See SIBYLS.
LIBYANS, The.
"The name of Africa was applied by the ancients only to that
small portion of country south of Cape Bon; the rest was
called Libya. The bulk of the population of the northern
coast, between Egypt and the Pillars of Hercules, was of the
Hamitic race of Phut, who were connected with the Egyptians
and Ethiopians, and to whom the name of Libyans was not
applied until a later date, as this name was originally
confined to some tribes of Arian or Japhetic race, who had
settled among the natives. From these nations sprung from Phut
descended the races now called Berbers, who have spread over
the north of Africa, from the northernmost valleys of the
Atlas to the southern limits of the Sahara, and from Egypt to
the Atlantic; perhaps even to the Canaries, where the ancient
Guanches seem to have spoken a dialect nearly approaching that
of the Berbers of Morocco. These Berbers—now called Amazigh,
or Shuluh, in Morocco; Kabyles, in the three provinces of
Algeria, Tunis, and Tripoli; Tibboos, between Fezzan and
Egypt; and Tuariks in the Sahara—are the descendants of the
same great family of nations whose blood, more or less pure,
still runs in the veins of the tribes inhabiting the different
parts of the vast territory once possessed by their ancestors.
The language they still speak, known through the labours of
learned officers of the French army in Africa, is nearly
related to that of Ancient Egypt. It is that in which the few
inscriptions we possess, emanating from the natives of Libya,
Numidia, and Mauritania in olden times, are written. The
alphabet peculiar to these natives, whilst under the
Carthaginian rule, is still used by the Tuariks. Sallust, who
was able to consult the archives of Carthage, and who seems
more accurate than any other classical writer on African
history, was acquainted with the annals of the primitive
period, anterior to the arrival of the Arian tribes and the
settlement of the Phœnician colonies. Then only three races,
unequally distributed in a triple zone, were to be met with
throughout Northern Africa. Along the shore bordering the
Mediterranean were the primitive Libyans, who were Hamites,
descendants of Phut; behind them, towards the interior, but on
the western half only, were the Getulians … ; further still
in the interior, and beyond the Sahara, were the negroes,
originally called by the Greek name 'Ethiopians, which was
afterwards erroneously applied to the Cushites of the Upper
Nile. Sallust also learnt, from the Carthaginian traditions,
of the great Japhetic invasion of the coast of Africa. … The
Egyptian monuments have acquainted us with the date of the
arrival of these Indo-Europeans in Africa, among whom were the
Libyans, properly so called, the Maxyans, and Macæ. It was
contemporary with the reigns of Seti I. and Ramses II."
_F. Lenormant,
Manual of Ancient History of the East,
book 6, chapter 5 (volume 2)._
See, also, NUMIDIANS; and AMORITES.
LICINIAN LAWS, The.
See ROME: B. C. 376-367.
LICINIUS, Roman Emperor, A. D. 307-323.
LICTORS.
FASCES.
"The fasces were bundles of rods (virgæ) of elm or birchwood,
tied together round the handle of an axe (securis) with (most
likely red) straps. The iron of the axe, which was the
executioner's tool, protruded from the sticks. The fasces were
carried on their left shoulders by the lictors, who walked in
front of certain magistrates, making room for them, and
compelling all people to move out of the way (summovere),
barring Vestals and Roman matrons. To about the end of the
Republic, when a special executioner was appointed, the
lictors inflicted capital punishment. The king was entitled to
twelve fasces, the same number being granted to the consuls.
… The dictator was entitled to twenty-four lictors. …
Since 42 B. C. the Flamen Dialis and the Vestals also were
entitled to one lictor each. In case a higher official met his
inferior in the street, he was saluted by the lictors of the
latter withdrawing the axe and lowering the fasces."
_E. Guhl and W. Koner,
Life of the Greeks and Romans,
section 107, foot-note._
{2026}
LIDUS,
LEUD,
LATT, The.
See SLAVERY, MEDIÆVAL: GERMANY.
----------LIÈGE: Start--------
LIÈGE:
The Episcopal Principality.
"Liège lies on the borderland of the French and German
speaking races. … It was the capital of an ecclesiastical
principality, whose territory extended some distance up the
river and over the wooded ridges and green valleys of the
Ardennes. The town had originally sprung up round the tomb of
St. Lambert—a shrine much frequented by pilgrims. … The
Prince Bishop of Liège was the vassal of the emperor, but his
subjects had long considered the kings of France their natural
protectors. It was in France that they found a market for
their manufactures, from France that pilgrims came to the tomb
of St. Lambert or to the sylvan shrine of St. Hubert.
Difference of language and rivalry in trade separated them
from their Dutch-speaking neighbours. We hear, as early as the
10th century, of successful attempts on the part of the people
of Liège, supported and directed by their bishops, to subdue
the lords of the castles in their neighbourhood. A population
of traders, artizans, and miners, were unlikely to submit to
the pretensions of a feudal aristocracy. Nor was there a
burgher oligarchy, as in many of the Flemish and German towns.
Every citizen was eligible to office if he could obtain a
majority of the votes of the whole male population.
Constitutional limits were imposed on the power of the bishop;
but he was the sole fountain of law and justice. By suspending
their administration he could paralyse the social life of the
State, and by his interdicts annihilate its religious life.
Yet the burghers were involved in perpetual disputes with
their bishop. When the power of the Dukes of Burgundy was
established in the Low Countries, it was to them that the
latter naturally applied for assistance against their unruly
flock. John the Fearless defeated the citizens with great
slaughter in 1408. He himself reckoned the number of slain at
25,000. In 1431 Liège was compelled to pay a fine of 200,000
crowns to the Duke of Burgundy." The Duke—Philip the
Good—afterwards forced the reigning bishop to resign in favor
of a brother of the Duke of Bourbon, a dissolute boy of
eighteen, whose government was reckless and intolerable.
_P. F. Willert,
Reign of Lewis XI.,
pages 93-94._
ALSO IN:
_J. F. Kirk,
History of Charles the Bold,
book 1, chapter 7._
LIÈGE: A. D. 1467-1468.
War with Charles the Bold of Burgundy
and destruction of the city.
See BURGUNDY: A. D. 1467-1468;
also, DINANT.
LIÈGE: A. D. 1691.
Bombardment by the French.
The Prince-bishop of Liège having joined the League of
Augsburg against Louis XIV., and having received troops of the
Grand Alliance into his city, the town was bombarded in May,
1691, by the French General Boufflers. There was no attempt at
a siege; the attack was simply one of destructive malice, and
the force which made it withdrew speedily.
_H. Martin,
History of France: Age of Louis XIV.,
volume 2, chapter 2._
LIÈGE: A. D. 1702.
Reduced by Marlborough.
See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1702-1704.
LIÈGE: A. D. 1792-1793.
Occupation and surrender by the French.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1792 (SEPTEMBER-DECEMBER);
and 1793 (FEBRUARY-APRIL).
----------LIÈGE: Start--------
----------LIEGNITZ: Start----------
LIEGNITZ, The Battle of (1241).
On the 9th of April, A. D. 1241, the Mongols, who had already
overrun a great part of Russia, defeated the combined forces
of Poland, Moravia and Silesia in a battle which filled all
Europe with consternation. It was fought near Lignitz (or
Liegnitz), on a plain watered by the river Keiss, the site
being now occupied by a village called Wahlstadt, i. e.,
"Field of Battle." "It was a Mongol habit to cut off an ear
from each corpse after a battle, so as to have a record of the
number slain; and we are told they filled nine sacks with
these ghastly trophies," from the field of Lignitz.
_H. H. Howorth,
History of the Mongols,
part 1, page 144._
See MONGOLS: A. D. 1229-1294.
LIEGNITZ:
Battle of (1760).
See GERMANY: A. D. 1760.
----------LIEGNITZ: End----------
LIGERIS, The.
The ancient name of the river Loire.
LIGHT BRIGADE, The Charge of the.
See RUSSIA: A. D. 1854 (OCTOBER-NOVEMBER).
LIGII, The.
See LYGIANS.
LIGNY, Battle of.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1815 (JUNE).