LOIBE INFERIEURE 507 LOMBABD LOIRE-INFERIEURE (a»R-f a-ryur') , a maritime department of the W. of France, formed out of the S. portion of the old province of Brittany, and com- prising the arrondissements of Nantes, Ancenis, Paimboeuf, Chateaubriant, and St. Nazaire, with Nantes for its capital; area, 2,693 square miles; pop. 620,000. It has a coastline of 78 miles. The Loire flowing W. intersects it and forms a wide estuary; the Vilaine skirts its N. W. j'Hboundary. In the S. of the department lies the lake of Grand-Lieu, 26 square miles in extent. The interior is on the whole flat, and the soil fertile, producing cereals, potatoes, beet roots, hemp, and fodder. Bees are kept. There are fine oak and pine forests. Salt marshes are numerous along the shore. The vine- yards yield annually about 30,000,000 gallons of wine, and the orchards some 4,500,000 gallons of cider. Granite, slate, and limestone are quarried. The industrial establishments include iron works, sugar refineries, glass works, fac- tories for tinning fruits and sardines, etc. St. Nazaire has grown into an im- portant seaport, having taken the place formerly occupied by Nantes. Ship- building is carried on at Nantes. The coast fisheries and general export trade are extensive. LOIRET, a department of Central France, formed out of the oli provinces of Orleannais and Berri, and comprising the arrondissements of Orleans, Mont- argis, Gien, and Pithiviers; on the N. loop of the Loire; area, 2,629 square mWes; pop. about 364,000. The country is for the most part an elevated, fertile plain, producing corn and wine in abun- dance, except in the sandy district of Sologne, lying S. of Orleans, the chief town. Cattle, sheep, and bees are exten- sively reared. Pottery and porcelain, sugar, vinegar, and soap are the princi- pal industrial products. LOIR-ET-CHER (Iwar-a-shar'), a de- partment of France, formed out of the old province of Orleannais, and compris- ing the arrondissements of Blois, Ven- dome, and Romorantin. The Loire flows through it S. W., almost bisecting it. The S. E. portion belongs to the infertile district of Sologne. The Loir crosses it parallel to the Loire farther to the N. W.; area, 2,478 square miles; pop. about 270,000. The department is almost a uniform plain. The chief products are corn, fruits, wine, beet root, and timber. Fish, poultry ,_ and bees abound. Princi- pal town, Blois. LOLLARD, a name given to a i-e- ligious association which arose at Ant- werp about the beginning of the 14th century. By some, Walter Lollard, who was burnt alive at Cologne in 1322, is said to have been the founder, but it seems to have existed before his time. The members were unmarried men and widowers, who lived in community under a chief, reserving to themselves, however, the right of returning to their former mode of life. In 1472 the Pope consti- tuted them a religious order. In 1506 Julius II. increased their privileges. They continued to the French Revolution. The name, having become one of con- tempt, was applied to the followers of Wyclif, and especially to the poor preach- ers whom he sent out. While Richard II. reigned, the persecution of the Lol- lards was not heartily favored by the court, and in 1395 they presented a peti- tion to Parliament for the reform of the Church. But on the accession of the House of Lancaster in 1399 a change for the worse took place. The clergy hao assisted Henry IV. to the throne, ir return for which he followed their direc- tions as to the Lollards, and the Act de hxretico comhurendo was passed as 2 Henry IV., c. 15. The first Lollard martyr was Willian.. Sautre, who was burnt in London, Feb. 12, 1401. The second was Thomas Badby, a mechanic in the diocese of Worcester, who was burnt in 1409 or 1410. Henry V., who carried out the ecclesiastical policy of his father, became king in 1413. On Sept. 25 of the same year Sir John Old- castle (Lord Cobham), who had edited the works of Wyclif, was adjudged to be a most pernicious and detestable here- tic." Early in 1414 a conspiracy of Lol- lards under the leadership of Lord Cob- ham was alleged to have been detected, and he was commuted to the Tower of London, but escaped into Wales. Being- recaptured, he was put to death by cruel torture in St. Giles' Fields, London, on Dec. 25, 1418. LOMBARD, PETER, a French phil- osopher; born about the beginning of the 12th century, at a village near No- vara, in Lombardy. He was educated at Bologna, and came to France with recommendations to Bernard of Clair- vaux. His uncommon talents soon pro- cured him a chair of theology in Paris. In 1159 he was appointed Bishop' of Paris, but he died in the following vear. He was very generally styled Magister Seutentiaruyn, or the "Master of Sen- tences," from his work "Four Books of Sentences," an arranged collection of sen- tences from Augustine and other fathers, on points of Christian doctrine. A sub- tle heresy, "Nihilism," was detected by som« in Peter's teaching, and the theo-
