Labadists

 Laban

 Labarum

 Jean-Baptiste Labat

 Philippe Labbe

 Labour and Labour Legislation

 Moral Aspects of Labour Unions

 Jean de La Bruyère

 Labyrinth

 Stanislas Du Lac

 Lace

 Diocese of Lacedonia

 François d'Aix de la Chaise

 Jean-Baptiste-Henri Dominique Lacordaire

 Diocese of La Crosse

 Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius

 James Laderchi

 St. Ladislaus

 René-Théophile-Hyacinthe Laennec

 Laetare Sunday

 Pomponius Laetus

 Marie Madeleine Pioche de la Vergne, Comtesse de La Fayette

 Joseph-François Lafitau

 Louis-François Richer Laflèche

 Jean de La Fontaine

 Nicolas-Joseph Laforêt

 Charles de La Fosse

 Modesto Lafuente y Zamalloa

 Lagania

 Pierre Lagrené

 Jean-François La Harpe

 Jean de La Haye (Jesuit Biblical scholar)

 Jean de La Haye

 Philippe de la Hire

 Diocese of Lahore

 Diocese of Laibach

 Laicization

 James Lainez

 Laity

 Lake Indians

 Charles Lalemant

 Gabriel Lalemant

 Jerome Lalemant

 Jacques-Philippe Lallemant

 Louis Lallemant

 Teresa Lalor

 César-Guillaume La Luzerne

 Jean-Baptiste-Pierre-Antoine de Monet, Chevalier de Lamarck

 Alphonse de Lamartine

 Paschal Lamb

 Lamb in Early Christian Symbolism

 Peter Lambeck

 St. Lambert

 Lambert Le Bègue

 Lambert of Hersfeld

 Lambert of St-Bertin

 Jacques and Jean de Lamberville

 Louis Lambillotte

 Denis Lambin

 Luigi Lambruschini

 Ven. Joseph Lambton

 Diocese of Lamego

 Félicité Robert de Lamennais

 Jean-Marie-Robert de Lamennais

 Family of Lamoignon

 Johann von Lamont

 Louis-Christophe-Leon Juchault de la Moricière

 Wilhelm Lamormaini

 Lampa

 Lamp and Lampadarii

 Lamprecht

 Early Christian Lamps

 Lampsacus

 Lamuel

 Lamus

 Bernard Lamy

 François Lamy

 Thomas Joseph Lamy

 Francesco Lana

 The Holy Lance

 Giovanni Paolo Lancelotti

 Archdiocese of Lanciano and Ortona

 Land-Tenure in the Christian Era

 Pope Lando

 Jean-François-Anne Landriot

 Lanfranc

 Giovanni Lanfranco

 Matthew Lang

 Rudolph von Langen

 Benoit-Marie Langénieux

 Simon Langham

 Langheim

 Ven. Richard Langhorne

 Richard Langley

 Diocese of Langres

 Stephen Langton

 Lanspergius

 Lantern

 Luigi Lanzi

 Laodicea

 Vicariate Apostolic of Laos

 Diocese of La Paz

 Pierre-Simon Laplace

 Lapland and Lapps

 Diocese of La Plata

 Archdiocese of La Plata

 Albert Auguste de Lapparent

 Volume 10

 Victor de Laprade

 Lapsi

 Ven. Luis de Lapuente

 Laranda

 Lares

 Armand de La Richardie

 Diocese of Larino

 Larissa

 Joseph de La Roche Daillon

 The Duke of La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt

 Henri-Auguste-Georges du Vergier, Comte de la Rochejacquelein

 Diocese of La Rochelle

 Dominique-Jean Larrey

 Charles de Larue

 Charles de La Rue

 La Salette

 Missionaries of La Salette

 René-Robert-Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle

 Ernst von Lasaulx

 Constantine Lascaris

 Janus Lascaris

 John Laski

 Baron Joseph Maria Christoph von Lassberg

 Orlandus de Lassus

 Marie Lataste

 Flaminius Annibali de Latera

 Christian Museum of Lateran

 Saint John Lateran

 Lateran Councils

 Ecclesiastical Latin

 Latin Church

 Christian Latin Literature

 Classical Latin Literature in the Church

 Brunetto Latini

 La Trappe

 Pierre-André Latreille

 Latria

 Lauda Sion

 Lauds

 Laura

 Pierre-Sébastien Laurentie

 Diocese of Lausanne and Geneva

 Jean de Lauzon

 Pierre de Lauzon

 Lavabo

 Diocese of Laval

 François de Montmorency Laval

 Jean Parisot de La Valette

 Laval University of Quebec

 Lavant

 Charles-Honoré Laverdière

 Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, Sieur de Lavérendrye

 Jean-Nicolas Laverlochère

 Charles-Martial-Allemand Lavigerie

 Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier

 Law

 Canon Law

 Influence of the Church on Civil Law

 Common Law

 Moral Aspect of Divine Law

 International Law

 Natural Law

 Roman Law

 St. Lawrence (2)

 St. Lawrence (1)

 St. Lawrence Justinian

 St. Lawrence O'Toole

 Lay Abbot

 Lay Brothers

 Lay Communion

 Lay Confession

 Paul Laymann

 Lay Tithes

 Lazarus

 Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem

 St. Lazarus of Bethany

 Diocese of Lead

 The League

 German (Catholic) League

 League of the Cross

 St. Leander of Seville

 Diocese of Leavenworth

 Lebanon

 Lebedus

 Edmond-Frederic Le Blant

 Charles Lebrun

 St. Lebwin

 Emile-Paul-Constant-Ange Le Camus

 Etienne Le Camus

 Joseph Le Caron

 Diocese of Lecce

 François Leclerc du Tremblay

 Chrestien Leclercq

 Lecoy de La Marche

 Claude Le Coz

 Lectern

 Lectionary

 Lector

 Miecislas Halka Ledochowski

 Diocese of Leeds

 Camille Lefebvre

 Family of Lefèvre

 Jacques Le Fèvre

 Guy Lefèvre de la Boderie

 Jacques Lefèvre d'Etaples

 Legacies

 Legate

 Literary or Profane Legends

 Legends of the Saints

 Diocese of Leghorn

 Legio

 Oliver Legipont

 Legists

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 Charles Le Gobien

 Louis Legrand

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 Arthur-Marie Le Hir

 Abbey of Lehnin

 The System of Leibniz

 Ven. Richard Leigh

 Leipzig

 University of Leipzig

 Diocese of Leitmeritz

 Jean Lejeune

 Jacques Lelong

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 Diocese of Le Mans

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 Henry Lemcke

 François Le Mercier

 Jacques Lemercier

 Thomas de Lemos

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 Pierre-Charles L'Enfant

 Adam Franz Lennig

 Charles Lenormant

 François Lenormant

 Denis-Nicolas Le Nourry

 Lent

 Publius Lentulus

 Pope St. Leo I (the Great)

 Pope St. Leo II

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 St. Leocadia

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 Leo Diaconus

 Diocese and Civil Province of Leon

 Diocese of León

 Luis de León

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 Diocese of Le Puy

 Michel Le Quien

 Diocese of Lérida

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 Leros

 Alain-René Le Sage

 Lesbi

 Marc Lescarbot

 Pierre Lescot

 Diocese of Lesina

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 Lessons in the Liturgy

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 Michel Le Tellier (1)

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 Ecclesiastical Letters

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 Johann Lohel

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 Etienne-Charles de Loménie de Brienne

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 James Longstreet

 Félix Lope de Vega Carpio

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 Diocese of Lutzk, Zhitomir, and Kamenetz

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 Archdiocese of Lyons

 Councils of Lyons

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 Lyrba

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 Lystra

Pierre Lescot


One of the greatest architects of France in the pure Renaissance style, b. at Paris about 1510; d. there, 1571. The very improbable report that he was never in Italy has been sufficiently refuted. Moreover, he was descended from the Italian family of Alessi. Francis I took him into his service, and by this king and his successors, Lescot was rewarded with many honours and with a benefice. At his death he was a commendatory abbot as well as Lord (sieur) of Clagny. With the active support of Francis I, the early Renaissance entered on a period of glorious prosperity, and in the later years of his reign displayed a distinctive character. From that time it rivalled the Italian Renaissance in its zenith, although, by meeting the demands of French taste, it became somewhat more ostentatious. Lescot proved its most brilliant exponent. For the decorations of his buildings he associated himself with the sculptor, Trebatti, a pupil of Michelangelo, and especially with the ablest plastic artist of the pure style, Jean Goujon. The perfection of their achievement depended to a great extent upon the harmonious combination of their mutual efforts. It has been thought that, even in architectural matters, Lescot was very dependent upon his friend though the latter named him with Philibert de L'Orme as the most eminent architects of France, and the accounts for the building of the Louvre designate Lescot as the architect and Goujon as the sculptor. Francis I appointed him architect of the Louvre in 1546, and with this building his fame will always be connected. For remodelling the old bastions of the fortress into a residence, the celebrated Italian, Serlio, drew up a plan which he himself afterwards put aside in favour of Lescot's design. Three sides of a square court were to be enclosed by living apartments of royal splendour while the fourth or east side was probably destined to open with an arcade. Corner pavilions, remarkable for commanding height and adorned by pillars and statues, replaced the medieval towers.

The master was destined to finish only the west side and part of the south side. The building was two stories high with a richly ornamented attic crowned by a tasteful roof. In the ground story the windows were rounded; the small round windows over the portals (oeils de boeuf) afterwards become very popular. In the second story the windows are square and finished off with plain Renaissance pediments. Slightly projecting members and slabs of coloured marble give fife to the massive masonry. A peculiar effect was obtained by the sparing use of rough-hewn stone in the corner decorations. Goujon's noble sculptures and the architectural ornaments, although numerous and splendid, were cleverly subordinated to the construction. The style corresponded to the "latest manner" of Bramante if as it was imitated in Italy by Sangallo, Peruzzi, Giulio Romano, etc.; it was now by Lescot, Goujon, de L'Orme, and some others, successfully adapted to French taste. The building of the Louvre was carried on with greater or less ability by several masters, and was finally completed under Napoleon I. The oldest parts of the palace are considered one of the greatest architectural achievements in France. "If among all the works of the French Renaissance we were to seek for the works of the creations which possess in the highest degree qualities which were, so to say, the aim of the Renaissance, i.e. perfect proportion of members and details, we would always be attracted finally to Lescot's court in the Louvre" (Geymüller). The rest of Lescot's works are few in number; he appears not to have sought much for opportunities to build. Although, according to a poem of Ronsard, he busied himself zealously in early youth vital drawing and painting, and, after his twentieth year, with mathematics and architecture, his wealth and the duties of his offices appear subsequently to have interfered with his artistic activity. His first achievements (1540-45) were the rood-screen in St-Germain-l'Auxerrois and the Hôtel de Ligneris (now Carnavalet) in Paris. Here and in the design of the Fountain of Nymphs or Innocents (1547-9), he again owes a great part of his moderate success to Goujon's assistance. The classical simplicity of this work had the misfortune to be undervalued during the barocco and rococo period, and received proper recognition only from a later age.

BERTY, Les grands architects (Paris, 1860); PALUSTRE, Architecture de la Renaissance (Paris, 1892); GEYMULLER in Handbuch der Architektur von Durm etc., II (Stuttgart, 1898), vi, 1.

G. GIETMANN