LAON, BATTLE OF.—In France.—Between the Allies, chiefly the Prussian army, and the French. This battle or rather succession of actions, was fought under the walls of the town, and ended, after a sanguinary and obstinate contest in the defeat of the latter with great loss, March 9th, 1814.
LARGS, BATTLE OF.—Fought between the ancient inhabitants of Scotland and the Northmen. A bloody battle, fought 30th September, 1263. The following description is from the pen of an eminent Scottish modern writer:
“It was about the middle of August when the fleet of Haco, which counted 160 ships, rounded the Mull of Cantyre and entered the Frith of Clyde. Time is everything in war. Haco should have landed immediately. Every day was bringing the storms of Autumn nearer, and every day was giving time to the King of Scotland to increase his forces. Haco was a veteran who had been King of Norway forty-six winters. Alexander was a young man who had lived fewer than half the years that Haco had reigned. But the youth fairly outwitted the veteran. He sent an embassy of barefooted friars on board of Haco’s ship to propose terms of peace. The barefooted envoys came and went between the two kings, and the time was spun out in negociations till the weather began to break; the fleet was running short of provisions, and the Scots in formidable numbers were assembling on the shore.
“It was now the last day of September. At night there came on a storm so sudden and so wild that the Norwegians believed it to have been raised by the spells of the Scotch witches. The ships were torn from their anchors and ran ashore, or dashed against each other in the pitchy darkness. Haco ordered the attendance of his priests, took to his boat, and landed on the island of Cumbrae, where, amid the howling of the storm, he had mass performed. In stranger circumstances, surely, mass was never said or sung. Unluckily for Haco, the strong-winged tempest heeded it not. It continued with unabated fury all night and all the next day. The fleet drove up the channel, scattering the sea with wreck, and the shore with stranded vessels. The heights above the coast were covered by a multitude of armed peasants, who watched their opportunity and rushed down to attack the stranded ships.
“When the second morning broke, and the violence of the tempest had somewhat abated, Haco, by means of his boats, landed with a large force to protect his stranded vessels from the armed peasantry, and if possible to tow them off. While the Norwegians were engaged in the operation of floating off their ships, the sun rose, and his level rays caught the surrounding hills. Through the grey sheet of morning mist which covered the landscape, flashes as of fire were seen. It was the sun’s rays glancing upon the polished armour of the Scottish army. They advanced rapidly, and the Norwegians could soon discern their pennons and banners waving above their wood of spears, and the knights and leaders, blazing in complete steel, marshalling the line. They were commanded by King Alexander in person.
“They attacked with fury, and drove back the advanced body of the Norwegians. It seemed as if the whole force of the enemy was about to be swept into the sea before the fierce onset of the Scots. But the Norsemen, who fought entirely on foot, threw themselves into a circle with their long spears pointing out to the foe, like a huge hedgehog with prickles of steel. All day long the battle raged around this ring of spears. The storm had renewed its violence, so that it was impossible to send help on shore. Again and again the Scottish horse repeated their furious charge. The circle of steel was slowly forced back along the shore, but it could not be broken. A Scottish knight, Sir Piers de Curry, rode round and round it brandishing his spear and challenging any Norse captain to single combat. He wore a helmet inlaid with gold and set with precious stones; his mail was gold-embossed; his sword-belt studded with jewels. A leader of the Northmen accepted his challenge, and stepped out from the circle of spears. The Scottish knight spurred his horse and rushed down upon him with levelled lance. The Norseman with his great sword parried the spear-thrust, and as the knight passed him in his career, smote him with his whole strength upon the thigh. The sword cut sheer into the saddle through steel and bone, so that the limb was separated from the body, and the proud knight fell dead beneath his horse.
“A re-inforcement from the ships at length succeeded in landing through the surf; and with the aid of these fresh troops the Norwegians bore back the Scots from the shore. Night fell upon the weary combatants, and under cover of the darkness the Norwegians got on board their ships.”
LAYBACH, CONGRESS OF.—Attended by the Sovereigns of Russia, Prussia, and Austria, and resulting in two circulars, stating that Naples should be occupied with the Austrian troops, May 6th, 1821.
LEGHORN.—Entered by the French revolutionary army, July 27th, 1796, but the immense amount of British property in the city had been previously removed. Evacuated by the French in 1799, and retaken the next year. The Austrian took the city May 12th, 1849.