Lully (Lull or Lulle), Raymond, surnamed the Doctor 1 lluminatus, an eminent Spanish philosopher and theologian, was born at Palma, on the island of Bla- jorci, about 1234. In early life he followed his paternal profession of arms, and abandoned himself to all the license of a soldier's life. Even when married he con- tinued to pursue pleasures inconsistent with conjugal fidelity, and the theme of his poetical compositions was sensual love. About the year 1266, sick and tired of debauchery, he retired to a desert to lead a life of soli- tude and rigorous asceticism. Here he pretended to have visions, and, among others, a manifestation of Christ on the cross, who called him to his service, and to the conversion of the jMohammcdans. He therefore at once engaged in diligent study to prepare for the la- bors and duties of a missionary. Having mastered the Arabic, and thorouglily entered into the spirit of Ara- bian philosophical writings, he took to the use of his pen for the conversion of the Saracens, seeking to dem- onstrate the truth of Christianity in opposition to all the errors of infidels. His first work was his ^4 rs major or [lenej-alis, which has so severely tested the sagacity of commentators. This work is the development of the method of teaching known subsequently as the " Lul- lian method," and afforded a kind of mechanical aid to the mind in the acquisition anil retention of knowledge by a systematic arrangement of subjects and iileas. Like all such methods, however, it gave little more than a superficial knowledge of any subject, though it was of use in leading men to perceive the necessity for an in- vestigation of truth, the means for which were not to be found in the scholastic dialectics, and it was published l)y Lully Avith the special aim of serving as the prepara- tory work to a strictly scientific demonstration ni all the truths of Christianity.
The king of Majorca, hearing of his reputation, called Liflly to Montpcllier, where, in 1275, he wrote his Ars demonstrativa, and founded a convent for the ]irepara- tion of Minorites as missionaries to the Saracens. This was the first linguistic school for missionary purposes. In 1287 he went t.o Paris, where he lectured on the Ars f/eiiei-alis to a large number of students, and before Ber- tauld de St. Denis, chancellor of the university. He next went to Rome to seek the countenance of the pope for his plan of establishing missionary schools, which he thought would prove more effective than the Crusades,
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of which he said, " I see many knights going to the Holy Land in the expectation of conquering it by force of arms ; but, instead of accomplishing their object, they are in the end all swept off themselves. Therefore it is my belief that the conquest of the Holy Land should be attempted in no other way than as thou (Christ) and thy apostles undertook to accomplish it — by love, by prayer, by tears, and the offering up of our own lives." Meeting, however, with but little success, he returned to Tunis in 1291, and commenced labors as a missionary' by holding conferences with the most learned Moham- medan scholars and theologians. In proclaiming to them the truth of the Christian religion, he insisted es- pecially on the necessary adaptation which a perfect Being could not fail to establish between the primary cause and its effect, and attempted to explain the doc- trines of the Trinity and the Incarnation by purely met- aphysical arguments. He was, however, expelled by the king of Tunis, and owed his life only to the inter- cession of a learned and liberal Mohammedan. Lully now went back to Paris, resumed his teaching there, and wrote his Tabula r/eneralis and Ais expositiva, which are a continuation of his former works, and pre- sent the same ideas under a different form. In 1298 he succeeded in establishing at Paris, under the protection of king Louis Philippe le Bel, a college where his meth- od was taught. Prance was at that time in great fer- ment : Philippe le Bel was planning the destruction of the order of Knight Templars, and Boniface VIII, in re- vindicating the right previously claimed by Gregory VII, had aroused the greatest op]iosition in France. Lully himself, after having again in vain applied to Konie for help in carrying out his plans, withdrew to labor wherever an opportunity offered itself. He sought by arguments to convince the Saracens and Jews on the island of Majorca. In 1301 he went to Cyprus, and thence to Armenia, exerting himself to bring back the different schismatic parties of the Ori- ental Church to orthodoxy. He then visited Hippone, Algiers, and other cities on the coasts of Africa, and finally Bugia, then the seat of the IMohammedan em- pire. Here he publicly lectured in Arabic, proclaiming '• that Christianity is the only true religion ; the doc- trine of jNIohammed, on the contrary, false ; and this he was ready to prove to every one." He was again im- prisoned, but made his escape by the aid of some Geno- ese merchants, enduring manj^ hardships on his journey to Europe by shipwreck. He finally reached Paris, and there resinned his lectures with great success. In 1311 the Council of Yienne, mainly by his infiuence, no doubt, decided that, in order to facilitate the conversion of the heathen, professors of Hebrew, Arabic, and Chal- dee, two for each language, shoidd be established at Komc, and in the universities of Paris, Oxford, Bologna, and Salamanca ; those at Rome to be maintained and paid by the pope ; those at Paris by the king of France, etc. ; and excluded the doctrines of Averroes from the schools. But LuUy could not long bear the easy but monotonous life he was leading as a teacher and philos- opher; so, on Aug. 14, 1314, he once more crossed to Af- rica, where, after laboring at first secretly, then openly, he was at last stoned to death by order of the king, June 30, 1315. His body was recovered by some Geno- ese merchants and brought back to Europe. According to another accomit, lie was still alive when rescued, but so seriously wounded that he died in sight of his native island.