Tlie ancient city appears to have remained in the possession of the Romans till about
the year 472 of our a2ra; when the emperor Anthemius, desirous of the assistance of the
Burgundians, a people who at that time inhabited Savoy, against tlie Visigoths, who
were making incursions, and laying waste that part of Gallia Narbonensis, promised
them the city of Lyons as a reward for their services.
Soon after its cession, it became the metropolis of the new kingdom of Burgundy :
a government which however proved but of short duration; for the Franks and
Ostrogoths uniting, about one hundred and twenty years after its foundation, against
Gondemar, the last sovereign of that country, he was dethroned j and, in consequence of
a division of his states taking place, Lyons, in 534, fell under the dominion of the
Franks, in whose possession it remained tiil 870; at which time it passed into the hands
of Conrad, king of the second kingdom of Aries and Burgundy.
In 1173 it underwent another considerable change ; for the whole of the Lyonese
territory being ceded by Guy the Second, count du Forest, to his brother Guichard,
bishop of that province, it then became governed by its own bishops, who from that
period were honoured with the title of princes, and chosen by the chapter, composed of
canons, who, previous to their ordination, were obliged to prove their right to. the
ancient noblesse of the country, and were then dignified by the appellation of count.
But, in 1314, the then reigning prince and prelate granted to Louis Hutin of France,
with consent of the chapter, the temporal jurisdiction of that province ; reserving to
himself only what related to the spiritual state of the country,, for which the court of
France conferred on him the dignity of archbishop and primate of Gaul.
Previously, however, to the revolution of 1789, the public administration of Lyons was
in a great measure entrusted to a prioot des marchands, or president, commonly taken
from the class of merchants; and four syndics, elected by the people. But those
important offices degenerating soon after their institution into mere empty titles, both
the legislative and executive power devolved into the hands of a governor-general, a
receiver-general of the province, a senechal, presidial, &c.; who judged and decided in
the name of the king. So that in fact, at the revolution, the Lyonese found themselves
bereft of most of their ancient privileges, except the exclusive one of guarding their
city by enrolUng or appointing their militia, with an exemption from billeting or lodging
troops ; in which respects Lyons might be compared to the city of London, which enjoys
that municipal and exclusive privilege.