Laon () is a city in the
Aisne
Aisne ( , ; ; pcd, Ainne) is a French department in the Hauts-de-France region of northern France. It is named after the river Aisne. In 2019, it had a population of 531,345.[department
Department may refer to:
* Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility
Government and military
*Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...]
in
Hauts-de-France
Hauts-de-France (; pcd, Heuts-d'Franche; , also ''Upper France'') is the northernmost Regions of France, region of France, created by the territorial reform of French regions in 2014, from a merger of Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy. Its Prefectu ...
in northern
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
.
History
Early history
The
holy district of Laon
The diocese of Laon in the present-day département of Aisne, was a Catholic diocese for around 1300 years, up to the French Revolution. Its seat was in Laon, France, with the Laon Cathedral. From early in the 13th century, the bishop of Laon wa ...
, which rises a hundred metres above the otherwise flat
Picardy
Picardy (; Picard and french: Picardie, , ) is a historical territory and a former administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region of Hauts-de-France. It is located in the northern part of France.
Hi ...
plain, has always held strategic importance. In the time of
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...
there was a Gallic village named Bibrax where the
Remi
The Remi (Gaulish: ''Rēmi'', 'the first, the princes') were a Belgic tribe dwelling in the Aisne, Vesle and Suippe river valleys during the Iron Age and the Roman period. Their territory roughly corresponded the modern Marne and Ardennes and p ...
s (inhabitants of the country round
Reims
Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne.
Founded by ...
) had to meet the onset of the confederated
Belgae
The Belgae () were a large confederation of tribes living in northern Gaul, between the English Channel, the west bank of the Rhine, and the northern bank of the river Seine, from at least the third century BC. They were discussed in depth by Ju ...
. Whatever may have been the precise locality of that battlefield, Laon was fortified by the Romans, and successively checked the invasions of the
Franks
The Franks ( la, Franci or ) were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was first mentioned in 3rd-century Roman sources, and associated with tribes between the Lower Rhine and the Ems River, on the edge of the Roman Empire.H. Schutz: Tools, ...
,
Burgundians
The Burgundians ( la, Burgundes, Burgundiōnes, Burgundī; on, Burgundar; ang, Burgendas; grc-gre, Βούργουνδοι) were an early Germanic tribe or group of tribes. They appeared in the middle Rhine region, near the Roman Empire, and ...
,
Vandals
The Vandals were a Germanic peoples, Germanic people who first inhabited what is now southern Poland. They established Vandal Kingdom, Vandal kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula, Mediterranean islands, and North Africa in the fifth century.
The ...
,
Alans
The Alans (Latin: ''Alani'') were an ancient and medieval Iranian nomadic pastoral people of the North Caucasus – generally regarded as part of the Sarmatians, and possibly related to the Massagetae. Modern historians have connected the Al ...
and
Huns
The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th century AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was part ...
. At that time it was known as ''Alaudanum'' or ''Lugdunum Clavatum''.
Archbishop
Remigius of
Reims
Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne.
Founded by ...
, who baptised
Clovis, was born in the Laonnais, and it was he who, at the end of the fifth century, instituted the
bishopric of Laon. Thenceforward Laon was one of the principal towns of the kingdom of the Franks, and the possession of it was often disputed.
Charles the Bald
Charles the Bald (french: Charles le Chauve; 13 June 823 – 6 October 877), also known as Charles II, was a 9th-century king of West Francia (843–877), king of Italy (875–877) and emperor of the Carolingian Empire (875–877). After a ser ...
had enriched its church with the gift of very numerous domains. In about 847 the Irish philosopher
John Scotus Eriugena
John Scotus Eriugena, also known as Johannes Scotus Erigena, John the Scot, or John the Irish-born ( – c. 877) was an Irish Neoplatonist philosopher, theologian and poet of the Early Middle Ages. Bertrand Russell dubbed him "the most ...
appeared at the court of Charles the Bald, and was appointed head of the palace school. Eriugena spent the rest of his days in France, probably at Paris and Laon.
Laon was the principal city of the late Carolingian kings of France, beginning with
Louis IV. After the fall of the
Carolingians
The Carolingian dynasty (; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charlemagne, grandson of mayor Charles Martel and a descendant of the Arnulfing and Pippin ...
, Laon took the part of
Charles of Lorraine, their heir, and
Hugh Capet
Hugh Capet (; french: Hugues Capet ; c. 939 – 14 October 996) was the King of the Franks from 987 to 996. He is the founder and first king from the House of Capet. The son of the powerful duke Hugh the Great and his wife Hedwige of Saxony, ...
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 twelfth century the
communes of France
The () is a level of administrative division in the French Republic. French are analogous to civil townships and incorporated municipalities in the United States and Canada, ' in Germany, ' in Italy, or ' in Spain. The United Kingdom's equi ...
set about emancipating themselves, and the history of the commune of Laon is one of the richest and most varied.
Anselm of Laon
Anselm of Laon ( la, Anselmus; 1117), properly Ansel ('), was a French theologian and founder of a school of scholars who helped to pioneer biblical hermeneutics.
Biography
Born of very humble parents at Laon before the middle of the 11th cent ...
's school for theology and exegesis rapidly became the most famous in Europe. The citizens had profited by a temporary absence of
Bishop Gaudry to secure from his representatives a
communal charter, but he, on his return, purchased from the
king of France
France was ruled by monarchs from the establishment of the Kingdom of West Francia in 843 until the end of the Second French Empire in 1870, with several interruptions.
Classical French historiography usually regards Clovis I () as the first ...
the revocation of this document, and recommenced 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 death on 25 April 1112. 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 people of the neighbourhood, eager to avenge the death of their bishop.
Thereafter, French monarchs intervened as needed to settle disputes between the bishop and the townspeople until 1331, when the commune was abolished. In the latter stages of the 1337–1463
Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a series of armed conflicts between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France during the Late Middle Ages. It originated from disputed claims to the French Crown, ...
, Laon was captured by
Philip, Duke of Burgundy; he relinquished control to his English allies, who held it until 1429 when it fell to
Charles VII of France
Charles VII (22 February 1403 – 22 July 1461), called the Victorious (french: le Victorieux) or the Well-Served (), was King of France from 1422 to his death in 1461.
In the midst of the Hundred Years' War, Charles VII inherited the throne of F ...
. The
Catholic League used the town as a base during the
French Wars of Religion
The French Wars of Religion is the term which is used in reference to a period of civil war between French Catholic Church, Catholics and Protestantism, Protestants, commonly called Huguenots, which lasted from 1562 to 1598. According to estim ...
; it was retaken by the former
Huguenot
The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...
Henry IV in August 1594.
Modern history
At the
Revolution
In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...
(1789) Laon permanently lost its rank as a bishopric. During the campaign of 1814,
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
tried in vain to dislodge
Blücher and
Bülow from it in the
Battle of Laon
The Battle of Laon (9–10 March 1814) was the victory of Blücher's Prussian army over Napoleon's French army near Laon. During the Battle of Craonne on 7 March, Blücher's army was forced to retreat into Laon after a failed attempt to ...
.
In 1870, during the
Franco-Prussian War, an engineer blew up the powder magazine of the citadel at the moment when the German troops were entering the town. Many people died; and the cathedral and the old episcopal palace were damaged. It surrendered to a German force on 9 September 1870.
[
In the fall of 1914, during ]World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, German forces captured the town and held it until the Allied offensive in the summer of 1918.[
]
Geography
Located in the middle of Aisne, Laon borders (from the north, clockwise) with the municipalities of Aulnois-sous-Laon
Aulnois-sous-Laon (, literally ''Aulnois under Laon'') is a commune in the department of Aisne in the Hauts-de-France region of northern France.
Geography
Aulnois-sous-Laon is located some 30 km southeast of Saint-Quentin and 5 km ...
, Barenton-Bugny, Chambry, Athies-sous-Laon, Bruyères-et-Montbérault, Vorges
Vorges () is a commune in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France.
Population
People associated with the commune
* Édouard Fleury (1815–83): Historian, writer
* Champfleury (1821–89): Journalist, writer
* Gaston Gan ...
, Presles-et-Thierny, Chivy-lès-Étouvelles
Chivy-lès-Étouvelles (, literally ''Chivy near Étouvelles'') is a commune in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France.
Population
See also
*Communes of the Aisne department
The following is a list of the 799 commu ...
, Clacy-et-Thierret
Clacy-et-Thierret () is a commune in the Aisne department, Hauts-de-France, northern France.
Population
See also
*Communes of the Aisne department
The following is a list of the 799 communes in the French department of Aisne.
The ...
, Molinchart
Molinchart () is a commune in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France.
Population
See also
*Communes of the Aisne department
The following is a list of the 799 communes in the French department of Aisne.
The com ...
, Cerny-lès-Bucy
Cerny-lès-Bucy is a commune in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France.
Population
See also
*Communes of the Aisne department
The following is a list of the 799 communes in the French department of Aisne.
The ...
, and Besny-et-Loizy. It is from Reims
Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne.
Founded by ...
, from Amiens
Amiens (English: or ; ; pcd, Anmien, or ) is a city and commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in the region of Hauts-de-France. In 2021, the population of ...
, and from Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
.
Population
Sights
The city contains numerous medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
buildings, including the cathedral
A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...
Notre-Dame of Laon
Laon Cathedral (french: Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Laon) is a Roman Catholic church located in Laon, Aisne, Hauts-de-France, France. Built in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, it is one of the most important and stylistically unified exam ...
, dating mostly from the 12th and 13th centuries. The chapter-house
A chapter house or chapterhouse is a building or room that is part of a cathedral, monastery or collegiate church in which meetings are held. When attached to a cathedral, the cathedral chapter meets there. In monasteries, the whole communi ...
and the cloister
A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against a ...
contain specimens of early 13th century architecture. The old episcopal palace
A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome which ...
, contiguous to the cathedral, is now used as a court-house. The front, flanked by turrets, is pierced by large pointed windows. There is also a Gothic cloister and an old chapel of two storeys, of a date anterior to the cathedral.
The church of St Martin dates from the middle of the 12th century. The old abbey
An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns.
The conce ...
buildings of the same foundation are now used as the hospital. The museum of Laon had collections of sculpture and painting. In its garden there is a chapel of the Templars
, colors = White mantle with a red cross
, colors_label = Attire
, march =
, mascot = Two knights riding a single horse
, equipment ...
belonging to the 12th century.
One of the oldest churches in the city is St John the Baptist, in the nearby neighborhood of Vaux-sous-Laon, which dates from the 11th through 13th centuries and is built in a mixture of Romanesque and Gothic styles.
Transportation
Laon railway station offers connections to Reims, Soissons and Paris.
Until August 2016, the town had the only fully automated municipal cable car system in the world, called the Poma 2000
The Poma 2000 in Laon, France, was an automated guideway transit, a cable-driven people mover which ran between the railway station and the city hall. The system was long with a maximum gradient of 13% and an elevation change of .
History
The s ...
. It linked the upper town (the historical centre, located on a plateau) with the lower town, had three stations and ran on rubber tyres. In contrast, the San Francisco cable car system
The San Francisco cable car system is the world's last manually operated cable car system and an icon of the city of San Francisco. The system forms part of the intermodal urban transport network operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway ...
is manually operated, and most other automated cable car systems have restricted operations within airports and hospitals, though another automated cable car called the Minimetrò may be found in Perugia
Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia.
The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part o ...
.
The town's transport company TUL (Transports Urbains Laonnois) operates the local bus routes.
International relations
Laon is twinned with:
* Soltau
Soltau () is a mid-sized town in the Lüneburg Heath in the district of Heidekreis, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It has around 22,000 inhabitants. The city is centrally located in the Lüneburg Heath and is known nationwide especially for its touri ...
, Germany (since 1972)
* Winchester
Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...
, United KingdomCity council website
/ref>
Personalities
Laon was the birthplace of:
* Bertrada of Laon
Bertrada of Laon (born between 710 and 727 – 12 July 783), also known as Bertrada the Younger or Bertha Broadfoot (cf. Latin: ''Regina pede aucae'' i.e. the queen with the goose-foot), was a Frankish queen. She was the wife of Pepin the Short an ...
(690–721 CE), mother of Charlemagne
Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy ...
* Anselm of Laon
Anselm of Laon ( la, Anselmus; 1117), properly Ansel ('), was a French theologian and founder of a school of scholars who helped to pioneer biblical hermeneutics.
Biography
Born of very humble parents at Laon before the middle of the 11th cent ...
(d. 1117), theologian
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
* Father Jacques Marquette, (1636–1675), Jesuit
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
missionary
A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...
, Namesake of Marquette University
Marquette University () is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Established by the Society of Jesus as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, it was founded by John Henni, John Martin ...
along with scores of other institutions and locales in the United States
* Antoine (ca. 1598–1648), Louis (ca. 1600/1605-1648) and Mathieu (1607–1677) Le Nain
The three Le Nain brothers were painters in 17th-century France: Antoine Le Nain (c.1600–1648), Louis Le Nain (c.1603–1648), and Mathieu Le Nain (1607–1677). They produced genre works, portraits and portrait miniatures.
Lives and work
The ...
, painters
* Pierre Méchain
Pierre François André Méchain (; 16 August 1744 – 20 September 1804) was a French astronomer and surveyor who, with Charles Messier, was a major contributor to the early study of deep-sky objects and comets.
Life
Pierre Méchain was born i ...
(1744–1804), astronomer
* Auguste Bottée de Toulmon (1764–1816), general inspector of powders and saltpeter.
* Jules François Felix Fleury-Husson (1820–1889) Author and art and literary critic (Known as Champfleury)
* Edgar Raoul-Duval
Edgar Raoul-Duval (9 April 1832 – 10 February 1887) was a French magistrate and politician who was Representative of Seine-Inférieure and then twice Deputy of Eure.
He had right-wing views, and for most of his career he was a Bonapartist. He wa ...
(1832–1887), magistrate and politician
* Florent Raimy (b. 1986), footballer
Gallery
In the media
Laon is featured in the book ''Pursuit of Passy'' by David Moore Crook
David Moore Crook, DFC (24 November 1914 – 18 December 1944) was a British fighter pilot and flying ace of the Second World War.
RAF career
After attending the University of Cambridge, he was mobilised as part of the Royal Auxiliary Air Forc ...
.
Laon is also featured in the book "A Pilgrimage to Eternity" by Timothy Egan
Timothy P. Egan (born November 8, 1954) is an American author, journalist and op-ed columnist for ''The New York Times'', writing from a liberal perspective.
Egan has written nine books. His first, ''The Good Rain'', won the Pacific Northwest ...
.
See also
* Marcel Gaumont
Marcel Gaumont was a French sculptor born on 27 January 1880 in Tours. He died in Paris on 20 November 1962.
Biography
Gaumont was a pupil at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris and studied under Louis-Ernest Barrias ...
, Sculptor of war memorial
Notes
References
*
External links
*
Unofficial site
Official site
Historical footage of Loan, shot from an airplane in 1918
filmportal.de
St John the Baptist de Vaux
Templar Chapel
{{Authority control
Communes of Aisne
Prefectures in France