[*trad*] Office du Tourisme et des Congrès du Grand Lyon

Medieval Lyon

Following the grandeur and decadence of the Roman era, Lyon became liberated in the Middle Ages. The emergence of the Church conferred substantial responsibilities on the city, as its influence and territory grew.

The city's development was closely linked to that of the Church. After emerging from the shadows in the 4^th  century, the clergy became one of the three ruling orders in French society.

In the 11^th  century, Lyons became the seat of the Primate of Gaul  (the first French church), an honorary title that is still bestowed on the Bishop of Lyons today. This status granted legal, military and administrative powers to the Bishop of Lyons.

Epic construction projects were begun, in order to secure the city's power. The Change bridge, which was consecrated by the Bishop of the day and has since been demolished, enabled the population, which was crowded into the St. Jean district, to cross the river and settle on the peninsula.

St Martin d’Ainay Abbey and the Manécanterie  or cloister wall, Lyons' finest examples of Romanesque art, were built. Work began on the primatial church of St Jean , which spanned the Romanesque and the gothic eras and was completed in the 15^th century, as well as the gothic-style church of St Nizier .

Commercial activities began to flourish and the craft industry diversified. Workshops multiplied in St Jean , St Georges and St Paul (now Old Lyons) . To make it easier for men and goods to circulate, the first traboules,  unusual passageways between two streets, were dug.

This regime signaled a new era for Lyons, but the Lyons middle-class, craftsmen, bankers and merchants, who were subject to the Church's ascendancy, fought to gain more independence. The Church turned a deaf ear to their claims and they finally had to appeal to the King. He took advantage of this opportunity to annex the city to the Kingdom of France. In 1240, Lyons became the first town to be placed under the King's protection, and from then on was governed by twelve consuls. The archbishop kept only his title, "Primate of Gaul".

Between the 14^th  and 15^th  centuries, during the Hundred Years' War and the Black Death epidemic that gripped Europe, Lyons experienced a further crisis. It was not until the Renaissance, in the middle of the 15^th  century, that the city regained its dynamism.