The County

The County of Lyon

The County of Lyon covers a part of today’s Rhône departement, as well as parts of the departement of Loire (the Jarez, south-eastern part of the Loire). The Beaujolais (northern part of the Rhone dept.) is not included.

The County of Lyon is a rectangle roughly 60 x 30 km, limited by the Saône-Rhône line in the east (with a corridor of 1-4 km wide along the Saône-Rhône from Lyon northward.

It is placed at the junction between two great river valleys, that of the Saône, and that of the Rhône.

The Saône flows down from the Vosges mountains, and has a course of 482km, roughly oriented North-South ; it rejoins the Rhône at Lyon. It is a slow, easily navigable river regulating the lower course of the Rhône. It is however subject to ample variations of flow: it floods easily in autumn and winter, and goes dry in summer. In Lyon, it goes through a series of rapids, strewn with large rocks, called the Mort qui Trompe (the Betraying Death). When flooding, it will cover Vaise, then the Presqu’île.

It irrigates the County of Burgundy in the north, and lower is the political border between The Kingdom of France and the Empire. It provides a western border for the County of Savoy, the Dauphiné of Viennois; it goes through the middle of the Seigneurie of Beaujeu.

The Rhône flows down from the Alps, its sources located south of the Mount of Saint-Gothard (where the Rhine also starts). It goes through the Geneva lake, and going west joins the Saône in Lyon. It then heads south to join the Mediterranean, ending in a delta called the Camargue. It is a strong, impetuous river; influenced by alpine snowmelts and rains, it keeps a regular water level, always very high; its lower waters are in september (and they are 16 times stronger than the Saône’s at its lowest); the high water are in may (but in may flood in all seasons); the floods do not last as long as the Saône’s (only a week vs 3); it has numerous islands all along its course.

To the south it joins Lyon to the Dauphiné (capital: Vienne, on the Rhône), the County of Valentinois and Diois (capital: Valence, on the Rhône), then the papal state (capital: Avignon on the Rhône), then its down to Arles, the Provence and the sea.

The southern part of the County is called the Jarez (or Jarret in some texts), bound southward by the Mount Pilat (1434m). The west is dominated by the Mounts of the Lyonnais (altitude 500-1000m, highest point 937m), further west and north are the Mounts of Tarare, rising to 1004 m, and marKing the limit between. Just north of Lyon is the Mont d’Or (alt. 625m). Between the Mounts of Tarare and the Mounts of the Lyonnais runs the Brévenne river, along a narrow valley. Hence the County is rather hilly, even mountainous, except for a narrow and irregular band of land along the Rhône, and the parts east of the Rhône. The land is also flat between the Mont d’Or and Anse in the northern parts of the County. Another important river is the Azergues, coming down the Mounts of the Beaujolais, and joining the Brévenne 15 km before its gets to the Saône.

Four rivers merge, the Azergues, the Turdine, the Brévenne and the Gier , opening a passage toward the Counties of Loire and Auvergne.

Forests would still partly cover the Lyonnais and the Tarare; a number of slopes along the Saône and the Rhône are devoted to growing wine, just as they are today.

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