Lyon

RAMON LLULL IN LYON

In the second half of the year 1305 Ramon Llull goes to Lyon to attend the coronation of the new Pope Clement V. He has an interview with him in December of that year; his desire is to convince him of the need to organize a new crusade. The King of Catalonia and Aragon Jaime II the Just, who supports Llull’s initiative and accompanied him, had previously given the Holy Father a copy of the Liber de fine the book which details the proposed expedition. Meanwhile, in November, Llull had begun, in Lyon, writing of his Ars generalis ultima.

LYON, THEN AND NOW

Lyon is the capital of the Rhone department and is situated at the confluence of the Saone and Rhone rivers, in an important geographical junction that connects Paris to Marseille, Italy and Switzerland. It was founded by the Romans with the name of Lingdunum in 43BC. After the fall of the Roman Empire, it was occupied by the Huns and by the Visigoths and was part of the Burgundian, Carolingian, Lotharingians and Burgundy-Provence Kingdoms and in 1302 passed to the Sacred Roman Germanic Empire. In the 13^th century the bourgeoisie put the city under the protection of the King of France, achieving great prosperity from the 14^th century thanks to the silk industry and the regular holding of important trade fairs.

In addition to the remains of the Roman city on the hill of the Fourvière, that include a theatre, Lyon has important monuments from the Late Middle Ages: the Vieux Lyon (medieval and Renaissance quarter), the cathedral of Saint-Jean (12^th-15^th centuries), and the churches of Saint-Martin-d’Ainay (12^th century) and Saint-Bonaventure (14^th-15^th centuries). Lyon’s historic center was declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1998.