Bibrax
| Laon | ||
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| Prefecture and commune | ||
Laon and its cathedral from the southwest
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 Laon
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Location within Hauts-de-France region
Laon
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| Coordinates: 49°33′50″N 3°37′28″E / 49.5639°N 3.6244°ECoordinates: 49°33′50″N 3°37′28″E / 49.5639°N 3.6244°E | ||
| Country | France | |
| Region | Hauts-de-France | |
| Department | Aisne | |
| Arrondissement | Laon | |
| Canton | Laon-1 and 2 | |
| Intercommunality | Laon | |
| Government | ||
| • Mayor (2008–2014) | Antoine Lefèvre | |
| Area1 | 42 km2 (16 sq mi) | |
| Population (2012)2 | 25,317 | |
| • Density | 600/km2 (1,600/sq mi) | |
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | |
| • Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | |
| INSEE/Postal code | 02408 /02000 | |
| Elevation | 63–183 m (207–600 ft) (avg. 83 m or 272 ft) |
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| Website | Official website | |
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1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. 2Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once. |
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1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
Laon (French pronunciation: [lɑ̃]) is the capital city of the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France, northern France. As of 2012[update] its population was of 25,317.
The holy district of Laon, which rises a hundred metres above the otherwise flat Picardy plain, has always held strategic importance. In the time of Julius Caesar there was a Gallic village named Bibrax 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.
Archbishop Remigius of Reims, 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 had enriched its church with the gift of very numerous domains. In about 847 the Irish philosopher John Scotus Eriugena 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.
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