The County of Provence was a largely autonomous medieval state that eventually became incorporated into the Kingdom of France in 1481. [1] For four centuries Provence was ruled by a series of counts that were vassals of the Carolingian Empire, Burgundy and finally the Holy Roman Empire, but in practice they were largely independent.
There is no clear date of the first use of the title of Count of Provence, although an independent state had been forming for some time. The first non-Carolingian ruler of Provence was Boso who made himself king and was confirmed by the Synod of Mantaille, whose Bosonid descendants would rule Provence for a time. His son Louis was a short lasting Holy Roman Emperor who despite being crowned in 901 was twice expelled from Italy and on the second time was blinded and returned to Provence which was now effectively governed by his cousin, Hugh of Arles. Hugh moved the capital of Provence from Vienne to Arles, and when Louis died took the title Duke of Provence. Hugh became King of Italy in 926 ruling both Italy and Provence for twenty years. He traded Provence to Rudolph I of Burgundy in exchange for preserving his power in Italy. After Hugh's death Conrad of Burgundy became Count of Provence as King of Burgundy. He named a number of counts of Burgundian origin, [2] one of whom Rotbald founded a new dynasty who would control the county for the next century and a half.
Despite unsuccessful attempts by Louis and Hugh to expel them, partially because they had been occupied in Italy, the Muslim Saracens had established a base on the coast of Provence called Fraxinetum, near modern-day Saint-Tropez. From here they controlled the mountains of the Massif des Maures and the coast between modern Fréjus and Hyères, [3] and raided throughout Provence getting as far east as the Italian Riviera and north to the alpine valleys of Piedmont. [4]
In 973, the Saracens captured Maiolus, the abbot of the monastery at Cluny, and held him for ransom. The ransom was paid and the abbot was released. Count William I, the Count of Arles, organized an army with the help of allied soldiers from Piedmont, and defeated the Saracens near La Garde-Freinet at the Battle of Tourtour. The Saracens who were not killed at the battle were forcibly baptized and made into slaves, and the remaining Saracens in Provence fled the region.
The expulsion of the Saracens in 973 became an epic event in the history and legends of Provence. William became known as "William the Liberator." He distributed the lands taken from the Saracens between Toulon and Nice to his entourage. His descendants became the recognized leaders of Provence, above the other counts of the region. [4]
During this long period of wars and banditry in Provence, the population retreated to walled cities, maritime trade was rare, and little new art or architecture, other than fortification, was created. The Provençal language was formed, closer to Latin than the French spoken in northern France. In the 11th century Provençal terms began to appear, mixed with Latin, in documents. [5]
The German Emperor Conrad the Salic forced the childless King of Burgundy, Rudolph III, to name him as successor which in 1032 led to Provence becoming a fiefdom of the Holy Roman Empire, which it remained until 1246.
There was a tradition of shared inheritance practiced by the family of the Counts, leading to two lines each using the title of Count. In 1112, a descendant of Count William I, Douce I, Countess of Provence, married the Catalan Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona, who as a result became Raymond Berenguer I, Count of Provence. He ruled Provence until 1131, and his descendants, the Catalan Dynasty, ruled Provence until 1246.
The claim of the other line, sometimes using the title of Margraves of Provence, passed by marriage to William III, Count of Toulouse. This led to a long-standing Toulouse claim to the county, finally resolved by partition in 1125. Provence north and west of the Durance went to the Count of Toulouse, while the lands between the Durance and the Mediterranean, and from the Rhône to the Alps, stayed with the Counts of Provence. The capital of Provence was moved from Arles to Aix-en-Provence, and later to Brignoles. [6] A shorter lasting partition in the next generation, between the County of Provence and the County of Forcalquier. was ended by an intra-dynastic marriage in 1193.
Following the Crusades, international commerce began to resume in the ports of the Mediterranean and along the Rhône. The port of Marseille flourished again. A new city built on the Petit-Rhône, Saint-Gilles, became a transit point for cloth from Flanders and spices and the products of the eastern Mediterranean. Tarascon and Avignon on the Rhône became important trading ports.
During the 12th century some of the cities of Provence became virtually autonomous. They were ruled by consuls, formally under the Counts of Provence but with considerable autonomy. Consulates existed in Avignon in 1229, 1131 in Arles, between 1140 and 1150 in Tarascon, Nice and Grasse, and 1178 in Marseille. Marseille went farther than the others, establishing a confrerie or charitable and religious organization of the one hundred leaders of the professions, crafts and businesses in the city, which drew up a code of justice and municipal regulations. Several Provençal cities directly negotiated commercial treaties with the republics of Pisa and Genoa in Italy. Other cities, however, such as Aix, Toulon, Hyères, Digne, Cavaillon and Carpentras, remained under the authority of the Counts. In the 13th century the counts of Provence suppressed most of the consulates, but the seeds of civil liberty and democracy had been planted in the cities. [7]
In the early 13th century the Albigensian crusade in neighboring Languedoc upset the existing order in Provence. Pope Innocent III sent missionaries and then soldiers to suppress the Cathar religious movement in Languedoc. The Pope accused Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse of supporting the Cathars, excommunicated him, and invited an army of French knights on a crusade to cleanse the south of France of the heresy. A war began in Provence between the French knights and the soldiers of Raymond VI and his son Raymond VII.
Soldiers from Tarascon, Marseille and Avignon joined the army of the Counts of Provence to fight the French. The French commander, Simon de Montfort, was killed at the siege of Toulouse in 1218. Then Raymond VI died in 1222, and a dispute over his lands in Provence began. King Louis VIII of France decided to intervene, and a French royal army marched down the valley of the Rhône and laid siege to Avignon. The city held out for three months but was finally forced by hunger to surrender. Avignon was forced to destroy its city walls and accept a French castle on the other side of the river, and by a treaty signed in Paris on April 12, 1229, the part of Provence west of the Rhône that had belonged to the Counts of Toulouse became part of France. [8]
Beginning in 1220, Provence east of the Rhône had a new ruler, Ramon Berenguer IV, of the Catalan dynasty. He was the first Count of Provence to actually reside in Provence permanently, usually living with his court in Aix. He launched a military campaign to impose his authority over the cities of Provence, ending the independence of Grasse and Tarascon, occupying Nice, which had tried to ally with Genoa; and founding a new town, Barcelonette, in the far east of Provence, near the Italian border.
The ambitions of Ramon Berenguer were energetically resisted by the new Count of Toulouse, Raymond VII, who had lost most of his own territory to France. Raymond VII became an ally of Marseille and Avignon in their fight against Ramon Berenguer. In 1232 his army devastated the territories of Ramon Berenguer around Tarascon and Arles.
Ramon Berenguer responded to this attack by strengthening his alliance with France; he married his daughter, Marguerite, to King Louis IX of France, and appealed to Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, for support. In exchange for his support, Frederic demanded that the cities of Arles and Avignon be governed by the Holy Roman Empire. A prolonged struggle took place between Raymond VII and his allies, the cities of Marseille and Avignon, against Ramon Berenguer for authority in Provence. Arles was blockaded and all traffic on the Rhône stopped.
The French army finally intervened to help Ramon Berenguer, the French king's father-in-law. Raymond VII was forced to abandon his quest, and Ramon Berenguer was able to appoint his own candidate as bishop of Avignon and to subdue the rest of eastern Provence. When Ramon Berenguer died in 1245, not quite forty years old, he controlled all of Provence between the Rhône and Italian border except the rebellious city of Marseille. [9]
Ramon Berenguer had four daughters, but no sons. After his death his youngest daughter and heiress, Beatrice, married Charles, Count of Anjou, the youngest son of Louis VIII of France. Provence's fortunes became even more closely tied to the Angevin dynasty. [10]
The 15th century saw a series of wars between the Kings of Aragon and the Counts of Provence. In 1423 the army of Alphonse V of Aragon captured Marseille, and in 1443 captured Naples and forced its ruler, King René I of Naples, to flee. He eventually settled in one of his remaining territories, Provence.
History and legend has given René the title "Good King René of Provence", though he only lived in Provence in the last ten years of his life, from 1470 to 1480, and his political policies of territorial expansion were costly and unsuccessful. Provence benefitted from population growth and economic expansion, and René was a generous patron of the arts, sponsoring painters Nicolas Froment, Louis Bréa, and other masters. He also completed one of the finest castles in Provence at Tarascon, on the Rhône.
When René died in 1480, his title passed to his nephew Charles du Maine. One year later, in 1481, when Charles died, the title passed to Louis XI of France. Provence was legally incorporated into the French royal domain in 1486.
Year 1226 (MCCXXVI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar.
Provence is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which stretches from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the south. It largely corresponds with the modern administrative region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and includes the departments of Var, Bouches-du-Rhône, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, as well as parts of Alpes-Maritimes and Vaucluse. The largest city of the region and its modern-day capital is Marseille.
Tarascon, sometimes referred to as Tarascon-sur-Rhône, is a commune situated at the extreme west of the Bouches-du-Rhône department of France in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Inhabitants are referred to as Tarasconnais or Tarasconnaises. The patron saint of the city is Martha of Bethany, whose motto is "Concordia Felix".
Arles is a coastal city and commune in the South of France, a subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the former province of Provence.
Ramon Berenguer V was a member of the House of Barcelona who ruled as count of Provence and Forcalquier. He was the first count of Provence to live in the county in more than one hundred years. During the minority of a previous count, the regency was exercised by Ramon Berenguer IV de Barcelona, who is sometimes counted among the counts of Provence.
Kingdom of Burgundy was a name given to various states located in Western Europe during the Middle Ages. The historical Burgundy correlates with the border area of France and Switzerland and includes the major modern cities of Geneva and Lyon.
The Kingdom of Burgundy, known from the 12th century as the Kingdom of Arles, also referred to in various context as Arelat, the Kingdom of Arles and Vienne, or Kingdom of Burgundy-Provence, was a realm established in 933 by the merger of the kingdoms of Upper and Lower Burgundy under King Rudolf II. It was incorporated into the Holy Roman Empire in 1033 and from then on was one of the empire's three constituent realms, together with the Kingdom of Germany and the Kingdom of Italy. By the mid-13th century at the latest, however, it had lost its concrete political relevance.
The Baussenque Wars were a series of armed conflicts (1144–1162) between the House of Barcelona, then ruling in Provence, and the House of Baux. They are held up in Provence as the idealistic resistance by one of her native families against Catalan "occupation." In reality, they were the first of many successful expansions of Catalan power and influence in the Mediterranean world.
The House of Baux is a French noble family from the south of France. It was one of the richest and most powerful families of medieval Provence, known as the 'Race d’Aiglon'. They were independent lords as castellans of Les Baux and Arles and wielded very considerable authority at the local level. They held important fiefs and vast lands, including the principality of Orange.
William I, called the Liberator, was Count of Provence from 968 to his abdication. In 975 or 979, he took the title of marchio or margrave. He is often considered the founder of the county of Provence. He and his elder brother Rotbold I were sons of Boson II of Arles and his wife Constance, who, based on her name, has been speculated to be daughter of Charles Constantine of Vienne. They both carried the title of comes or count concurrently, but it is unknown if they were joint-counts of the whole of Provence or if the region was divided. His brother never bore any other title than count so long as William lived, so the latter seems to have attained a certain supremacy.
Adelaide-Blanche of Anjou(c. 940 –1010 or 1026) was, by her successive marriages, countess of Gévaudan and Forez, of Toulouse, of Provence, and of Burgundy, and queen of Aquitaine. She was the regent of Gevaudan during the minority of her sons in the 960s, and the regent of Provence during the minority of her son from 994 until 999.
Aicard of Marseilles, also known as Aicard of Arles or simply Aicard, was the Archbishop of Arles from 1070 to 1080 and again from 1107 to his death.
Beatrice of Provence, was the ruling Countess of Provence and Forcalquier from 1245 until her death, as well as Countess of Anjou and Maine, Queen of Sicily and Naples by marriage to Charles I of Naples.
The architecture of Provence includes a rich collection of monuments from the Roman era, Cistercian monasteries from the Romanesque period, medieval castles and fortifications, as well as numerous hilltop villages and fine churches. Provence was a very poor region after the 18th century, but in the 20th century it had an economic revival and became the site of one of the most influential buildings of the 20th century, the Unité d'Habitation of the architect Le Corbusier in Marseille.
The historic French province of Provence, located in the southeast corner of France between the Alps, the Mediterranean, the Rhône river and the upper reaches of the Durance river, was inhabited by Ligures beginning in Neolithic times; by the Celtic since about 900 BC, and by Greek colonists since about 600 BC. It was conquered by Rome at the end of the 2nd century BC. From 879 until 1486, it was a semi-independent state ruled by the Counts of Provence. In 1481, the title passed to Louis XI of France. In 1486 Provence was legally incorporated into France. Provence has been a part of France for over 400 years, but the people of Provence, particularly in the interior, have kept a cultural identity that persists to this day.
The Union of Aix, founded in 1382, was a confederation of cities of Provence. It supported the party of Charles of Durazzo against the Capetian Louis I, Duke of Anjou during the unrest that followed the capture and death of Queen Joanna I of Naples, Countess of Provence. The resultant civil war finally ended in the defeat of the Union of Aix and the recognition of Louis II of Anjou as Count of Provence, along with the cession of Nice to Savoy.
The following is a history of Avignon, France.
Marseille, France was originally founded circa 600 BC as the Greek colony of Massalia and populated by Greeks from Phocaea. It became the preeminent Greek polis in the Hellenized region of southern Gaul. The city-state allied with the Roman Republic against Carthage during the Second Punic War, retaining its independence and commercial empire throughout the western Mediterranean even as Rome expanded into Western Europe and North Africa. However, the city lost its independence following the Roman Siege of Massilia in 49 BC, during Caesar's Civil War, in which Massalia sided with the exiled faction at war with Julius Caesar.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Avignon in southern France.