Lyon, Councils of 459eventually they lost it to King LOUISIX of France in
- Their properties eventually passed into the control
of the French Crown.
See alsoJERUSALEM, LATINKINGDOM OF.
Further reading:George Hill, A History of Cyprus,
4 vols. (Cambridge: University Press, 1949–52); W. H.
Rüdt de Collenberg, The Rupenides, Hethumides and
Lusignan: The Structure of the Armeno-Cilician Dynasties
[by] Count W. H. Rüdt-Collenberg (Paris: Klincksieck,
1963); Harold Sinclair Snellgrove, The Lusignans in
England 1247–1258 (Albuquerque: University of New
Mexico Press, 1950).
Lydgate, John (the Monk of Bury)(ca. 1370–1449)
English Benedictine monk, poet
He was born in Lydgate, a village near Bury St. Edmunds
in Suffolk. John’s numerous works range from FABLESand
satires to lives of saints and religious and secular lyrics,
including The Troy Book(1412–21), The Siege of Thebes
(1420–22), and The Fall of Princes(1431–38), some com-
missioned by King HENRYV.
Lydgate was educated at the monastery of Bury Saint
Edmunds in Suffolk, was ordained in 1397, and spent
much of his life there. His career was not as wide-ranging
as that of Geoffrey CHAUCER, whose versification he imi-
tated. He did spend several years on the Continent in
FRANCEbetween 1426 and 1429. His work shows knowl-
edge of trends in French and Latin literature, reflected by
ties to the work of Giovanni BOCCACCIOand Coluccio
SALUTATI. He died about 1449.
Further reading:John Lydgate, Poems,ed. John Nor-
ton-Smith (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1966); Lois Ebin,
John Lydgate (Boston: Twayne, 1985); Derek Albert
Pearsall, John Lydgate (1371–1449): A Bio-Bibliography
(Victoria, Canada: University of Victoria, 1997); Walter
F. Schirmer, John Lydgate: A Study in the Culture of the
XVth Century,trans. Ann E. Keep (Berkeley: University
of California Press, 1961).Lyon (Lyons) Lyon lies at the confluence of the
Rhône and Saône Rivers in BURGUNDY. Under the Roman
Empire, it was capital of a province, the center of a road
network, and a pagan religious center. By 170 it had
became the seat of one of the earliest Christian churches
founded west of ROME. Occupied by Burgundians, then
by FRANKS, Lyon stagnated for sometime. In an 843 set-
tlement it was allotted to the empire and did not become
part of the kingdom of France until 1312. The rich
church of Lyon had extensive temporal power and pos-
sessions such as CASTLESand rural lordships. Two ecu-
menical COUNCILSwere held there, in 1245 and 1274.
The growing town obtained a communal CHARTER in
1320 from the French Crown. During the HUNDRED
YEARS’WAR, it remained loyal to the king of France, but
the countryside suffered considerably. Not until the sec-
ond half of the 15th century did Lyon once more become
a commercial and trading metropolis. Prosperity
returned with the rise of four annual FAIRS, banking,
printing, and good trading relations with ITA LY,SWITZER-
LAND, and GERMANY.
Further reading:Frank Dobbins, Music in Renais-
sance Lyons(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992); James B.
Wadsworth, Lyons, 1473–1503: The Beginnings of Cos-
mopolitanism(Cambridge, Mass.: Mediaeval Academy of
America, 1962).Lyon, Councils of (Lyon I, 1245; Lyon II, 1274) See
COUNCILS, GENERAL AND ECUMENICAL.