The Encyclopedia of Amazons by Jessica Amanda Salmonson

Author:Jessica Amanda Salmonson
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
ISBN: 9781453293645
Publisher: Firebrand Technologies

L

Labé, Louise: (A.D. 1526–1566) In her youth, this daughter of a Lyons ropemaker was fond of music, hunting, and military exercise, and regularly participated in tourneys. Before she was sixteen, and during the reign of François I, she went to Perpignan and distinguished herself in the ranks of the Dauphin during the siege of that city, earning the title “La Capitaine Louise.” She later wrote “Débat de Folie et d’Amour,” which is today better known in a rhymed adaptation by La Fontaine, “L’Amour et la Folie.” In 1555, she published love poems and, though married, confessed to amorous feelings for women. [Hale, Taylor, Gribble]

labrys: A weapon favored by the ancient Amazons, including Hippolyte and Camilla. This double-headed ax served as scepter to the Cretan Earth-mother. Because the sword is less commonly associated with the Amazons than is the ax, the inference is that the Amazons originate from a far greater antiquity than is commonly supposed, from no later than the earliest days of the Bronze Age when the design of stone and copper tools still influenced weapons design, and probably from the Mesolithic period, when such weapons were the norm. The labrys is designed to be tied with rawhide to a wooden handle. Such a Stone Age relic would have been retained by Amazons because of its symbolism of the moon and the homed beast, similar to their crescent-shaped shields and arrows. The labrys is today a common symbol in lesbian culture. [Wolf]

Lacombe, Rose: (b. A.D. 1768) “One of the terrible heroines, or rather furies, of the French Revolution,” a leader of a women’s brigade of the 1790s, consisting of market women who fashioned their own uniforms and went armed with cutlass and pike. Her mob of ferocious women attacked the Hotel-de-Ville, obliging the king to leave Versailles. These women were called the tricoteuses de Robespierre, the flagellenses, and the furies de guillotine.

As did Théroigne de Mericourt, Lacombe founded a militant women’s club, gave rousing orations at political gatherings, and joined the attack on the Tuileries, presenting herself so boldly that the city presented her with a civic crown. Reckless and beautiful, she fell into disfavor because of a romantic attachment to an aristocrat whose life she attempted to save. She nonetheless survived the Reign of Terror unscathed, afterward operating a small business. [Rothery, Hale]

Laena: (fl. 505 B.C.) An Athenian athlete and courtesan, she was arrested for her part in a conspiracy but would not break under torture. She bit off her own tongue and spat it in the face of her tormentor. In consequence, she was deified and the Athenians raised a statue to her, in the form of a tongueless lioness. [Hale]

Lagareva, Alexandra Ephimowna: An officer of the Don Cossacks in World War I.

Lai Choi San: From A.D. 1920 until at least 1937, Madame Lai Choi San was active as a pirate near Macao, and was an owner of several gambling dens as well. She was a small, slender beauty exquisitely attired in white silks with jade buttons, though in battle she wore a simple blouse and trousers.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.