Editing Laon (section)

==<FONT COLOR="#CC9900">'''HISTORY OF LAON'''</FONT>==
'''The hilly district of Laon has always had some strategic importance'''. In the time of Julius Caesar there was a Gallic village where the Remis (inhabitants of the country round [[Reims]]) had to meet the onset of the confederated 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, Alans and Huns. At that time it was known as ''Alaudanum'' or ''Lugdunum Clavatum''.

'''Remigius, archbishop 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 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 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 (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 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 of France'''. Under the League, Laon took the part of the Leaguers, and was taken by Henry IV of France. During the campaign of 1814 Napoleon tried in vain to dislodge von Blücher from it in the Battle of 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 French Revolution, Laon permanently lost its rank as a bishopric.

'''''More informations about the History of Laon on the [[wikipedia:Laon]] !'''''