Llull felt his universal Art was neglected in favor of lucrative knowledge

Evidence

Llull’s later works reflect both his continuing efforts to adapt his missionary strategy to a changing world and a mounting sense that his work is unappreciated and hence ultimately futile. He laments in De fine, “I cannot make the above-mentioned Arts take root in this world, rather for this I am neglected, since all rush to acquire pompous or lucrative knowledge. And I languish for the public good which I see in the Arts, and I live in sadness in pain, wandering over the world.” In 1311 Llull composed his Phantasticus: he presents himself on his way to the council of Vienne, which he would try to convince to adopt a modified version of the plan laid out in De fine. On his way he meets a successful, worldly archdeacon who, upon learning who his traveling companion is, exclaims: “Ramon, I have often heard about you; they say you are really crazy [phantasticus].” — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1349

Categorization

• SEED: The self-presentation of a scholar as ‘phantasticus’ who ‘languishes for the public good’ while ‘all rush to acquire pompous or lucrative knowledge’ is a ready-made meditation on the fate of unfashionable intellectual projects vs. careerist learning.