Ramon Llull (; c. 1232 – c. 1315/16) was a
philosopher
A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
,
theologian
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
,
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...
,
missionary
A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...
, and Christian apologist from the
Kingdom of Majorca
The Kingdom of Majorca ( ca, Regne de Mallorca, ; es, Reino de Mallorca; la, Regnum Maioricae; french: Royaume de Majorque) was a realm on the east coast of Spain, which included certain Mediterranean islands, and which was founded by James I o ...
.
He invented a philosophical system known as the ''Art'', conceived as a type of universal logic to prove the truth of Christian doctrine to interlocutors of all faiths and nationalities. The ''Art'' consists of a set of general principles and combinatorial operations. It is illustrated with diagrams.
A prolific writer, he is also known for his literary works written in
Catalan
Catalan may refer to:
Catalonia
From, or related to Catalonia:
* Catalan language, a Romance language
* Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia
Places
* 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
, which he composed to make his ''Art'' accessible to a wider audience. In addition to
Catalan
Catalan may refer to:
Catalonia
From, or related to Catalonia:
* Catalan language, a Romance language
* Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia
Places
* 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
and
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
he also probably wrote in
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
(although no texts in Arabic survive). His books were translated into
Occitan Occitan may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain.
* Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France.
* Occitan language
Occitan (; o ...
,
French, and
Castilian during his lifetime.
Although his work did not enjoy huge success during his lifetime, he has had a rich and continuing reception. In the early modern period his name became associated with
alchemical works. More recently he has been recognized as a precursor of the modern liberal voting franchise 450 years before
Borda and
Condorcet
Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas de Caritat, Marquis of Condorcet (; 17 September 1743 – 29 March 1794), known as Nicolas de Condorcet, was a French philosopher and mathematician. His ideas, including support for a liberal economy, free and equal pu ...
had proposed the idea and also the computer and a pioneer of
computation theory
In theoretical computer science and mathematics, the theory of computation is the branch that deals with what problems can be solved on a model of computation, using an algorithm, how efficiently they can be solved or to what degree (e.g., ...
.
Life
Early life and family
![LifeOfRaymondLull14thCentury](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/LifeOfRaymondLull14thCentury.JPG)
Llull was born in
Palma into a wealthy family of
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
patricians who had come to the
Kingdom of Majorca
The Kingdom of Majorca ( ca, Regne de Mallorca, ; es, Reino de Mallorca; la, Regnum Maioricae; french: Royaume de Majorque) was a realm on the east coast of Spain, which included certain Mediterranean islands, and which was founded by James I o ...
in 1229 with the conquering armies of
James I of Aragon
James I the Conqueror ( es, Jaime el Conquistador, ca, Jaume el Conqueridor; 2 February 1208 – 27 July 1276) was King of Aragon and Lord of Montpellier from 1213 to 1276; King of Majorca from 1231 to 1276; and Valencia from 1238 to 1276 ...
. James I had conquered the formerly
Almohad
The Almohad Caliphate (; ar, خِلَافَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِينَ or or from ar, ٱلْمُوَحِّدُونَ, translit=al-Muwaḥḥidūn, lit=those who profess the Tawhid, unity of God) was a North African Berbers, Berber M ...
-ruled Majorca as part of a larger move to integrate the territories of the
Balearic Islands
The Balearic Islands ( es, Islas Baleares ; or ca, Illes Balears ) are an archipelago in the Balearic Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago is an autonomous community and a province of Spain; its capital is ...
(now part of
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
) into the
Crown of Aragon
The Crown of Aragon ( , ) an, Corona d'Aragón ; ca, Corona d'Aragó, , , ; es, Corona de Aragón ; la, Corona Aragonum . was a composite monarchy ruled by one king, originated by the dynastic union of the Kingdom of Aragon and the County of B ...
. Llull was born there a few years later, in 1232 or 1233. Muslims still constituted a large part of the population of Majorca and Jews were present in cultural and economic affairs.
In 1257 Llull married Blanca Picany, with whom he had two children, Domènec and Magdalena. Although he formed a family, he lived what he would later call the licentious and wordly life of a
troubadour
A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a ''trobairit ...
.
Religious calling
In 1263 Llull experienced a series of
visions
Vision, Visions, or The Vision may refer to:
Perception Optical perception
* Visual perception, the sense of sight
* Visual system, the physical mechanism of eyesight
* Computer vision, a field dealing with how computers can be made to gain un ...
. He narrates the event in his autobiography ''Vita coaetanea'' ("A Contemporary Life"):
The vision came to Llull five times in all and inspired in him three intentions: to give up his soul for the sake of God’s love and honor, to convert the ‘Saracens’ to Christianity, and write the best book in the world against the errors of the unbelievers.
Following his visions he sold his possessions on the model of Saint
Francis of Assisi
Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, better known as Saint Francis of Assisi ( it, Francesco d'Assisi; – 3 October 1226), was a mystic Italian Catholic friar, founder of the Franciscans, and one of the most venerated figures in Christianit ...
and set out on pilgrimages to the shrines of Saint Mary of
Rocamadour
Rocamadour (; ''Rocamador'' in Occitan) is a commune in the Lot department in Southwestern France. It lies in the former province of Quercy.
Rocamadour has attracted visitors for its setting in a gorge above a tributary of the River Dordogn ...
,
Saint James, and other places, never to come back to his family and profession. When he returned to Majorca he purchased a Muslim slave in order to learn Arabic from him. For the next nine years, until 1274, he engaged in study and contemplation in relative solitude. He read extensively in both Latin and Arabic, learning both Christian and Muslim theological and philosophical thought.
Between 1271 and 1274 Llull wrote his first works, a compendium of the Muslim thinker
Al-Ghazali
Al-Ghazali ( – 19 December 1111; ), full name (), and known in Persian-speaking countries as Imam Muhammad-i Ghazali (Persian: امام محمد غزالی) or in Medieval Europe by the Latinized as Algazelus or Algazel, was a Persian polymat ...
's logic and the ''Llibre de contemplació en Déu'' (''Book on the Contemplation of God''), a lengthy guide to finding truth through contemplation.
In 1274, while staying at a hermitage on
Puig de Randa
Puig de Randa is a mountain in the island of Majorca, Balearic Islands, Spain. It is included in the municipal territory of Algaida, and, on its top, is home to the Sanctuary of Cura.
The Puig de Randa is the place where Ramon Llull went to do ...
, the form of the great book Llull was to write was finally given to him through divine revelation: a complex system that he named his ''Art'', which would become the motivation behind most of his life's efforts.
Missionary work and education
Llull urged the study of Arabic and other then-insufficiently studied languages in Europe,
along with most of his works, to convert Muslims and schismatic Christians.
He travelled through Europe to meet with
popes
The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...
, kings, and princes, trying to establish special colleges to prepare future missionaries. In 1276 a language school for Franciscan missionaries was founded at Miramar, funded by the King of Majorca.
About 1291 he went to Tunis, preached to the Saracens, disputed with them in philosophy, and after another brief sojourn in Paris, returned to the East as a missionary.
[Turner, William. "Raymond Lully." The Catholic Encyclopedia]
Vol. 12. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 31 January 2019 Llull travelled to Tunis a second time in about 1304, and wrote numerous letters to the king of Tunis, but little else is known about this part of his life.
He returned in 1308, reporting that the conversion of Muslims should be achieved through prayer, not through military force. He finally achieved his goal of linguistic education at major universities in 1311 when the
Council of Vienne
The Council of Vienne was the fifteenth ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church and met between 1311 and 1312 in Vienne, France. One of its principal acts was to withdraw papal support for the Knights Templar at the instigation of Phil ...
ordered the creation of chairs of
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
,
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
and Chaldean (
Aramaic
The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...
) at the universities of
Bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...
,
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, Paris, and
Salamanca
Salamanca () is a city in western Spain and is the capital of the Province of Salamanca in the autonomous community of Castile and León. The city lies on several rolling hills by the Tormes River. Its Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritag ...
as well as at the Papal Court.
Llull called for the expulsion of Jews who were unwilling to convert to Christianity, and influenced later European monarchs to expel Jews in practice.
Death
![Llull4](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/Llull4.jpg)
In 1314, at the age of 82, Llull traveled again to Tunis, possibly prompted by the correspondence between
King James II of Aragon
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
and
al-Lihyani, the
Hafsid
The Hafsids ( ar, الحفصيون ) were a Sunni Muslim dynasty of Berber descentC. Magbaily Fyle, ''Introduction to the History of African Civilization: Precolonial Africa'', (University Press of America, 1999), 84. who ruled Ifriqiya (western ...
caliph
A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...
, indicating that the caliph wished to convert to Christianity. Whereas Llull had been met with difficulties during his previous visits to North Africa, he was allowed to operate this time without interference from the authorities due to the improved relations between Tunis and Aragon.
His last work is dated December 1315 in Tunis. The circumstances of his death remain unknown. He probably died sometime between then and March 1316, either in Tunis, on the ship on the return voyage, or in Majorca upon his return. Llull's tomb, created in 1448, is in the Franciscan church in Palma, Majorca.
Works
Llull’s ''Art''
Llull’s ''Art'' (in Latin ''Ars'') is at the center of his thought and undergirds his entire corpus. It is a system of universal logic based on a set of general principles activated in a combinatorial process. It can be used to prove statements about God and Creation (e.g., God is a Trinity). Often the ''Art'' formulates these statements as questions and answers (e.g., Q: Is there a Trinity in God? A: Yes.). It works cumulatively through an iterative process; statements about God's nature must be proved for each of His essential attributes in order to prove the statement true for God (i.e., Goodness is threefold, Greatness is threefold, Eternity is threefold, Power is threefold, etc.).
What sets Llull's system apart is its unusual use of letters and diagrams, giving it an algebraic or algorithmic character. He developed the ''Art'' over the course of many decades, writing new books to explain each new version. The ''Art''s trajectory can be divided into two main phases, although each phase contains numerous variations. The first is sometimes called the Quaternary Phase (1274 - 1290) and the second the Ternary Phase (1290 - 1308).
Quaternary Phase
The two main works of the Quaternary Phase are the ''Ars compendiosa inveniendi veritatem'' (ca. 1274) and the ''Ars demonstrativa'' (ca. 1283). The ''Ars demonstrativa'' has twelve main figures. A set of sixteen principles, or 'dignities' (divine attributes) comprise the general foundation for the system's operation. These are contained in the first figure (Figure A) and assigned letters (B through R). The rest of the figures enable the user to take these principles and elaborate to demonstrate the truth of statements. Figure T is important because it contains "relational principles"(i.e. minority, majority, equality), also assigned letters. The ''Art'' then lists combinations of letters as a sort of visual aid for the process of working through every possible combination of principles. Figure S displays the Augustinian powers of the soul (will, intellect, and memory) and their acts (willing, understanding, remembering). Figure S was eliminated from the ''Art'' after 1290. Even in subsequent versions of the ''Art'' Llull maintained that the powers of the soul needed to be in alignment for a proper operation of the ''Art''. This differentiates Llull's system from Aristotelian logic. Because classical logic did not take the powers of the soul into account it was ill-equipped to handle theological issues, in Llull's view.
Ternary Phase
Llull inaugurated the Ternary Phase with two works written in 1290: the ''Ars inventiva veritatis'' and the ''Art amativa''. The culmination of this phase came in 1308 with a finalized version of the ''Art'' called the ''Ars generalis ultima''. In the same year Llull wrote an abbreviated version called the ''Ars brevis''. In these works Llull revised the ''Art'' to have only four main figures. He reduced the number of divine principles in the first figure to nine (goodness, greatness, eternity, power, wisdom, will, virtue, truth, glory). Figure T also now has nine relational principles (difference, concordance, contrariety, beginning, middle, end, majority, equality, minority), reduced from fifteen. Llull kept the combinatorial aspect of the process.
Correlatives
Llull introduced an aspect of the system called the "correlatives" just before the final transition to the Ternary Phase. The correlatives first appear in a work called the ''Lectura super figuras Artis demonstrativae'' (c.1285-7) and came to undergird his formulation of the
nature of being. The doctrine of correlatives stipulates that everything, at the level of being, has a threefold structure: agent, patient, act. For example, the divine principle "goodness" consists of "that which does good" (agent), "that which receives good" (patient), and "to do good" (act). Llull developed a system of Latin suffixes to express the correlatives, i.e. ''bonitas'' (goodness); ''bonificans'', ''bonificatus'', ''bonificare''. This became the basis for proving that the divine principles are distinct yet equivalent in God (each principle has the same underlying threefold structure, yet retains its own unique correlatives). This supports the combinatorial operation of the ''Art'' (i.e., this means that in God goodness ''is'' greatness and greatness ''is'' goodness, goodness ''is'' eternity and eternity ''is'' goodness, etc.), the Lullian proof of the
Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...
(each divine principle has the three correlatives and together the principles comprise the Godhead, therefore the Godhead is threefold) and the
Incarnation
Incarnation literally means ''embodied in flesh'' or ''taking on flesh''. It refers to the conception and the embodiment of a deity or spirit in some earthly form or the appearance of a god as a human. If capitalized, it is the union of divinit ...
(the active and passive correlatives are equivalent to matter and form, and the trinitarian unfolding of being occurs on all levels of reality).
Other works
Influence of Islam and early works
It has been pointed out that the ''Art''s combinatorial mechanics bear a resemblance to
zairja
A zairja ( ar, زايرجة; also transcribed as ''zairjah'', ''zairajah'', ''zairdja'', ''zairadja'', and ''zayirga'') was a device used by medieval Arab astrologers to generate ideas by mechanical means. The name may derive from a mixture of the ...
, a device used by medieval Arab astrologers.
[Link, David (2010). "Scrambling T-R-U-T-H: Rotating Letters as a Material Form of Thought", in: ''Variantology 4. On Deep Time Relations of Arts, Sciences and Technologies in the Arabic–Islamic World'', eds. Siegfried Zielinski and Eckhard Fürlus (Cologne: König, 2010): 215–266] The Art's reliance on divine attributes also has a certain similarity to the contemplation of the
ninety-nine Names of God
Names of God in Islam ( ar, أَسْمَاءُ ٱللَّٰهِ ٱلْحُسْنَىٰ , "''Allah's Beautiful Names''") are names attributed to God in Islam by Muslims. While some names are only in the Quran, and others are only in the hadith, th ...
in the Muslim tradition. Llull's familiarity with the Islamic intellectual tradition is evidenced by the fact that his first work (1271-2) was a compendium of
Al-Ghazali
Al-Ghazali ( – 19 December 1111; ), full name (), and known in Persian-speaking countries as Imam Muhammad-i Ghazali (Persian: امام محمد غزالی) or in Medieval Europe by the Latinized as Algazelus or Algazel, was a Persian polymat ...
's logic.
Dialogues
From early in his career Llull composed dialogues to enact the procedure of the ''Art''. This is linked to the missionary aspect of the ''Art''. Llull conceived it as an instrument to convert all peoples of the world to Christianity and experimented with more popular genres to make it easier to understand. His earliest and most well known dialogue is the ''
Book of the Gentile and the Three Wise Men'', written in Catalan the 1270s and later translated into Latin. It is framed as a meeting of three wise men (a Muslim, a Jew, and a Christian) and a Gentile in the woods. They learn about the Lullian method when they encounter a set of trees with leaves inscribed with Lullian principles. Lady Intelligence appears and informs them of the properties of the trees and the rules for implementing the leaves. The wise men use the trees to prove their respective Articles of Faith to the Gentile (although some of the Islamic tenets cannot be proved with the Lullian procedure) and in the end the Gentile is converted to Christianity.
Llull also composed many other dialogues. Later in his career when he became concerned with heretical activity in the Arts Faculty of the University of Paris, he wrote "disputations" with philosophers as interlocutors. He also created a character for himself and he stars in many of these dialogues as the Christian wise man (for instance: ''Liber de quaestione valde alta et profunda'', composed in 1311).
Trees
Llull structured many of his works around trees. In some, like the ''Book of the Gentile and the Three Wise Men'', the "leaves" of the trees stand for the combinatorial elements (principles) of the ''Art''. In other works a series of trees shows how the ''Art'' generates all ("encyclopedic") knowledge. The ''
Tree of Science'' (1295-6) comprises sixteen trees ranging from earthly and moral to divine and pedagogical. Each tree is divided into seven parts (roots, trunk, branches, twigs, leaves, flowers, fruits). The roots always consist of the Lullian divine principles and from there the tree grows into the differentiated aspects of its respective category of reality.
Novels
Llull also wrote narrative prose drawing on the literary traditions of his time (
epic,
romance
Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to:
Common meanings
* Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings
* Romance languages, ...
) to express the ''Art''. These works were intended to communicate the potentially complex operations of the ''Art'' to a lay audience. ''
Blanquerna
''Blanquerna'' () is a novel written between 1283 and 1285 by Ramon Llull. It chronicles the life of its eponymous hero. It is the first major work of literature written in Catalan language, Catalan.
Structure
The novel is divided into five par ...
'' (c.1276-83) is his most well known novel. ''Felix'' (1287-9) is also notable, although it was not widely circulated during his lifetime and was only available in Catalan. It is formulated as a sort of ''
Bildungsroman
In literary criticism, a ''Bildungsroman'' (, plural ''Bildungsromane'', ) is a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from childhood to adulthood ( coming of age), in which character change is impo ...
'' in which Felix, the main character, begins on a journey at the instigation of his father who has written the "Book of Wonders". The book is divided into ten chapters (echoing the encyclopedic range of the Tree of Science) as Felix gains knowledge: God, angels, heavens, elements, plans, minerals, animals, man, Paradise, and Hell. It turns out to be a
metafiction
Metafiction is a form of fiction which emphasises its own narrative structure in a way that continually reminds the audience that they are reading or viewing a fictional work. Metafiction is self-conscious about language, literary form, and story ...
, as Felix's journey ends at a monastery where he relates the "Book of Wonders" now embellished and fused with the account of his own adventures.
Reception
Medieval
Academic theology
According to Llull's autobiographical ''Vita'', his ''Art'' was not received well at the University of Paris when he first presented it there in the 1280s. This experience supposedly is what led him to revise the ''Art'' (creating the tertiary version). Llull's ''Art'' was never adopted by mainstream academia of the thirteenth and early-fourteenth centuries, but it did accrue quite a bit of interest. A significant number of Lullian manuscripts were collected by the
Carthusian
The Carthusians, also known as the Order of Carthusians ( la, Ordo Cartusiensis), are a Latin enclosed religious order of the Catholic Church. The order was founded by Bruno of Cologne in 1084 and includes both monks and nuns. The order has its ...
monks of Paris at Vauvert and by several theologians who donated their manuscripts to the
Sorbonne
Sorbonne may refer to:
* Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities.
*the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970)
*one of its components or linked institution, ...
Library. One disciple, Thomas Le Myésier, went so far as to create elaborate compilations of Llull's works, including a manuscript dedicated to the
queen of France
This is a list of the women who were queens or empresses as wives of French monarchs from the 843 Treaty of Verdun, which gave rise to West Francia, until 1870, when the Third Republic was declared.
Living wives of reigning monarchs technica ...
.
Opposition
In the 1360s the inquisitor
Nicholas Eymerich
Nicholas Eymerich ( ca, Nicolau Eimeric) (Girona, ''c.'' 1316 – Girona, 4 January 1399) was a Roman Catholic theologian in Medieval Spain and Inquisitor General of the Inquisition in the Crown of Aragon in the later half of the 14th century. He ...
condemned Lullism in Aragon. He obtained a
papal bull in 1376 to prohibit Lullian teaching, although it proved ineffective. In Paris
Jean Gerson
Jean Charlier de Gerson (13 December 1363 – 12 July 1429) was a French scholar, educator, reformer, and poet, Chancellor of the University of Paris, a guiding light of the conciliar movement and one of the most prominent theologians at the Co ...
also issued a series of polemical writings against Lullism. There was an official document issued to prohibit the Lullian ''Art'' from being taught in the Faculty of Theology.
Early modern
Academic theology
Llull's most significant early modern proponent was
Nicholas of Cusa
Nicholas of Cusa (1401 – 11 August 1464), also referred to as Nicholas of Kues and Nicolaus Cusanus (), was a German Catholic cardinal, philosopher, theologian, jurist, mathematician, and astronomer. One of the first German proponents of Renai ...
. He collected many works by Llull and adapted many aspects of Lullian thought for his own mystical theology. There was also growing interest in Lullism in Catalonia, Italy, and France.
Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples
Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples ( Latinized as Jacobus Faber Stapulensis; c. 1455 – c. 1536) was a French theologian and a leading figure in French humanism. He was a precursor of the Protestant movement in France. The "d'Étaples" was not part of ...
published eight of Llull's books in 1499, 1505, and 1516. Lefèvre was therefore responsible for the first significant circulation of Llull's work in print outside of Catalonia. It is thought that the influence of Lullian works in Renaissance Italy (coinciding with the rise of
neoplatonism
Neoplatonism is a strand of Platonism, Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and Hellenistic religion, religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a chain of ...
) contributed to a development in metaphysics, from a static Artistotelian notion of being to reality as a dynamic process. In Northern and Central Europe Lullism was adopted by Lutherans and Calvinists interested in promoting programs of theological humanism.
Gottfried Leibniz
Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz . ( – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat. He is one of the most prominent figures in both the history of philosophy and the history of mathem ...
was exposed to these currents during his years in Mainz, and Llull's ''Art'' clearly informed his ''
De Arte Combinatoria
The ''Dissertatio de arte combinatoria'' ("Dissertation on the Art of Combinations" or "On the Combinatorial Art") is an early work by Gottfried Leibniz published in 1666 in Leipzig. It is an extended version of his first doctoral dissertation, wr ...
''.
Pseudo-Llull and alchemy
There is a significant body of alchemical treatises falsely attributed to Llull. The two fundamental works of the corpus are the ''Testamentum'' and the ''Liber de secretis naturae seu de quinta essentia'' which both date to the fourteenth century. Occultists such as
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim (; ; 14 September 1486 – 18 February 1535) was a German polymath, physician, legal scholar, soldier, theologian, and occult writer. Agrippa's ''Three Books of Occult Philosophy'' published in 1533 drew ...
and
Giordano Bruno
Giordano Bruno (; ; la, Iordanus Brunus Nolanus; born Filippo Bruno, January or February 1548 – 17 February 1600) was an Italian philosopher, mathematician, poet, cosmological theorist, and Hermetic occultist. He is known for his cosmologic ...
were inspired by these works. Despite Llull's growing identification with alchemy and Neoplatonic mysticism, others (such as
Giulio Pace
Giulio Pace de Beriga, also known as Giulio Pacio, or by his Latin name Julius Pacius of Beriga (9 April 1550 – 1635) was a well-known Italian Aristotelian scholar and jurist.
Life
He was born in Vicenza, Italy, and studied law and philosoph ...
and
Johann Heinrich Alsted
Johann Heinrich Alsted (March 1588 – November 9, 1638), "the true parent of all the Encyclopædias", s:Budget of Paradoxes/O. was a German-born Transylvanian Saxon Calvinist minister and academic, known for his varied interests: in Ramism and ...
) were still interested in the Lullian ''Art'' as a universal logic, even in the seventeenth century when
Descartes and
Ramus Ramus can refer to:
* A branch (botany)
* A portion of a bone (from Latin ''ramus'', "branch"), as in the Ramus of the mandible or Superior pubic ramus
* A nerve ramus such as the Dorsal ramus of spinal nerve
* A taxonomic rank ("branch" in English ...
proposed competing systems.
Iberian Revival and beatification
Meanwhile, in Spain, the Cardinal
Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros
Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros, OFM (1436 – 8 November 1517), spelled Ximenes in his own lifetime, and commonly referred to today as simply Cisneros, was a Spanish cardinal, religious figure, and statesman. Starting from humble beginning ...
, Archbishop of Toledo, had taken up Lullism for his project of reform. Cisneros mobilized various intellectuals and editors, founding chairs at universities and publishing Llull's works. Founded in 1633, the Pontifical College of La Sapiencia on Majorca became the epicenter for teaching Lullism. The Franciscans from La Sapiencia were the ones to seek Llull's canonization at Rome in the seventeenth century. These efforts were renewed in the eighteenth century, but never succeeded. Llull was
beatified
Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their nam ...
in 1847 by
Pope Pius IX
Pope Pius IX ( it, Pio IX, ''Pio Nono''; born Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878, the longest verified papal reign. He was notable for convoking the First Vatican ...
. His
feast day
The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...
was assigned to 30 June and is celebrated by the
Third Order of St. Francis.
[Habig, Marion. (Ed.). (1959). ''The Franciscan Book of Saints''. Franciscan Herald Press.]
Twentieth and twenty-first centuries
Scholarship
Llull is now recognized by scholars as significant in both the history of Catalan literature as well as intellectual history. From 1906 to 1950 the Comissió Editora Lul·liana led a project to edit Llull's works written in Catalan. This series was called the Obres de Ramon Llull (ORL). In 1957 the Raimundus-Lullus-Institut was founded in Freiburg, Germany to begin the work of editing Llull's Latin works. This series is called the Raimundi Lulli Opera Latina (ROL) and is still ongoing. In 1990 the work on the Catalan texts was restarted with the Nova Edició de les Obres de Ramon Llull (NEORL). In the world of English-language scholarship the work of
Frances Yates
Dame Frances Amelia Yates (28 November 1899 – 29 September 1981) was an English historian of the Renaissance, who wrote books on esoteric history.
After attaining an MA in French at University College London, she began to publish her resear ...
on memory systems (''
The Art of Memory
''The Art of Memory'' is a 1966 non-fiction book by British historian Frances A. Yates. The book follows the history of mnemonic systems from the classical period of Simonides of Ceos in Ancient Greece to the Renaissance era of Giordano Bruno, ...
'', published 1966) brought new interest to Ramon Llull as a figure in the history of cognitive systems.
Art and fiction
Llull has appeared in the art and literature of the last century, especially in the genres of
surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...
, philosophical fantasy, and metafiction.
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (; ; ; 11 May 190423 January 1989) was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarr ...
's alchemical thought was influenced by Ramon Llull and Dalí incorporated the diagrams from the Lullian ''Art'' into his work called ''Alchimie des Philosophes''. In 1937
Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known bo ...
wrote a snippet called "Ramon Llull' s Thinking Machine" proposing the Lullian ''Art'' as a device to produce poetry.
Other notable references to Ramon Llull are:
Aldous Huxley's short story "The Death of Lully", a fictionalized account aftermath of Llull's stoning in Tunis, set aboard the Genoese ship that returned him to Mallorca.
Paul Auster
Paul Benjamin Auster (born February 3, 1947) is an American writer and film director. His notable works include ''The New York Trilogy'' (1987), ''Moon Palace'' (1989), ''The Music of Chance'' (1990), ''The Book of Illusions'' (2002), ''The Broo ...
refers to Llull (as Raymond Lull) in his memoir ''
The Invention of Solitude'' in the second part, ''The Book of Memory''. Llull is also a major character in ''
The Box of Delights
''The Box of Delights'' is a children's fantasy novel by John Masefield. It is a sequel to ''The Midnight Folk'', and was first published in 1935. Also known as "When The Wolves Were Running"
Plot
Kay Harker is returning from boarding school ...
'', a children's novel by poet
John Masefield
John Edward Masefield (; 1 June 1878 – 12 May 1967) was an English poet and writer, and Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate from 1930 until 1967. Among his best known works are the children's novels ''The Midnight Folk'' and ...
.
Other recognition
Llull's ''Art'' is sometimes recognized as a precursor to
computer science
Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...
and computation theory.
[Sales, Ton (2011). “Llull as Computer Scientist, or Why Llull Was One of Us.” In Ramon Llull. From the Ars Magna to Artificial Intelligence, edited by Alexander Fido and Carles Sierra. Barcelona: Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, 25–38.]
With the discovery in 2001 of his lost manuscripts, ''Ars notandi'', ''Ars eleccionis'', and ''Alia ars eleccionis'', Llull is also given credit for creating an
electoral system
An electoral system or voting system is a set of rules that determine how elections and Referendum, referendums are conducted and how their results are determined. Electoral systems are used in politics to elect governments, while non-political ...
now known as the
Borda count
The Borda count is a family of positional voting rules which gives each candidate, for each ballot, a number of points corresponding to the number of candidates ranked lower. In the original variant, the lowest-ranked candidate gets 0 points, the ...
and
Condorcet criterion
An electoral system satisfies the Condorcet winner criterion () if it always chooses the Condorcet winner when one exists. The candidate who wins a majority of the vote in every head-to-head election against each of the other candidatesthat is, a ...
, which
Jean-Charles de Borda
Jean-Charles, chevalier de Borda (4 May 1733 – 19 February 1799) was a French mathematician, physicist, and Navy officer.
Biography
Borda was born in the city of Dax to Jean‐Antoine de Borda and Jeanne‐Marie Thérèse de Lacroix.
In 17 ...
and
Nicolas de Condorcet
Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas de Caritat, Marquis of Condorcet (; 17 September 1743 – 29 March 1794), known as Nicolas de Condorcet, was a French philosopher and mathematician. His ideas, including support for a liberal economy, free and equal pu ...
independently proposed centuries later.
Translations
* ''Ramon Llull's New Rhetoric'', text and translation of Llull's 'Rethorica Nova', edited and translated by Mark D. Johnston, Davis, California: Hermagoras Press, 1994
* ''Selected Works of Ramon Llull (1232‑1316)'', edited and translated by Anthony Bonner, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press 1985, two volumes XXXI + 1330 pp. (Contents: vol. 1: ''The Book of the Gentile and the Three Wise Men'', pp. 93–305; ''Ars Demonstrativa'', pp. 317–567; ''Ars Brevis'', pp. 579–646; vol. 2: ''Felix: or the Book of Wonders'', pp. 659–1107; ''Principles of Medicine'' pp. 1119–1215; ''Flowers of Love and Flowers of Intelligence'', pp. 1223–1256)
* ''Doctor Illuminatus: A Ramon Llull Reader'', edited and translated by Anthony Bonner, with a new translation of ''The Book of the Lover and the Beloved'' by Eve Bonner, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press 1994
See also
*
Apologetics
Apologetics (from Greek , "speaking in defense") is the religious discipline of defending religious doctrines through systematic argumentation and discourse. Early Christian writers (c. 120–220) who defended their beliefs against critics and ...
*
Catalan literature
Catalan literature is the name conventionally used to refer to literature written in the Catalan language. The focus of this article is not just the literature of Catalonia, but literature written in Catalan from anywhere, so that it includes writ ...
*
List of pioneers in computer science
This is a list of people who made transformative breakthroughs in the creation, development and imagining of what computers could do.
Pioneers
: ''To arrange the list by date or person (ascending or descending), click that column's small "up-do ...
*
Volvelle
A volvelle or wheel chart is a type of slide chart, a paper construction with rotating parts. It is considered an early example of a paper analog computer. Volvelles have been produced to accommodate organization and calculation in many divers ...
References
Notes
Citations
Sources
* Lola Badia, Joan Santanach and Albert Soler,
Ramon Llull as a Vernacular Writer', London: Tamesis, 2016.
* Anthony Bonner (ed.), ''Doctor Illuminatus. A Ramon Llull Reader'' (Princeton University 1985), includes ''The Book of the Gentile and the Three Wise Men'', ''The Book of the Lover and the Beloved'', ''The Book of the Beasts'', and ''Ars brevis''; as well as Bonner's "Historical Background and Life" at 1–44, "Llull's Thought" at 45–56, "Llull's Influence: The History of Lullism" at 57–71.
* Anthony Bonner, ''The Art and Logic of Ramon Llull: A User's Guide'', Leiden: Brill, 2007.
*
* Alexander Fidora and Josep E. Rubio, ''Raimundus Lullus, An Introduction to His Life, Works and Thought'', Turnhout: Brepols, 2008.
* Mary Franklin-Brown, ''Reading the World: Encyclopedic Writing in the Scholastic Age'', Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012.
* J. N. Hillgarth, ''Ramon Lull and Lullism in Fourteenth-Century France'', Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971.
* Mark D. Johnston, ''The Spiritual Logic of Ramón Llull'', Oxford: Clarenden Press, 1987.
* Charles H. Lohr, “Ramon Lull’s Theory of Scientific Demonstration,” in ''Argumentationstheorie'', ed. Klaus Jacobi. Leiden: Brill, 1993, 729–46.
* Michela Pereira, ''The Alchemical Corpus attributed to Raymond Lull'', London: The Warburg Institute, 1989.
* R. D. F. Pring-Mill, “The Trinitarian World Picture of Ramon Lull,” ''Romanistisches Jahrbuch'' 7 (1955): 229–256.
* Frances Yates, ''The Art of Memory'', London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1966.
* Frances Yates, "Lull and Bruno" (1982), in ''Collected Essays: Lull & Bruno'', vol. I, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
External links
* Works by Llull () at the
Open Library
Open Library is an online project intended to create "one web page for every book ever published". Created by Aaron Swartz, Brewster Kahle, Alexis Rossi, Anand Chitipothu, and Rebecca Malamud, Open Library is a project of the Internet Archive, ...
*
*
*
Who was Ramon Llull? Centre de Documentació Ramon Llull,
Universitat de Barcelona
The University of Barcelona ( ca, Universitat de Barcelona, UB; ; es, link=no, Universidad de Barcelona) is a public university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, in Spain. With 63,000 students, it is one of the biggest universities i ...
* Samuel M. Zwemer
Raymund Lull: First Missionary to the Muslims'
Ramon Llull at the AELC(Association of Writers in Catalan Language). Webpage in Catalan, English and Spanish.
*
Ramon Llull Database, University of BarcelonaBlessed Raymond LullEsteve Jaulent: The Theory of Knowledge and the Unity of Man according to Ramon LlullOnline Galleries, History of Science Collections, University of Oklahoma LibrariesHigh resolution portrait of Ramon Llull in .jpg and .tiff format.
*
Selected images from ''Practica compendiosa''– The College of Physicians of Philadelphia Digital Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Llull, Ramon
1230s births
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Spanish Arabic-language writers
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