HISTORY 



127 



or Ghent, fourth son of Edward III. His name is 

 one of the most celebrated in English history 

 and in the chivalry of the Middle Ages. Henry 

 of Hereford, the successor of John of Gaunt in 

 the dukedom, was son to him by his first wife. 

 He claimed the crown by descent, by the moth- 

 er's side, from Edmund the first earl, who was 

 popularly supposed to be the elder brother of 

 Kdward I., and to have been deprived of the suc- 

 cession by his father for personal reasons. He 

 became king by deposing Richard II., 1399, and 

 was a prince of great ability and valor. He 

 reigned as Henry IV. till his death in 1413, and 

 was succeeded by his son, Henry V. The son of 

 the latter also inherited the crown as Henry VI., I 

 and in his reign the feuds of York and Lancaster 

 broke out, which ended in the union of the two j 

 houses in the person of Henry VII. 



Latin Union, The, a combination formed 

 in 1863 by France, Italy, Belgium, and Switzer- 

 land. These countries entered into an agree- 

 ment by which the amount of silver to be coined 

 yearly was fixed for each member of the union. 

 The coinage of all the countries was of like charac- 

 ter, and to be received without discount through- 

 out the union on public and private account. 

 Greece joined the union in 1868, Spain in 187 Land 

 subsequently Servia and Rumania also became 

 members. Some of the South American States 

 also used the Latin Union coinage. Spain alone 

 <>f the countries of the union coins a gold piece! 

 not used by the others. The unit of coinage in 

 the Latin Union is the franc; it has different | 

 names elsewhere, as, in Italy the lira; in Servia, ! 

 the dinar; in Spain, the peseta; but the value 

 is always the same. It is the most widely circu- 

 lated coinage system in Europe, being used by 

 about 148,000,000 people. 



Lexington, a town of Massachusetts, ten 

 miles northwest of Boston, noted as the scene of 

 the first fight between the British and Americans | 

 in the war of the Revolution, April 19, 1775. ! 

 <>M the evening of April 18th, General Gage, the 

 British commander in Boston, sent 800 soldiers, 

 under Major Pitcairn, to destroy the American 

 supplies at Concord. Paul Revere, of Boston, 



:ig their sentinels, galloped out to Lexing- 

 ton and Concord with the news, so when the 

 British reached Lexington at daybreak, they 

 found about seventy Americans waiting for 

 them on the village common. Captain John 

 Parker, their commander, ordered them not to 



until the English did. Major Pitcairn 

 rode forward ami railed out: " I )isj>er8e ye reb- 



but though the Americans were outnum- 

 bered ten to one, they Stood firm. Then I'itcairn 

 ordered his men to fire, and four Americans were j 

 killed and nine wounded. Some shots were 

 : in return, and three English soldiers were 

 wounded: hut after that the Amerie 



U-ing killed as they ran. The British 

 Birched on to Concord, but meanwhile t he whole 

 country was around, and as they camo back, 

 hundreds of American- attacked them from 

 behind th< : ..uses and stone walls by the road- 



They w,.fe only saved from 'destruction 

 by the arrival of reinforcements under I 

 v. Though not a very great battle, this 



>f the most important ones that 

 fought. As soon as the Americans found 



that the war had really begun, hundreds of men 

 hurried to the army, and not long after the Brit- 

 ish were driven out of Boston. 



Lepanto (anciently Naupactus, now called 

 by the Greeks Epakto), a small town of Greece, 

 and the seat of a bishop; on the north side of the 

 entrance to the Gulf of Corinth. Near Lepanto 

 took place the celebrated naval battle between 

 the Turks on the one side and the papal galleys 

 and those of the Venetians and the Spaniards 

 on the other, on October 7, 1571, in wnich the 

 Christians, commanded by Eton John of Austria, 

 achieved a decisive victory. Of the Turks 

 30,000 fell or were taken prisoners, while 130 

 Turkish vessels were captured, and 12,000 

 Christian slaves liberated; the Christians lost 

 8,000 men and fifteen galleys. In this battle 

 Cervantes lost an arm. The town became Greek 

 in 1829. 



Lollards, The (WJorrfi). A sect of early 

 Reformers in Germany and England. The name 

 was given in the first place to a class of persons 

 in Germany and the Low Countries, who, in 

 the Fourteenth Century, undertook spiritual 

 offices in behalf of the sick and the dead, and 

 were greatly beloved by the people. Later, the 

 term wa- conferred opprobriously upon heretics 

 and schismatics in general, more particularly 

 those who followed the teachings of John 

 liffe. 



Lombards. A German people of the 

 Suevic family, not very numerous, but of dis- 

 tinguished valor, who played an important part 

 in the early history of Europe. The name is 

 derived from Longobardi, Lanaobardi, a Latin- 

 ized form in use since the Twelfth Century, and 

 was formerly supposed to have been given with 

 reference to* the long beards of this people, but 

 is now derived rather from a word pirM. or 

 barte, which signifies a battle-ax. About the 

 Fourth Century they seem to have begun to 

 leave their original seats (on the Lower Elbe, 

 where the Romans seem first to have come in 

 contact with them about the beginning of the 

 Christian era) and to have fought their way 

 south and east till they came in close contact 

 with the eastern Roman Empire on the Danube; 

 adopted an Arian form ot Christianity, and 

 after having been for some time tributary to 

 the Ileruli, raised themselves upon the ruins of 

 their power, and of that of the Gepidip, shortly 

 after the middle of the Sixth Century, to the 

 position of ma-- unonia. and became 



one of the most wealthy and powerful nations 

 in that part of the world. I'nder their king. 

 Alhoin, they invaded and conquered the north 

 and center of Italy (568-569). The conversion 

 of the Arian Lombards to the ortluxlox faith 

 was brought about bv the i>olicv of Gregory the 

 Great and the seal ofTheoaolinaa,wife of Aiitha- 

 na. ami subsequently of his successor, Agilulf 



I .migobardl (Ifin-go-Mr'dc). A German 



of supposed Scandinavian extraction, 

 winch made their first ap|>earanec in history 

 during the reign of Augustus, and in that of 

 Justinian I in Noricum and Pannonia. 



Led 1>\ their chief. Alhoni. they successfully 



1 Italy in 568, and there founded the 

 Kingdom of Lombard}'. 



