﻿601 



LEONARD'S, ST. 



LESBOS. 



square fortress-mansion, and a large Franciscan convent on an eminence 

 which over-looks the town. Population, 3000. 



Zamora, capital of the province of Zamora, 66 miles S. by W. from 

 the city of Leon, stands on the north bank of the Duero, which is 

 here crossed by an old stone bridge. It is a city, and the see of a 

 bishop, suffragan of Santiago. It stands on an elevation, and in 

 Moorish times is said to have been inclosed by seven lines of walls, 

 with a moat between each. It is now a decayed place, but contains 

 a good deal of curious but dilapidated mediaeval architecture. The 

 cathedral is very ancient. It has a massive square tower, and has 

 round Norman arches, with the capitals of the pillars of the same 

 style. The present cloisters, of simple Doric, were completed in 1621. 

 Kear the cathedral is the bishop's palace. The palace of Do&a 

 Urraca, which occupies the extreme point of the city, is a ruin. The 

 church of La Magdalena, which belonged to the Templars, and after- 

 wards to the order of San Juan of Jerusalem, is a simple solid edifice 

 of the 12th century. Outside the walls is a pleasant alameda, with 

 fountains and stone benches. The population in 1845 was 9926. 



Hittory. — Leon was one of the earliest of those kingdoms which 

 were formed by the Christians out of the territories conquered from 

 the Moors. The kingdom of Asturias, or Oviedo, as it was afterwards 

 called, having been established by Pelayo and his successors, Alfonso 

 the Catholic (a.d. 739-757) extended it by the conquest of the towns of 

 Leon, Astorga, Zamora, and others. These places however were held 

 on the precarious tenure of either paying tribute to the neighbouring 

 Moors, or having to defend them against their incursions. It was 

 Qarcia, son and successor of Alfonso III., who about A.D. 910 trans- 

 ferred the seat of sovereignty from Oviedo to Leon. Henceforth the 

 Christian kingdom in northern Spain was called the kingdom of Leon 

 and Oviedo, and was independent of the kingdom of Navarra, which 

 was on the other side of the Ebro. The counts of Castilla, who had 

 formed another Christian state between the two, were for a time 

 dependent, nominally at least, on the kings of Leon, until A.D. 1025, 

 when Castilla became an independent kingdom under a branch of the 

 royal house of Navarra. The boundariea of all these kingdoms were 

 of course not clearly or fixedly determined. Almost always at war, 

 either with the Moors or among themselves, the extent of their 

 respective territories varied with every reign, or rather with every 

 fresh campaign. The male line of the kings of Leon in 1037 became 

 extinct with Bermudo IIL, whose sister had married Fernando, king 

 of Castilla, thus uniting the two crowns ; but at his death, Saucho, 

 one of his sons, had Castilla, and Alfonso had Leon and Oviedo. The 

 two kingdoms remained distinct, although their crowns were some- 

 times worn by the same person, for nearly two centuries, until 

 Fernando III., in 1230, permanently imited them, assuming the title 

 of King of Leon and Castilla, which his successors retained. 



(Ford, Handbook of Spain ; Mudoz, Diccionario de Etpaha ; 

 Hoskina, Sjiain at it w, 1851.) 



LEONARD'S, ST. [Hastings.] 



LEONESSA. [Abbczzo.] 



LEPANTO, GULF OF, a nan«w sea 75 miles in length from west 

 to east, extending between the northern coast of the Peloponnesus 

 and the mainland of Greece. It is entered from the west from an 

 outer bay called Uie Gulf of Patras, by a strait about a mile and a 

 half wide (called the Strait of I^epanto, and sometimes the Little 

 Dardanelles), which is defended by two castles — the castle of Morea, 

 on the promontory anciently called Rhium; and the castle of Roumili, 

 on the promontory of Antirrhium. This strait seems to have been 

 not quite a mile wide in ancient times, according to the testimony of 

 Thucydides, Strabo, and Pliny. A few miles inside of the straits, on 

 the northern coast, is the town of Lepanto, the ancient Ncmpactoi, 

 and still called by the Greeks Nepactot, built on a hill, and commanded 

 by a castle, with a good harbour, and between 2000 and 3000 inhabit- 

 ants. The town was for a long time in possession of the Venetians, 

 who fortified it and sustained several sieges against the Turks, to 

 whom it was finally given up by Venice at the peace of Carlowitz in 

 1697, as well as the castle of Roumili and the fortress of Prevesa, 

 while the republic retained the Morea. The country around Lepanto, 

 which is part of ancient Locrit, produces wine, oU, com, rice, and 

 tobacco. Leather is also an article of export. 



The sea of Lepanto widens towards the middle to the breadth of 

 12 or 13 miles, exclusive of several deep bays which indent its 

 northern coast, especially the Bay of Salons, the ancient Crisssean Gulf, 

 which stretches about 8 miles to the north. The eastern extremity of 

 the Sea of Lepanto terminates in two bays : that of Corinth to the 

 south-east, where the Lechseum, or western harbour of Corinth once 

 was ; and the other, called the Alcyoniau Sea, which is deeper and 

 extends to the north-east, bordering on the territory of Megaris and 

 stretching to the foot of Mount Cithseron. This last bay is now 

 called Livadostro. The ancient Corinthian Gulf comprised the Gulf 

 of ^traa as well as the Gulf of Lepanto ; its western boundary 

 extending from the mouth of the Evenus, according to Strabo (or 

 according to others, from the mouth of the Achelous), to the promon- 

 tory of Araxus now Kalogria, the most north-western point of 

 Achaia. The whole of the inner bay east of Rhium and Antirrhium 

 to the Isthmus of Corinth was originally called the Crissaean Gulf; it 

 WIS also sometimes called the Delphian Gulf. In later times, when 

 th« name Corinthian Gulf (which most probably was originally 



applied to the bay on which Leohajum, the harbour of Corinth, 

 stood) was extended to the whole of the inner sea, the term Crissgeau 

 Gulf was generally confined to the inlet now called the Gulf of Salona. 

 The inner gulf resembles a large inland lake; it is surrounded by 

 mountains, and in scenery surpasses the most picturesque of the 

 lakes of Switzerland and north Italy. 



Lepanto has given its name to a celebrated naval battle between 

 Turks and Christians, fought on October 7th 1571, in which the 

 Ottomans were utterly defeated. The Christian allied fleet, consisting 

 of Spanish, Venetian, Genoese, and Papal ships, about 210 in all, was 

 commanded by John of Austria. The Turks, with about 300 sail, 

 were commanded by Ali Pasha. The Christian fleet was stationed off 

 the mouth of the Achelous, at the entrance of the Gulf of Patras, 

 when the Turkish fleet came out of the Gulf of Lepanto, to meet it. 

 The Christians broke through the centre of the Turkish line, took 

 the admiral's ship, and killed the admiral Ali. At the same time the 

 Turkish right being repulsed in an attack on the Venetian ships the 

 defeat of the Ottomans became complete. More than 3000 of the 

 Christians were killed, and a still greater number were wounded. The 

 Venetian commander, Barbarigo, who contributed greatly to the 

 victory, was mortally wounded, and expired after seeing the Turks 

 utterly defeated. The loss of the Ottomans was much greater, as the 

 Christians gave no quarter during the heat of the battle. Several 

 thousand Christian slaves, who were employed to row the Turkish 

 galleys were liberated ; 107 Turkish ships were taken, and most of 

 the others were sunk ; about 30 or 40 escaped. This defeat com- 

 pletely destroyed the ascendancy of the Turkish navy in the Mediter- 

 ranean. Herrera, the Spanish poet, wrote some of hi."! finest odes 

 in commemoration of the battle. Cervantes, who served on board 

 one of the ships, was severely wounded, and lost for life the use of 

 his left hand. The battle of Lepanto is often called by Italian writers 

 the battle of the Curzolari, from the modem name of the islands at 

 the mouth of the Achelous, where the Christian fleet was stationed 

 before the engagement. 



(Leake ; Ulrich, Reiten en Griechenland ; Herrera ; Botta, Storia 

 d' Italia; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Oeogra/phy.) 



LE-PONT-DU-BEAU-VOISIN. [laftBK.] 



LERIA. [Genoa.] 



LERIDA. [CATALuivA.] 



LEKMA. [Castilla LA Vuu A.] 



LEROS. [ApcaiPELAOO, QrecianA 



LERWICK, [Shetland.] 



LESBOS, a large island of the .lEgean Sea, near the coast of Asia 

 Minor, being separated from the coast of Troas by the Adramyttian 

 Gulf. Its length is 60 miles, from Cape Sigrium, which is its north- 

 western extremity, to Cape Malia, at its south-east end, which last 

 looks directly into the entrance of the Gulf of Smyi-na. The breadth 

 of the island is very unequal, owing to some deep gulfs which indent 

 its coast, and varies from 7 to 15 miles. MityUnt, the chief town of 

 the island, lies on the south-eastern shore, opposite the coast of the 

 ancient .^olis. It bad formerly two harbours, was a place of great 

 importance, and sent out numerous colonies. Mitylene still exists as 

 a village, and gives its name to the island. Melhymna, another ancient 

 town of Lesbos, stood on its north-east coast, opposite Cape Lectum 

 on the coast of Troas. The deep Bay of Pyrrha, which indeuts the 

 middle of the island, was called Earipui Pyrrhccut, now Porto Kaloni ; 

 the other bay, farther south, west of Cape Malia, is now named Porto 

 di Jero. The island lias many villages, but no town of any import- 

 ance, and contains about 40,000 inhabitants, Greeks and Turks. It is 

 considered one of the most fertile and beautiful of the Greek islands. 

 The island is intersected by a rong range of mountains clothed with 

 pine-woods, skirted on the lower slopes by olive-groves and vineyards. 

 The plains are partially cultivated ; but for the most part they are 

 planted with fruit-trees. Grapes, figs, oil, and pine-timber for ship- 

 building are the chief exports. The wine now made on the island is infe- 

 rior. Sufficient com is not grown for the inhabitants. In ancient times 

 Lesbos was known as a place of refinement, luxury, and licentiousness. 



The earliest inhabitants of Lesbos are said to have been Pelasgians ; 

 it was afterwards colonised by the JSolians in their great migration. 

 The children of Orestes are said, after fifteen years of vicissitudes and 

 strife, to have conquered the island of Lesbos, 



Pittacus, who flourished about B.c. 600, became tyrant of Mitylene, 

 and he sustained a war agaiust the Athenians, whom he ultimately 

 defeated. This was in the time of the Lydian monarchy, after the 

 fall of which Lesbos was obliged to submit to the power of Persia. 

 After the battle of Mycale (B.C. 479) l^esbos freed itself from Persian 

 dependence, and became the ally of Athens, During the Pelooon- 

 nesian war, the people of Mitylene being accused of a secret negotiation 

 with the Lacedsemonlans, Athens sent a fleet against them ; the walls 

 of Mitylene were razed, and many of its wealthier inhabitants put to 

 death. The whole island, except the territory of Methymna, which 

 was spared, was distributed among the Athenians, by whom they were 

 rented to the former proprietors. (Thucydides, iii. 36-49; Strabo, xiii.) 

 j Lesbos passed successively under the dominion of the Miicedonians, 

 the Romans, and the Byzantines ; it was afterwards captured by the 

 Venetians, a,d. 1185, recaptured by the Greeks, and at last seized by 

 I the Turks, who retain it to this day. In the war of Greek inde- 

 pendence Lesbos lost nearly half of its population. 



