendée.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1793 (MARCH-APRIL); (JUNE);
and (JULY-DECEMBER).
LA ROCHELLE.
See ROCHELLE.
LA ROTHIERÈ, Battle of.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1814 (JANUARY-MARCH).
LA SALLE'S EXPLORATIONS.
See CANADA: A. D. 1669-1687.
LAS CASAS, The humane labors of.
See SLAVERY: MODERN: OF THE INDIANS.
LAS CRUCES, Battle of.
See MEXICO: A. D. 1810-1819.
LASSI,
LAZZI, The.
See LÆTI.
LASWARI, Battle of (1803).
See INDIA: A. D. 1798-1805.
LATERAN, The.
"The Lateran derives its name from a rich patrician family,
whose estates were confiscated by Nero. … It afterwards
became an imperial residence, and a portion of it … was
given by Constantine to Pope Melchiades in 312,—a donation
which was confirmed to St. Sylvester, in whose reign the first
basilica was built here. … The ancient Palace of the Lateran
was the residence of the popes for nearly 1,000 years. … The
modern Palace of the Lateran was built from designs of Fontana
by Sixtus V. In 1693 Innocent XII. turned it into a
hospital,—in 1438 Gregory XVI. appropriated it as a museum."
A. J. C. Hare,
Walks in Rome,
chapter 13.
LATHES OF KENT.
"The county of Kent [England] is divided into six 'lathes,' of
nearly equal size, having the jurisdiction of the hundreds in
other shires. The lathe may be derived from the Jutish
'lething' (in modern Danish 'leding')—a military levy."
T. P. Taswell-Langmead,
English Constitutional History,
chapter 1, foot-note.
LATHOM HOUSE, Siege of.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1644 (JANUARY).
LATIFUNDIA.
The great slave-tilled estates of the Romans, which swallowed
up the properties of the small land-holders of earlier times,
were called Latifundia.
LATIN CHURCH, The.
The Roman Catholic Church (see PAPACY) is often referred to as
the Latin Church, in distinction from the Greek or Orthodox
Church of the East.
LATIN EMPIRE AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
See ROMANIA, THE EMPIRE OF.
LATIN LANGUAGE IN THE MIDDLE AGES.
See EDUCATION, MEDIÆVAL.
{1954}
"LATIN NAME," The.
"We must … explain what was meant in the sixth century of
Rome [third century B. C.] by the 'Latin name.' … The Latin
name was now extended far beyond its old geographical limits,
and was represented by a multitude of flourishing cities
scattered over the whole of Italy, from the frontier of
Cisalpine Gaul to the southern extremity of Apulia. … Not
that they were Latins in their origin, or connected with the
cities of the old Latium: on the contrary they were by
extraction Romans; they were colonies founded by the Roman
people, and consisting of Roman Citizens: but the Roman
government had resolved that, in their political relations,
they should be considered, not as Romans, but as Latins; and
the Roman settlers, in consideration of the advantages which
they enjoyed as colonists, were content to descend politically
to a lower condition than that which they had received as
their birthright. The states of the Latin name, whether cities
of old Latium or Roman colonies, all enjoyed their own laws
and municipal government, like the other allies; and all were,
like the other allies, subject to the sovereign dominion of
the Romans. They were also so much regarded as foreigners that
they could not buy or inherit land from Roman citizens; nor
had they generally the right of intermarriage with Romans. But
they had two peculiar privileges: one, that any Latin who left
behind him a son in his own city, to perpetuate his family
there, might remove to Rome, and acquire the Roman franchise;
the other, that every person who had held any magistracy or
distinguished office in a Latin state, might become at once a
Roman citizen."
T. Arnold,
History of Rome,
chapter 41.
LATINS, Subjugation of, by the Romans.
See ROME: B. C. 339-338.
LATIUM.
THE OLD LATINS.
"The plain of Latium must have been in primeval times the
scene of the grandest conflicts of nature, while the slowly
formative agency of water deposited, and the eruptions of
mighty volcanoes upheaved, the successive strata of that soil
on which was to be decided the question to what people the
sovereignty of the world should belong. Latium is bounded on
the east by the mountains of the Sabines and Aequi, which form
part of the Apennines; and on the south by the Volscian range
rising to the height of 4,000 feet, which is separated from
the main chain of the Apennines by the ancient territory of
the Hernici, the table-land of the Sacco (Trerus, a tributary
of the Liris), and stretching in a westerly direction
terminates in the promontory of Terracina. On the west its
boundary is the sea, which on this part of the coast forms but
few and indifferent harbours. On the north it imperceptibly
merges into the broad highlands of Etruria. The region thus
enclosed forms a magnificent plain traversed by the Tiber, the
'mountain-stream' which issues from the Umbrian, and by the
Anio, which rises in the Sabine mountains. Hills here and
there emerge, like islands, from the plain; some of them steep
limestone cliffs, such as that of Soracte in the north-east,
and that of the Circeian promontory on the south-west, as well
as the similar though lower height of the Janiculum near Rome;
others volcanic elevations, whose extinct craters had become
converted into lakes which in some cases still exist; the most
important of these is the Alban range, which, free on every
side, stands forth from the plain between the Volscian chain
and the river Tiber. Here settled the stock which is known to
history under the name of the Latins, or, as they were
subsequently called by way of distinction from the Latin
communities beyond the bounds of Latium, the 'Old Latins'
('prisci Latini'). But the territory occupied by them, the
district of Latium, was only a small portion of the central
plain of Italy. All the country north of the Tiber was to the
Latins a foreign and even hostile domain, with whose
inhabitants no lasting alliance, no public peace, was
possible, and such armistices as were concluded appear always
to have been for a limited period. The Tiber formed the
northern boundary from early times. … We find, at the time
when our history begins, the flat and marshy tracts to the
south of the Alban range in the hands of Umbro-Sabellian
stocks, the Rutuli and Volsci; Ardea and Velitrae are no
longer in the number of originally Latin towns. Only the
central portion of that region between the Tiber, the spurs of
the Apennines, the Alban Mount, and the sea—a district of
about 700 square miles, not much larger than the present
canton of Zurich—was Latium proper, the 'plain,' as it
appears to the eye of the observer from the heights of Monte
Cavo. Though the country is a plain, it is not monotonously
flat. With the exception of the sea-beach which is sandy and
formed in part by the accumulations of the Tiber, the level is
everywhere broken by hills of tufa moderate in height, though
often somewhat steep, and by deep fissures of the ground.
These alternating elevations and depressions of the surface
lead to the formation of lakes in winter; and the exhalations
proceeding in the heat of summer from the putrescent organic
substances which they contain engender that noxious
fever-laden atmosphere, which in ancient times tainted the
district as it taints it at the present day."
T. Mommsen,
History of Rome,
book 1, chapter 3.
See, also, ITALY, ANCIENT.
LATT, OR LIDUS, The.
See SLAVERY: MEDIÆVAL: GERMANY.
LATTER DAY SAINTS, Church of.
See MORMONISM: A. D. 1805-1830.
LAUD, Archbishop, Church tyranny of.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1633-1640.
LAUDER BRIDGE.
See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1482-1488.
LAUDERDALE, Duke of.
His oppression in Scotland.
See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1669-1679.
LAUFFENBURG, Captured by Duke Bernhard (1637).
See GERMANY: A. D. 1634-1639.
LAURAS.
"The institution of Lauras was the connecting link between the
hermitage and the monastery, in the later and more ordinary
use of that word. … A Laura was an aggregation of separate
cells, under the not very strongly defined control of a
superior, the inmates meeting together only on the first and
last days, the old and new Sabbaths, of each week, for their
common meal in the refectory and for common worship. … The
origin of the word 'Laura' is uncertain. … Probably it is
another form of 'labra,' the popular term in Alexandria for an
alley or narrow court."
I. G. Smith,
Christian Monasticism,
pages 38-39.
{1955}
LAUREATE, English Poets.
"From the appointment of Chaucer about five hundred years have
elapsed, and during that period a long line of poets have held
the title of Laureate. For the first two hundred years they
were somewhat irregularly appointed, but from the creation of
Richard Edwards in 1561, they come down to the present time
without interruption. The selection of the Laureate has not
always been a wise one, but the list contains the names of a
few of our greatest authors, and the honour was certainly
worthily bestowed upon Edmund Spenser, Ben Jonson, John
Dryden, Robert Southey, William Wordsworth, and Alfred
Tennyson. As the custom of crowning successful poets appears
to have been in use since the origin of poetry itself, the
office of Poet Laureate can certainly boast of considerable
antiquity, and the laurel wreath of the Greeks and Romans was
an envied trophy long before our Druidical forefathers held
aloft the mistletoe bough in their mystic rites. From what
foreign nation we first borrowed the idea of a King of the
Poets is doubtful."
W. Hamilton, Origin of the Office of Poet Laureate
(Royal Historical Society, Transactions, volume 8).
The following is a list of the Poets Laureate of England, with
the dates of their appointment:
Geoffrey Chaucer, 1368;
Sir John Gower, 1400;
Henry Scogan;
John Kay;
Andrew Bernard, 1486;
John Skelton, 1489;
Robert Whittington, 1512;
Richard Edwards, 1561;
Edmund Spenser, 1590;
Samuel Daniel, 1598;
Ben Jonson, 1616;
Sir William Davenant, 1638;
John Dryden, 1670;
Thomas Shadwell, 1688;
Nahum Tate, 1692;
Nicholas Rowe, 1715;
Rev. Laurence Eusden, 1718;
Colley Cibber, 1730;
William Whitehead, 1757;
Thomas Warton, 1785;
Henry James Pye, 1790;
Robert Southey, 1813;
William Wordsworth, 1843;
Alfred Tennyson, 1850.
W. Hamilton,
The Poets Laureate of England.
LAURIUM, Silver Mines of.
These mines, in Attica, were owned and worked at an early time
by the Athenian state, and seem to have yielded a large
revenue, more or less of which was divided among the citizens.
It was by persuading the Athenians to forego that division
that Themistocles secured money to build the fleet which made
Athens a great naval power. The mines were situated in the
southern part of Attica, in a district of low hills, not far
from the promontory of Sunium.
G. Grote,
History of Greece,
part 2, chapter 39.
LAUSITZ.
See BRANDENBURG.
LAUTULÆ, Battle of.
See ROME: B. C. 343-290.
LAW, John, and his Mississippi Scheme.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1717-1720;
and LOUISIANA: A. D. 1717-1718.
----------LAW: Start----------
LAW. [Prepared for this work by Austin Abbott, Dean of the
New York University Law School.]
The subject is here treated with reference to the history of
the rights of persons and property, and that of procedure,
rather than in its political and economic aspects, which are
discussed under other heads. And those parts of the history of
law thus considered which enter into our present systems are
given the preference in space,—purely historical matters,
such as the Roman Law, being treated elsewhere, as indicated
in the references placed at the end of this article:
----------ADMIRALTY LAW: Start----------
ADMIRALTY LAW: A. D. 1183.
Law as to Shipwrecks.
"The Emperor Constantine, or Antonine (for there is some doubt
as to which it was), had the honour of being the first to
renounce the claim to shipwrecked property in favor of the
rightful owner. But the inhuman customs on this subject were
too deeply rooted to be eradicated by the wisdom and vigilance
of the Roman law givers. The legislation in favor of the
unfortunate was disregarded by succeeding emperors, and when
the empire itself was overturned by the northern barbarians,
the laws of humanity were swept away in the tempest, and the
continual depredations of the Saxons and Normans induced the
inhabitants of the western coasts of Europe to treat all
navigators who were thrown by the perils of the sea upon their
shores as pirates, and to punish them as such, without inquiry
or discrimination. The Emperor Andronicus Comnenus, who
reigned at Constantinople in 1183, made great efforts to
repress this inhuman practice. His edict was worthy of the
highest praise, but it ceased to be put in execution after his
death. … Valin says, it was reserved to the ordinances of
Lewis XIV. to put the finishing stroke towards the extinction
of this species of piracy, by declaring that shipwrecked
persons and property were placed under the special protection
and safe guard of the crown, and the punishment of death
without hope of pardon, was pronounced against the guilty."
James Kent,
International Law,
edited by J. T. Abdy, page 31.
ADMIRALTY LAW: A. D. 1537.
Jurisdiction.
The Act of 28 Henry VIII., c. 15, granted jurisdiction to the
Lord High Admiral of England.
ADMIRALTY LAW: A. D. 1575.
Jurisdiction.
"The Request of the Judge of the Admiralty, to the Lord Chief