In the archives: Lyon, capital of printing

In the archives of Lyon. In what areas has our city been a pioneer? In what ways has it established itself as a center of global scientific innovation, economic vitality, artistic creation, or societal advancement? On the occasion of its thirtieth anniversary, Lyon Capitale is offering a section in partnership with the Municipal Archives of Lyon.

“Little predisposed (...) Lyon to occupy this position. The city had been a great intellectual center in the Carolingian era, but almost nothing remained of it, except for hundreds of manuscripts forgotten in the shadow of the cathedral. The absence of a parliament and a university deprived the city of jurists and students of all kinds, the main buyers of books in the medieval period. Of course, as everywhere, churches had libraries, at least for worship, and clerics, jurists, or bourgeois had a few pious books, legal summaries, and novels.”

In his thesis, “From Manuscript to Print: The Book Revolution in Lyon (1470-1520),” Jean-Benoît Krumenacker lays the foundations for what would become Lyon, the third largest printing center in Europe by the end of the 15th century, after Paris and Venice.

At this time, France was once again at peace. Thanks to its fairs, which were royal privileges, Lyon was cited by the ambassador of the Most Serene Republic of Venice to Charles V as "the foundation of the good of all Italy and the good part of Spain and France"*, a key crossroads of European trade and a strong banking center.