ABSTRACT
Very little is known about Sebastian Castellio's family background and his early life. The historian wishing to examine Castellio's early years can only rue that the subject was himself so reticent. The beginnings of the Lyon printing industry can be traced back to the 1470s, when Barthelemy Buyer, a native of Lyon, and Guillaume Le Roy from Liege, who established the first typographical workshop. The intellectual movement which has been termed 'Lyon Humanism' began to take shape at the beginning of the century. It was led initially by Symphorien Champier, a multi-talented academic, a 'Curieux universel', who was first and foremost a physician but also produced numerous literary and philosophical works. As a result of Lyon's significant role as a centre of European trade and commerce in the first half of the sixteenth century, the city also became a centre for the collection and exchange of religious and spiritual ideas.
