Marseille

RAMON LLULL IN MARSEILLE

In September 1305, Ramon Llull goes to Marsella to meet Arnau de Vilanova, undisputed leader of the Spiritualists. He tries to convey his enthusiasm for a crusade that he wants to organize according to the approach set out in his Liber de fine. Probably he was also in Marseille in 1308 to meet Arnau de Vilanova again.

MARSEILLE, THEN AND NOW

Marseille is a major port city situated on the Gulf of Lion at the mouth of the Rhone. Founded by the Greeks around 600 BC, it had the status of free city in Roman times. With the demise of the Western Empire it was taken over successively by the Visigoths, the Burgundians, the Franks and the kingdom of Burgundy. In the 9^th century it was a viscounty of Provence. Later it became a municipality that recognize the sovereignty of the Count of Toulouse and then of Charles of Anjou. Its prosperity in the Middle Ages was due to the Crusades, as it was a passing port to the Holy Land and Africa. It was incorporated into the French Crown in 1481.

Among the most important monuments of Marseille, all of them located near the old port, worth mentioning the Roman theatre and docks. With regard to the medieval buildings there are the Basilica of Sainte-Marie-Majeur, Romanesque-Byzantine style and Saint-Victor abbey, with a nave of the 12^th and 13^th century and the crypt of the 5^th century, considered the oldest place of worship in France and the oldest monastic establishment of the west.