View source for Ramon Llull

{{Short description|Majorcan writer and philosopher (c. 1232 – 1316)}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Redirect|Llull|the Spanish basketball player|Sergio Llull|the medieval Spanish businesswoman|Caterina Llull i Sabastida}}
{{Infobox saint <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox saint/doc]] -->
| honorific-prefix = [[Beatification|Blessed]]
| name = Ramon Llull
| caption = [[Anachronism|Anachronistic]] portrait of Ramon Llull by [[Francisco Ribalta]] (1620)
| honorific-suffix = [[Third Order of Saint Francis|TOSF]]
| birth_date   = {{c.|1232}}
| death_date   = {{death year and age|1316|1232}}
| feast_day= 30 June ([[Third Order of St. Francis]])
| venerated_in= [[Catholic Church]]
| image       = Francisco Ribalta - Ramon Llull - Google Art Project.jpg
| birth_place  = [[Palma, Mallorca|City of Mallorca]], [[Kingdom of Majorca]]<br/><small>(now Palma, Spain)</small>
| titles = 
| beatified_date = 11 September 1847
| beatified_place = 
| beatified_by = [[Pope Pius IX]]
| module =
{{Infobox philosopher
| embed              = yes
| name               = Ramon Llull
| image              = Ramon Llull.jpg
| caption            = Anachronistic image of Ramon Llull with [[speech scroll]], by an unknown artist (16th–17th century)
| school_tradition   = [[Lullism]]
| era                = [[Medieval philosophy]] 
| region             = [[Western philosophy]]
| main_interests     = {{hlist|[[Christian theology]]|[[philosophy]]|[[logic]]|[[mathematics]]}}
| notable_works      = 
{{Flatlist}}
*''[[Blanquerna]]''
*''[[Tree of Science (Ramon Llull)|Tree of Science]]''
*''[[Ars Magna (Llull book)|Ars Magna]]''
{{Endflatlist}}
| notable_ideas      = 
{{Flatlist}}
*[[Lullism|Lullist thought]]
*[[election theory]]
*{{nowrap|[[computation theory]]}}
{{Endflatlist}}
}}
}}
'''Ramon Llull''' {{post-nominals|post-noms=[[Third Order of Saint Francis|TOSF]]}} ({{IPAc-en|l|ʌ|l}}; {{IPA|ca|rəˈmoɲ ˈʎuʎ|lang}}; {{c.|1232}}{{efn|Born 1232 per Mark D. Johnston in ''[[Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]'' (London: Routledge, 1998). Older sources (such as versions of ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' at least up to 1955) give 1235; the current ''Britannica'' gives 1232–1233.}} – 1316),{{efn|Variously [[Onomastic Latinization|latinized]] as ''Raimundus''/''Raymundus Lullus''/''Lulius''/''Lullius''.}} sometimes anglicized as '''Raymond Lully''',<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hailstone|title=Raymond Lully |journal=The University Magazine |date=1871|volume=78 |issue= 463 |pages=78(463), 43–60 |url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/05fd54736fed39e1/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=2190 }}</ref> was a [[Mallorca|Mallorcan]] Catholic philosopher, [[theologian]], [[poet]], [[missionary]], [[Christian apologetics|apologist]] and former knight. 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 language|Catalan]], which he composed to make his ''Art'' accessible to a wider audience. In addition to Catalan and [[Latin]], he also probably wrote in [[Arabic]] (although no texts in Arabic survive). His books were translated into [[Occitan language|Occitan]], [[French language|French]], and [[Spanish language|Castilian]] during his lifetime.{{sfn|Badia|Santanach|Soler|2016}}

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 [[alchemy|alchemical works]].{{sfn|Pereira|1989}} More recently he has been recognized as a precursor of the modern field of [[social choice theory]], 450 years before [[Jean-Charles de Borda|Borda]] and [[Marquis de Condorcet|Condorcet]]'s investigations reopened the field.<ref>George G. Szpiro, "Numbers Rule: The Vexing Mathematics of Democracy, from Plato to the Present" (2010).</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Colomer |first=Josep M. |date=2013-02-01 |title=Ramon Llull: from 'Ars electionis' to social choice theory |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s00355-011-0598-2 |journal=Social Choice and Welfare |language=en |volume=40 |issue=2 |pages=317–328 |doi=10.1007/s00355-011-0598-2 |issn=1432-217X}}</ref> His ideas also prefigured the development of [[computation theory]].<ref name="Philosophy, Vol 1958">''The History of Philosophy, Vol. IV: Modern Philosophy: From Descartes to Leibniz'' by [[Frederick Copleston|Frederick C. Copleston]] (1958).</ref>{{sfn|Bonner|2007|p=290}}<ref name="knuth">{{citation|title=[[The Art of Computer Programming]]: Generating all trees|author=Donald Knuth|author-link=Donald Knuth|page=56|publisher=Addison-Wesley Professional  |volume=4-4|year=2006|isbn=978-0-321-33570-8}}</ref>

Venerated as a saintly figure in the [[Catholic Church]], he was [[Beatification|beatified]] by [[Pope Pius IX]] in 1847. He was a member of the [[Third Order of Saint Francis]].

==Life==
===Early life and family===
[[File:LifeOfRaymondLull14thCentury.JPG|thumb|Scenes from the life of Raymond Lull, in a 14th-century manuscript]]
Llull was born in [[Palma de Mallorca|Palma]] into a wealthy family of [[Barcelona]] patricians who had come to the [[Kingdom of Majorca]] in 1229 with the conquering armies of [[James I of Aragon]]. James I had [[Reconquista|conquered]] the formerly [[Almohad Caliphate|Almohad]]-ruled Majorca as part of a larger move to integrate the territories of the [[Balearic Islands]] (now part of [[Spain]]) into the [[Crown of Aragon]]. 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.{{sfn|Bonner|2007|p=1}}

In 1257 Llull married {{Ill|Blanca Picany|ca}}, with whom he had two children, Domènec and Magdalena.<ref>{{cite book |last1= Llull|first1= Ramon|last2= Ramis Barceló|first2= Rafael|date= 2011|title= Arte de derecho|chapter= Estudio preliminar|url=https://e-archivo.uc3m.es/rest/api/core/bitstreams/fb4d5706-e948-44a6-a555-ccb983ae8117/content |publisher= Editorial Dykinson|page= 17|isbn=978-84-15454-34-2|language= Spanish|quote= Ramon contrajo matrimonio con una mujer de su misma posición -Blanca Picany- y tuvieron dos hijos, Domènec y Magdalena.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1= Priani|first1= Ernesto|date= 2021|title= Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|chapter= Ramon Llull|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/Entries/llull/|publisher= Stanford University|issn=1095-5054|quote= In 1257 he married Blanca Picany, who belonged to another Catalan family settled in Majorca, with whom he had two children, Domènec and Magdalena.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1= Houssaye|first1= Jean|date= 2011|title= Prémiers pedagogues: de l'Antiquité a la Renaissance|chapter= Ramon Llull|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=d1DjPdFEB48C|publisher= Elsevier|page= 190|isbn=978-2710115465|language= French|quote= Pendant cette même année 1257, il écrivit la Doctrina Pueril, son premiére grand ouvrage pédagogique, qu'il dédie à son fils, Domènec.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1= Fidora|first1= Alexander|date= 2020|title= Kindlers Literatur Lexikon|chapter= Ramon Llull: Doctrina Pueril|publisher= Springer|isbn=978-3-476-05728-0|language= German|quote= Die pädagogisch-katechetische Abhandlung entstand 1274 bis 1276 vermutlich auf Mallorca. Das Werk, das Llull seinem Sohn Domènec widmete, [...]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date= |title=Cronologia |url=http://anyllull.cat/l-autor/cronologia |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160410135408/http://anyllull.cat/l-autor/cronologia |archive-date=2016-04-10 |access-date=2023-04-25 |website=Any Llull (Generalitat de Catalunya – Institut Ramon Llull – Govern de les Illes Balears) |at=Year 1257 |language=ca}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Biografia Ramon Llull |url=https://www.escriptors.cat/autors/llullr/biografia-ramon-llull |access-date=2023-04-25 |website=Associació d'Escriptors en Llengua Catalana |language=ca}}</ref> Although he formed a family, he lived what he would later call the licentious and worldly life of a [[troubadour]].

===Religious calling===
In 1263 Llull experienced a series of [[Vision (spirituality)|visions]]. He narrates the event in his autobiography ''Vita coaetanea'' ("A Contemporary Life"):

{{blockquote|Ramon, while still a young man and [[Seneschal]] to the King of Majorca, was very given to composing worthless songs and poems and to doing other licentious things. One night he was sitting beside his bed, about to compose and write in his vulgar tongue a song to a lady whom he loved with a foolish love; and as he began to write this song, he looked to his right and saw our Lord [[Jesus Christ]] on the Cross, as if suspended in mid-air.{{sfn|Bonner|1985|pp=10–11}} }}

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 [[Saracen]]s (i.e., Arabs and/or Muslims) to Christianity, and write the best book in the world against the errors of the unbelievers.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Llull |first1=Ramon |title=A Contemporary Life, Edited and translated by Anthony Bonner |date=2010 |publisher=Tamesis |location=Barcelona/Woodbridge |isbn=9781855661998 |pages=33–35}}</ref>

Following his visions he sold his possessions on the model of Saint [[Francis of Assisi]] and set out on pilgrimages to the shrines of Saint Mary of [[Rocamadour]], [[James the Great|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.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Llull |first1=Ramon |title=A Contemporary Life, Edited and translated by Anthony Bonner |date=2010 |publisher=Tamesis |location=Barcelona/Woodbridge |isbn=9781855661998 |pages=37–39}}</ref> 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.<ref>Churchill, Leigh (2004). The Age of Knights & Friars, Popes & Reformers. Milton Keynes: Authentic Media. {{ISBN|1-84227-279-9}}, 9781842272794. p. 190</ref>

In 1270 Llull founded the hermitage of the Holy Trinity in Mallorca, known as Miramar.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-01-12 |title=Ermita de la Trinitat (Hermitage of the Holy Trinity) {{!}} Mallorca Guide, Tourist Attractions, Map |url=https://xmallorca.com/mallorca-churches-cathedrals/ermita-de-la-trinitat-hermitage-of-the-holy-trinity |access-date=2023-06-22 |website=Mallorca Guide, Tourist Attractions, Map |language=en-US}}</ref>

Between 1271 and 1274 Llull wrote his first works, a compendium of the Muslim thinker [[Al-Ghazali]]'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]], 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 languages in Europe,<ref name="Johnston1996">{{cite book|author=Mark David Johnston|title=The Evangelical Rhetoric of Ramon Llull: Lay Learning and Piety in the Christian West Around 1300|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rILmCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA9|year=1996|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-509005-5|pages=9–}}</ref> in order to convert Muslims and schismatic Christians.<ref name="Blum2013">{{cite book|author=Blum, Paul Richard|title=Philosophy of Religion in the Renaissance|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GQBpfzln0zkC&pg=PA1|date=28 June 2013|publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.|isbn=978-1-4094-8071-6|pages=1–}}</ref> He travelled through Europe to meet [[pope]]s, kings, and princes, trying to establish special colleges to prepare future missionaries.<ref>Paul Richard Blum: Philosophy of Religion in the Renaissance. Ashgate 2010, 1-14</ref> In 1276 a language school for Franciscan missionaries was founded at Miramar, funded by the King of Majorca.<ref name=univbarc>{{Cite web |url=http://quisestlullus.narpan.net/eng/1_intro_eng.html |title="Who was Ramon Llull?", Centre de Documentació Ramon Llull, Universitat de Barcelona |access-date=2011-12-29 |archive-date=2013-03-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130313073343/http://quisestlullus.narpan.net/eng/1_intro_eng.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

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.<ref name=Turner>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12670c.htm Turner, William. "Raymond Lully." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 12. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 31 January 2019</ref> 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.<ref name="Classen2018">{{cite book|author=Albrecht Classen|title=Toleration and Tolerance in Medieval European Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E1NPDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT280|date=5 March 2018|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-351-00106-9|pages=280–}}</ref>{{sfn|Bonner|1985|pp=10-11, 34-37}}

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]] ordered the creation of chairs of [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], [[Arabic]] and Chaldean ([[Aramaic]]) at the universities of [[Bologna]], [[Oxford]], Paris, and [[Salamanca]] as well as at the Papal Court.<ref name="Classen2018" />

===Death===
[[File:Llull4.jpg|thumb|Llull's tomb in Palma]]
In 1314, at the age of 82, Llull traveled again to Tunis, possibly prompted by the correspondence between [[James II of Aragon|King James II of Aragon]] and [[Abd al-Wahid Zakariya ibn al-Lihyani|al-Lihyani]], the [[Hafsid]] [[caliphate|caliph]], 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.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lower |first1=Michael |title=Ibn al-Lihyani: sultan of Tunis and would-be Christian convert (1311–18) |journal=Mediterranean Historical Review |date=2009 |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=17–27 |doi=10.1080/09518960903000744|s2cid=161432419 }}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Llull |first1=Ramon |title=A Contemporary Life, Edited and translated by Anthony Bonner |date=2010 |publisher=Tamesis |location=Barcelona/Woodbridge |isbn=9781855661998 |pages=10–11}}</ref> Llull's tomb, created in 1448, is in the Franciscan church in Palma, Majorca.<ref>[https://www.illesbalears.travel/tourist-resource/en/mallorca/church-basilica-sant-francesc "Basilica Sant Francesc", Illes Balears]</ref>

== Veneration ==
Venerated as a saintly figure, Llull was officially considered for [[canonization]] after his death. He was [[Beatification|beatified]] on 11 September 1847 by [[Pope Pius IX]].

==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). This terminology was coined by Anthony Bonner.{{sfn|Bonner|2007|p=121}}

====Quaternary Phase====

The two main works of the Quaternary Phase are the ''Ars compendiosa inveniendi veritatem'' (ca. 1274) and the ''Ars demonstrativa'' (ca. 1283).{{sfn|Bonner|2007|p=26}} 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 principles are displayed in the first figure (Figure A) and assigned letters (B through R). The rest of the figures enable the user to combine these principles to demonstrate the truth of statements. Figure T, for instance, contains "relative principles" (i.e.: minority, majority, equality, etc.), also assigned letters. Figure S displays the Augustinian powers of the soul (will, intellect, and memory) and their acts (willing, understanding, and remembering).

====Ternary Phase====

Llull inaugurated the Ternary Phase with two works written in 1290: the ''Ars inventiva veritatis'' and the ''Art amativa'' (or ''Ars amativa boni'').{{sfn|Bonner|2007|p=121}} 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 [[ontology|nature of being]].<ref>Gayà, Jordi (1979). “La teoría luliana de los correlativos. Historia de su formación conceptual.” Universität Freiburg im Breisgau.</ref> 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]] (each divine principle has the three correlatives, and together the principles comprise the Godhead; therefore, the Godhead is threefold) and the [[Incarnation]] (the active and passive correlatives are equivalent to matter and form, and the trinitarian unfolding of being occurs on all levels of reality).{{sfn|Pring-Mill|1955}}

Within this framework, ''Liber Chaos''—a section of the ''Lectura''—explores the concept of primordial chaos as the initial state of creation, whereat divine principles had yet to impose order upon formless potential. Llull's treatment of chaos aligns with his system of correlatives, suggesting that chaos itself contains within it the active force of divine causation, the passive potential of undifferentiated being, and the act of transformation by which it becomes structured reality. This concept—though philosophical, in Llull’s system—bears a striking resemblance to alchemical notions of ''[[prima materia]]'', the raw substance from which all transmutations arise.{{sfn|Bonner|2007|pp=107–108}}

===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 device used by medieval Arab astrologers.<ref name="link">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</ref>{{sfn|Lohr|1984|pp=64–65}} The Art's reliance on divine attributes also has a certain similarity to the contemplation of the [[Names of God in Islam|ninety-nine Names of God]] in the Muslim tradition.{{sfn|Lohr|1984|p=63}} 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]]'s logic.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lohr |first1=Charles |title=Raimundus Lullus' Compendium Logicae Algazelis. Quellen, Lehre und Stellung in der Geschichte der Logik |date=1967 |publisher=Thesis, Freiburg im Breisgau |pages=93–130}}</ref>

====Dialogues====

From early in his career Llull composed dialogues to enact the procedure of the ''Art''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Friedlein |first1=Roger |title=Der Dialog bei Ramon Llull: Literarische Gestaltung als apologetische Strategie |date=2004 |publisher=M. Niemeyer |location=Tübingen |isbn=3484523182}}</ref> This is linked to the missionary aspect of the ''Art''; Llull conceived of 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 in 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 subsequently 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.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=van Steenberghen |first1=Fernand |title=La signification de l'oeuvre anti-averroiste de Raymond Lull |journal=Estudios Lulianos |date=1960 |volume=4 |pages=113–28}}</ref><ref>Imbach, Ruedi (1987). “Lulle face aux Averroïstes parisiens,” in ''Raymond Lulle et le pays d’Oc''. Toulouse: Privat, pp. 261–82.</ref> 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).

====Tree diagrams====

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 (Ramon Llull)|Tree of Science]]'' (1295-6) comprises sixteen trees ranging from earthly and moral to divine and pedagogical.<ref>English translation by Yanis Dambergs: https://lullianarts.narpan.net/TreeOfScience/TreeOfScience-1.pdf and https://lullianarts.narpan.net/TreeOfScience/TreeOfScience2.pdf</ref> 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.<ref>Anthony Bonner, "The structure of the Arbor scientiae". Arbor Scientiae: der Baum des Wissens von Ramon Lull. Akten des Internationalen Kongresses aus Anlass des 40-jährigen Jubiläums des Raimundus-Lullus-Instituts der Universität Freiburg i. Br., ed. Fernando Domínguez Reboiras, Pere Villalba Varneda and Peter Walter, "Instrumenta Patristica et Mediaevalia. Subsidia Lulliana" 1 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2002), pp. 21-34.</ref>

====Proverbs====
Llull wrote several books of proverbs in Catalan, to make it easier for local people to read. ''[[The Book of One Thousand Proverbs]]'', written in 1302, compiled maxims that encompassed various fields: theology, philosophy, morality, social life, and practical life. The main virtues noted of Llull's proverbs are concision, didactic simplicity, and musicality.

====Novels====
[[File:Ramon Llull (Santuari de Nostra Senyora de Cura).jpg|thumb|Ceramic ceiling light in the Sanctuary of Cura, [[Puig de Randa]].]]
Llull also wrote narrative prose drawing on the literary traditions of his time ([[Epic poetry|epic]], [[Chivalric romance|romance]]) to express the ''Art''. These works were intended to communicate the potentially complex operations of the ''Art'' to a lay audience. ''[[Blanquerna]]'' (c.1276-83) is the [?] of his novels; ''Felix'' (1287-9) is also notable, though it was not widely circulated during his lifetime and was only available in Catalan. It is a ''[[Bildungsroman]]'', of sorts, in which the titular [[protagonist]] sets out on a journey at the instigation of his father, who has written a "Book of Wonders". The book is divided into ten chapters—echoing the encyclopedic range of the ''Tree of Science''—as Felix gains knowledge of God, [[angel]]s, heavens, elements, [[plant]]s, minerals, [[animal]]s, [[Human|man]], [[Paradise]], and [[Hell]]. 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.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Dominguez |first1=Fernando |title=Felix Summary |url=http://www.ub.edu/llulldb/bo.asp?bo=II%2EB%2E15 |website=Ramon Llull Database |access-date=14 August 2021}}</ref>

==Reception==
{{See also|Lullism}}

===Medieval===
====Academic theology====
[[File:Ramon Llull, with his disciple Thomas le Myesier, presenting three anthologies to the Queen of France and Navarre.jpg|thumb|Ramon Llull, with his disciple Thomas Le Myésier, presenting three anthologies to the queen]]

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 [[Carthusians|Carthusian]] monks of Paris at Vauvert and by several theologians who donated their manuscripts to the [[College of Sorbonne|Sorbonne]] Library. One disciple, Thomas Le Myésier, went so far as to create elaborate compilations of Llull's works, including a manuscript dedicated to the [[Joan II, Countess of Burgundy|queen of France]].{{sfn|Hillgarth|1971}}

====Opposition====
In the 1360s the inquisitor [[Nicholas Eymerich]] condemned Lullism in Aragon. He obtained a [[papal bull]] in 1376 to prohibit Lullian teaching, although it proved ineffective. In Paris [[Jean Gerson]] 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.{{sfn|Hillgarth|1971|p=269}}

===Early modern===
====Academic theology====
Llull's most significant early modern proponent was [[Nicholas of Cusa]]. He collected many works by Llull and adapted many aspects of Lullian thought for his own mystical theology.<ref>Colomer, Eusebio (1961). Nikolaus von Kues und Raimund Llull. Berlin: De Gruyter.</ref> There was also growing interest in Lullism in Catalonia, Italy, and France. [[Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples]] 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.{{sfn|Hillgarth|1971|p=284}} It is thought that the influence of Lullian works in Renaissance Italy (coinciding with the rise of [[Platonism in the Renaissance|neoplatonism]]) contributed to a development in metaphysics, from a static Artistotelian notion of being to reality as a dynamic process.<ref>Lohr, Charles (1988). “Metaphysics.” In The Cambridge History of Renaissance Philosophy, edited by C. B. Schmitt, Quentin Skinner, Eckhard Kessler, and Jill Kraye, 537–638. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.</ref> In Northern and Central Europe Lullism was adopted by Lutherans and Calvinists interested in promoting programs of theological humanism. [[Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz|Gottfried Leibniz]] was exposed to these currents during his years in Mainz, and Llull's ''Art'' clearly informed his ''[[De Arte Combinatoria]]''.<ref>Ramis Barceló, Rafael (2019). "Academic Lullism from the Fourteenth to the Eighteenth Century," in A Companion to Ramon Llull and Lullism. Leiden: Brill, p. 458.</ref>

====Pseudo-Lullian Alchemy and Encyclopedism<!--'Pseudo-Llull' redirects here-->====
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.<ref>Pereira, Michela (1990). "Lullian Alchemy: Aspects and Problems of the corpus of Alchemical Works Attributed to Ramon Llull." Catalan Review, Vol. IV, 1-2: 41-54.</ref> Occultists such as [[Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa]] and [[Giordano Bruno]] were inspired by these works.{{sfn|Yates|1964|pp=308-309}} Despite Llull's growing identification with alchemy and Neoplatonic mysticism, others (such as [[Giulio Pace]] and [[Johann Heinrich Alsted]]) were still interested in the Lullian ''Art'' as a universal logic, even in the seventeenth century when [[René Descartes|Descartes]] and [[Petrus Ramus|Ramus]] proposed competing systems.{{sfn|Hillgarth|1971|p=297}}

====Iberian Revival and beatification====

Meanwhile, in Spain, the Cardinal [[Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros]], 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.<ref>Rubí, L. B. (2018). " Lullism among French and Spanish Humanists of the Early 16th Century". In A Companion to Ramon Llull and Lullism. Leiden: Brill.</ref> 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.<ref>Ramis Barceló, R. (2018). "Chapter 12 Academic Lullism from the Fourteenth to the Eighteenth Century". In A Companion to Ramon Llull and Lullism. Leiden: Brill.</ref> Llull was [[beatification|beatified]] in 1847 by [[Pope Pius IX]]. His [[feast day]] was assigned to 30 June and is celebrated by the [[Third Order of St. Francis]].<ref name="habig">Habig, Marion. (Ed.). (1959). ''The Franciscan Book of Saints''. Franciscan Herald Press.</ref>

===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.<ref>{{cite web |title=RAIMVNDI LVLLI Opera latina |url=https://www.theol.uni-freiburg.de/disciplinae/dqtm/forschung/raimundus-lullus/kritische-edition |access-date=11 September 2021}}</ref> In 1990 the work on the Catalan texts was restarted with the Nova Edició de les Obres de Ramon Llull (NEORL).<ref>{{cite web |title=Nova Edició de les Obres de Ramon Llull (NEORL) |url=https://manicula.narpan.net/nova-edicio-de-les-obres-de-ramon-llull-neorl |access-date=11 September 2021}}</ref> In the world of English-language scholarship on memory systems, the work of [[Frances Yates]] ({{harvnb|Yates|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]], [[philosophical fiction|philosophical fantasy]], and [[metafiction]]. [[Salvador Dalí]]'s alchemical thought was influenced by Ramon Llull and Dalí incorporated the diagrams from the Lullian ''Art'' into his work called ''Alchimie des Philosophes''.<ref>{{cite web |title=SALVADOR DALÍ: ALCHIMIE DES PHILOSOPHES |url=https://libmedia.willamette.edu/hfma/omeka/exhibits/show/salvador-dali--alchimie-des-ph |access-date=11 September 2021}}</ref> In 1937 [[Jorge Luis Borges]] wrote a snippet called "Ramon Llull's Thinking Machine" proposing the Lullian ''Art'' as a device to produce poetry.<ref>"Ramon Llull's Thinking Machine" in {{cite book |last1=Borges |first1=Jorge Luis |title=Selected Non-fictions |date=1999 |publisher=Viking |location=New York |pages=155–159}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Huxley|first=Aldous|title=Limbo|publisher=Chatto & Windus|year=1920}}</ref> [[Paul Auster]] 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]]'', a children's novel by poet [[John Masefield]].

====Other recognition====
Llull's ''Art'' is sometimes recognized as a precursor to [[computer science]] and computation theory.<ref>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.</ref> With the discovery in 2001 of his lost manuscripts, ''Ars notandi'', ''Ars eleccionis'', and ''Alia ars eleccionis'', together known as ''Ars Magna'' (what today would be called a logical system to discover some sort of truth),<ref>{{Citation|last=Priani|first=Ernesto|title=Ramon Llull|date=2021|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2021/entries/llull/|encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|editor-last=Zalta|editor-first=Edward N.|edition=Spring 2021|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|access-date=2023-10-05}}</ref> Llull is also given credit for creating an [[electoral system]] now known as the [[Borda count]] and [[Condorcet criterion]], which [[Jean-Charles de Borda]] and [[Marquis de Condorcet|Nicolas de Condorcet]] independently proposed centuries later.<ref name=Hagele>{{cite journal |author1=G. Hägele  |author2=F. Pukelsheim  |name-list-style=amp | title=Llull's writings on electoral systems | journal=Studia Lulliana | year=2001 | volume=41 | pages=3–38 | url=http://www.math.uni-augsburg.de/stochastik/pukelsheim/2001a.html |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060207154726/http://www.math.uni-augsburg.de/stochastik/pukelsheim/2001a.html|archivedate=2006-02-07}}</ref>

==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.&nbsp;93–305; ''Ars Demonstrativa'', pp.&nbsp;317–567; ''Ars Brevis'', pp.&nbsp;579–646; vol. 2: ''Felix: or the Book of Wonders'', pp.&nbsp;659–1107; ''Principles of Medicine'' pp.&nbsp;1119–1215; ''Flowers of Love and Flowers of Intelligence'', pp.&nbsp;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. 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.

==See also==
*[[Apologetics]]
*[[Catalan literature]]
*[[List of pioneers in computer science]]
*[[Lullism]]
*[[Volvelle]]
*[[Book of the Dispute of Raymond the Christian and Omar the Saracen]]

== References ==
=== Notes ===
{{Notelist}}

=== Citations ===
{{Reflist|30em}}

=== Works cited ===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last1=Badia |first1=Lola |author-link1=Lola Badia |last2=Santanach |first2=Joan |last3=Soler |first3=Albert |title=Ramon Llull as a Vernacular Writer: Communicating a New Kind of Knowledge |date=2016 |publisher=Tamesis |location=Woodbridge}}
* {{cite book |last=Bonner |first=Anthony |chapter=Historical Background and Life |editor-first=Anthony |editor-last=Bonner |title=Doctor Illuminatus: A Ramon Llull Reader |publisher=Princeton University |year=1985}}
* {{cite book |last1=Bonner |first1=Anthony |title=The Art and Logic of Ramon Llull: A User's Guide |date=2007 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden |isbn=978-90-04-16325-6}}
* {{cite book |last1=Hillgarth |first1=J. N. |title=Ramon Lull and Lullism in Fourteenth-century France |date=1971 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Lohr |first1=Charles |title=Christianus arabicus, cuius nomen Raimundus Lullus |journal=Freiburger Zeitschrift für Philosophie und Theologie |date=1984 |volume=31}}
* {{cite book |last1=Pereira |first1=Michela |title=The Alchemical Corpus attributed to Raymond Lull |date=1989 |publisher=The Warburg Institute |location=London}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Pring-Mill |first1=R. D. F. |title=The Trinitarian World Picture of Ramon Lull |journal=Romanistisches Jahrbuch |date=1955 |volume=7 |pages=229–256}}
* {{cite book |last=Yates |first=Frances |author-link=Frances Yates |year=1964 |title=Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition |place=Chicago |publisher=Chicago University Press}}
* {{cite book |first=Frances |last=Yates |title=The Art of Memory |place=London |publisher=Routledge and Kegan Paul |year=1966}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite journal | doi=10.2436/20.7010.01.243 | url=http://revistes.iec.cat/index.php/CtS/issue/view/9468/showToc | first=Umberto |last=Eco |author-link=Umberto Eco | title=The Ars Magna by Ramon Llull | journal=Contributions to Science | issn=2013-410X | volume=12 | number=1 | pages=47&ndash;50 | year=2016 }} 
* {{cite book |last1=Fidora |first1=Alexander |author1-link=Alexander Fidora |first2=Josep E. |last2=Rubio |title=Raimundus Lullus: An Introduction to His Life, Works and Thought |place=Turnhout |publisher=Brepols |year=2008}}
* {{cite book |first=Mary |last=Franklin-Brown |title=Reading the World: Encyclopedic Writing in the Scholastic Age |place=Chicago |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=2012}}
* {{cite book |first=Mark D. |last=Johnston |title=The Spiritual Logic of Ramón Llull |place=Oxford |publisher=Clarenden Press |year=1987}}
* {{cite book |first=Charles H. |last=Lohr |chapter=Ramon Lull's Theory of Scientific Demonstration |title=Argumentationstheorie |editor-first=Klaus |editor-last=Jacobi |place=Leiden |publisher=Brill |year=1993 |pages=729–46}}
* {{cite book |first=Frances |last=Yates |author-link=Frances Yates |chapter=Lull and Bruno |year=1982 |title=Collected Essays: Lull & Bruno |volume=I |place=London |publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul}}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{external links|date=March 2025}}
{{Commons category|Ramon Llull}}
{{wikiquote}}
{{wikisource|works=or}}
* Works by Llull ({{OL|148354A}}) at the [[Open Library]]
* {{Gutenberg author | id=42156 | name=Ramon Llull}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Ramon Llull}}
* {{cite SEP |url-id=llull |title=Ramon Llull|last=Priani |first=Ernesto}}
* [http://quisestlullus.narpan.net/eng/1_intro_eng.html Who was Ramon Llull?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130313073343/http://quisestlullus.narpan.net/eng/1_intro_eng.html |date=2013-03-13 }} Centre de Documentació Ramon Llull, [[Universitat de Barcelona]]
* Samuel M. Zwemer ''[http://www.ibri.org/Books/Zwemer/1902-Lull-MissMoslems/htm/doc.html Raymund Lull: First Missionary to the Muslims]'' 
* [http://openn.library.upenn.edu/Data/0025/html/OthmerMS4.html Othmer MS 4 Ars brevis; Ars abbreviata praedicanda at OPenn]
* [http://www.escriptors.cat/autors/llullr Ramon Llull at the AELC] (Association of Writers in Catalan Language). Webpage in Catalan, English and Spanish.
* {{lletra|URL_name=ramon-llull}}
* [http://orbita.bib.ub.edu/llull/p.asp?lang=en  Ramon Llull Database, University of Barcelona] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016115701/http://orbita.bib.ub.edu/llull/p.asp?lang=en |date=2015-10-16 }}
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12670c.htm ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' article of 1911]
* [http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/saint.aspx?id=1426 Blessed Raymond Lull]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110720171446/http://www.raimunduslullus.eu/textos/teoriaconeixementtradanglesa.pdf Esteve Jaulent: The Theory of Knowledge and the Unity of Man according to Ramon Llull]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110810135337/http://129.15.14.63/galleries//03Medieval/Lull/ Online Galleries, History of Science Collections, University of Oklahoma Libraries] High resolution portrait of Ramon Llull in .jpg and .tiff format.
* {{MacTutor Biography|id=Llull}}
* [http://www.cppdigitallibrary.org/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=48&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=contains&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Llull%2C+Ramon%2C+1232%3F-1316.+Practica+compendiosa Selected images from ''Practica compendiosa''] – The College of Physicians of Philadelphia Digital Library

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