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Laon is a city in Picardie
Picardie

This article is about the modern French region. For other uses, see Picardy .Picardy is one of the 26 regions of France of France. It is located in the northern part of France....
 in northern France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
, capital of the Aisne
Aisne

Aisne is a departments of France in the northern part of France named after the Aisne River....
 department.

hilly district of Laon has always held strategic importance. In the time of Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar

'Gaius Julius Caesar' , July 13, 100 BC ? March 15, 44 BC,) was a Roman Republic military and political leader. He played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
 there was a Gallic village where the Remi
Remi

The Remi were a Belgae tribe of north-eastern Gaul in the 1st century BC. They occupied the northern Champagne plain, on the southern fringes of the Forest of Ardennes, between the rivers Mosa and Matrona , and along the river valleys of the Aisne River and its tributaries the Aire and the Vesle....
s (inhabitants of the country round Reims
Reims

The city of Reims lies in the Champagne-Ardenne region in northeastern France 129 km east-northeast of Paris.Founded by the Gauls, it became a major city during the period of the Roman Empire....
) had to meet the onset of the confederated Belgae
Belgae

The Belgae were a group of tribes living in northern Gaul in the 1st century BC, and later also in Roman Britain. They gave their name to the Roman province of Gallia Belgica, and later, to the modern country of Belgium, where they are colloquially known as the "Old Belgians"....
. Whatever may have been the precise locality of that battlefield, Laon was fortified by the Romans, and successively checked the invasions of the Franks
Franks

The Franks or Frankish people were a West Germanic ethnic group first identified in the 3rd century as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River....
, Burgundians
Burgundians

File:Roman Empire 125.svgThe Burgundians were an East Germanic language Germanic tribes which may have emigrated from mainland Scandinavia to the island of Bornholm, whose old form in Old Norse still was Burgundarholmr , and from there to mainland Europe....
, Vandals
Vandals

The Vandals were an East Germanic tribe that entered the late Roman Empire during the 5th century. The Goths Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths and regent of the Visigoths, was allied by marriage with the Vandals as well as with the Burgundians and the Franks under Clovis I....
, Alans
Alans

The Alans or Alani were a group among the Sarmatians people, Eurasian nomads of the 1st millennium AD who spoke an Eastern Iranian language which derived from Scytho-Sarmatian language and which in turn evolved into modern Ossetian language....
 and Huns
Huns

The Huns were a confederation of Central Asian Eurasian nomads or semi-nomads, who had established an empire in Eurasia. The Huns may have stimulated the Migration Period, a contributing factor in the collapse of the Roman Empire....
.






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Laon is a city in Picardie
Picardie

This article is about the modern French region. For other uses, see Picardy .Picardy is one of the 26 regions of France of France. It is located in the northern part of France....
 in northern France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
, capital of the Aisne
Aisne

Aisne is a departments of France in the northern part of France named after the Aisne River....
 department.

History

The hilly district of Laon has always held strategic importance. In the time of Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar

'Gaius Julius Caesar' , July 13, 100 BC ? March 15, 44 BC,) was a Roman Republic military and political leader. He played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
 there was a Gallic village where the Remi
Remi

The Remi were a Belgae tribe of north-eastern Gaul in the 1st century BC. They occupied the northern Champagne plain, on the southern fringes of the Forest of Ardennes, between the rivers Mosa and Matrona , and along the river valleys of the Aisne River and its tributaries the Aire and the Vesle....
s (inhabitants of the country round Reims
Reims

The city of Reims lies in the Champagne-Ardenne region in northeastern France 129 km east-northeast of Paris.Founded by the Gauls, it became a major city during the period of the Roman Empire....
) had to meet the onset of the confederated Belgae
Belgae

The Belgae were a group of tribes living in northern Gaul in the 1st century BC, and later also in Roman Britain. They gave their name to the Roman province of Gallia Belgica, and later, to the modern country of Belgium, where they are colloquially known as the "Old Belgians"....
. Whatever may have been the precise locality of that battlefield, Laon was fortified by the Romans, and successively checked the invasions of the Franks
Franks

The Franks or Frankish people were a West Germanic ethnic group first identified in the 3rd century as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River....
, Burgundians
Burgundians

File:Roman Empire 125.svgThe Burgundians were an East Germanic language Germanic tribes which may have emigrated from mainland Scandinavia to the island of Bornholm, whose old form in Old Norse still was Burgundarholmr , and from there to mainland Europe....
, Vandals
Vandals

The Vandals were an East Germanic tribe that entered the late Roman Empire during the 5th century. The Goths Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths and regent of the Visigoths, was allied by marriage with the Vandals as well as with the Burgundians and the Franks under Clovis I....
, Alans
Alans

The Alans or Alani were a group among the Sarmatians people, Eurasian nomads of the 1st millennium AD who spoke an Eastern Iranian language which derived from Scytho-Sarmatian language and which in turn evolved into modern Ossetian language....
 and Huns
Huns

The Huns were a confederation of Central Asian Eurasian nomads or semi-nomads, who had established an empire in Eurasia. The Huns may have stimulated the Migration Period, a contributing factor in the collapse of the Roman Empire....
. At that time it was known as Alaudanum or Lugdunum Clavatum.

Remigius, archbishop of Reims, who baptized Clovis
Clovis

Clovis may refer to:In geography:* Clovis, California* Clovis, New MexicoIn royalty:* Clovis I, the first king of the Franks to unite all the Frankish tribes under one ruler...
, was born in the Laonnais, and it was he who, at the end of the 5th 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

File:Charles le Chauve denier Bourges after 848.jpgCharles the Bald , Holy Roman Emperor and King of West Francia , was the youngest son of the Emperor Louis the Pious by his second wife Judith, daughter of Welf....
 had enriched its church with the gift of very numerous domains. After the fall of the Carolingians Laon took the part of Charles of Lorraine, their heir, and Hugh 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 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, purchased from the king of France 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 neighborhood, eager to avenge the death of their bishop.

The king alternately intervened in favor 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
Hundred Years' War

The Hundred Years' War was a prolonged conflict lasting from 1337 to 1453 between two royal houses for the French throne, which was vacant with the extinction of the senior House of Capet line of French kings....
 it was attacked and taken by the Burgundians, who gave it up to the English, to be retaken by the French after the consecration of Charles VII
Charles VII of France

File:Charles VII Franc a cheval 1422 1423.jpgCharles VII , called the Victorious or the Well-Served , was List of French monarchs from 1422 to his death, though he was initially opposed by Henry VI of England, whose Regent ruled much of France from Paris....
.

Under the League, Laon took the part of the Leaguers, and was taken by Henry IV
Henry IV of France

Henry de Bourbon, , ruled as Henry III, List of Navarrese monarchs, from 1572 to 1610, and as Henry IV, List of French monarchs, from 1589 to 1610....
. During the campaign of 1814 Napoleon tried in vain to dislodge von Blücher from it in the Battle of Laon
Battle of Laon

The Battle of Laon was the victory of Gebhard Leberecht von Bl?cher Prussian army over Napoleon I of France's French army near Laon....
.

In 1870 an engineer blew up the powder 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
French Revolution

The French Revolution was a period of political and social upheaval and radical change in the history of France, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudalism for the aristocracy and Roman Catholic Church clergy, underwent radical change to forms based on Age of Enlightenment principles of cit...
 Laon permanently lost its rank as a bishopric.

Sights

400px Cathedraledelaon041024
The city contains many medieval
Middle Ages

File:Karl 1 mit papst gelasius gregor1 sacramentar v karl d kahlen.jpgThe Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christi...
 buildings. The most important of these is the cathedral
Cathedral

A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop. It is a Religion building for worship, specifically of a denomination with an episcopal hierarchy, such as the Roman Catholic Church, Anglicanism, Orthodox Christian and some Lutheranism churches, which serves as a bishop's seat, and thus as the central church of a dioc...
 Notre-Dame of Laon
Notre-Dame of Laon

The cathedral of Notre-Dame of Laon is one of the most important examples of the Gothic architecture of the 12th and 13th centuries, ranking with the cathedrals of Cath?drale Saint-?tienne de Sens and Notre-Dame de Paris....
, dating mostly from the 12th and 13th centuries. The chapter-house and the cloister
Cloister

A cloister is a covered walk with an open colonnade on one side, running along the walls of buildings that face a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church usually indicates that it is part of a monastic foundation....
 contain beautiful specimens of the architecture of the beginning of the 13th century. The old episcopal palace
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....
, contiguous to the cathedral, is now used as a court-house. The front, flanked by turret
Turret

In architecture, a turret is a small tower that projects vertically from the wall of a building such as a medieval castle. Turrets were used to provide a projecting defensive position allowing covering fire to the adjacent wall in the days of fort....
s, is pierced by great 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
St. Martin's Abbey, Laon

St. Martin's Abbey, Laon, established in 1124 in Laon in the modern department of Aisne in northern France, was one of the earliest foundations of the Premonstratensian Order....
 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
Knights Templar

The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar or the Order of the Temple , were among the most famous of the History of Christianity#Sanctification of knighthood military orders....
 belonging to the 12th century. The church of the suburb of Vaux near the railway station dates from the 11th and 12th centuries.

Transportation


The town has the only fully automated municipal cable car
Cable car (railway)

A cable car or cable railway is a mass transit system using rail cars that are propelled by a continuously moving Wire rope running at a constant speed....
 system in the world, called the Poma 2000
Poma 2000

The Poma 2000 in Laon, France, is an automated guideway transit, a cable car people mover which runs between the railway station and the city hall ....
. It links the upper town (the historical center, located on a plateau) with the lower town, has three stations and runs on rubber tyres. In contrast, the San Francisco cable car system
San Francisco cable car system

|}The San Francisco cable car system is the world's last permanently operational manually-operated cable car system, and is an icon of San Francisco, California....
 is manually operated, and all the other automated cable car systems have restricted operations within airports and hospitals.

Miscellaneous


Laon was the birthplace of:
  • Bertrada of Laon
    Bertrada of Laon

    Bertrada of Laon, also called Bertha Broadfoot , was a Franksish queen. She was born in Laon, in today's Aisne, the daughter of Caribert of Laon....
     (690-721 CE), mother of Charlemagne
    Charlemagne

    Charlemagne was List of Frankish kings from 768 to his death. He expanded the Franks kingdoms into a Carolingian Empire that incorporated much of Western Europe and Central Europe....
  • Anselm of Laon
    Anselm of Laon

    Anselm of Laon was a France theology.Remembered in the century after his death as "Anselmus" or "Anselm", his name was more properly "Ansellus" or, in Modern French, "Anseau."...
     (d. 1117), theologian
    Theology

    Theology is the study of the existence or attributes of a deity or gods, or more generally the study of religion or spirituality. It is sometimes contrasted with religious studies: theology is understood as the study of religion from an internal perspective , and religious studies as the study of religion from an external perspective....
  • Jacques Marquette
    Jacques Marquette

    Father Jacques Marquette SJ , sometimes known as Pere Marquette, was a French people missionary who founded Michigan's first European settlement, Sault Ste....
    , (1636-1675), Jesuit
    Society of Jesus

    The Society of Jesus is a Roman Catholic religious order of clerks regular whose members are called Jesuits, Soldiers of Jesus Christ, and Foot soldiers of the Pope, because the founder, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a knight before becoming a Holy Orders....
     missionary
    Missionary

    A 'missionary' is a member of a religion who works to convert those who do not share the missionary's faith; someone who Proselytism. The word "mission" is derived from the Latin missioninimus...
  • Pierre Méchain
    Pierre Méchain

    Pierre Fran?ois Andr? M?chain was a France astronomer and surveying who, with Charles Messier, was a major contributor to the early study of deep sky objects and comets....
     (1744–1804), French astronomer


Laon is twinned with the city of Winchester
Winchester

Winchester is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. It lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of the River Itchen, Hampshire....
 in England.

Laon is featured in the book Pursuit of Passy by D. M. Crook.

External link and reference