Abstract

The central concern of this erudite and lavish work is "to trace that part of the Lullian movement which was centered on Paris." The first part of the book sketches the life and character of Ramon Lull and his relationship to the politics of his age. Lull emerges as a fascinating person and thinker, whose life was intertwined in the thought and politics of the generation following the condemnation of 1277. Lull was a crusading yet irenic missionary to the Arabs. At the same time he was a thinker whose thought was rooted in the traditional currents of Christian thought stemming from Anselm and Neo-Platonism, and quite opposed to Averroism. Yet he was also an impressively original theologian with great confidence in the demonstrative power of theological thought. The second part of Hillgarth’s study begins by showing that Paris was the most influential center for the diffusion of Lull’s thought in the fourteenth century. At Paris Thomas Le Myésier proves to have been a particularly influential Lullist. After chapters devoted to Le Myésier’s patrons and his manuscript collections, the central chapter of the book is devoted to a detailed discussion of Le Myésier’s compilations of Lull’s thought. In an epilogue, the subsequent fortunes of Lullism are traced in such figures as Heimeric van de Velde, Nicholas of Cusa, Ramon Sibiuda, Pier Leoni, Lefèvre d'Etaples and Ivo Salzinger. Considerable attention is given to Lullian manuscripts, both in the above mentioned chapters and in the appendices, which also include the Latin texts of some of Le Myésier’s works. This book, because of its price and its scholarly intent, will be of interest primarily to students with a special interest in Lull. However, the first part on Lull, the chapter on Le Myésier’s compilations, and the epilogue will also be helpful to anyone who wishes to bring himself abreast of recent scholarly study of Lull and his influence.—H. F.