Barbentane
Barbentane is a commune of the Bouches-du-Rhône department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southern France.
Geography
Barbentane is located at the northernmost point of the Bouches-du-Rhône department immediately south-west of Avignon near a rocky plateau and stretching a few kilometres across a flat low area and low hills where the urban area is located. The northern border of the commune is the departmental border between Bouches-du-Rhône and Vaucluse while the western border is the departmental border with Gard.Access to the commune is by the D35 road from Rognonas in the east, which passes through the commune and the town and continues west, then south-west, to Boulbon. The D570N from Graveson in the south-east passes along the eastern border of the commune then goes east to Rognonas. The D34 goes east from the town to join the D570N. The D77D goes south-east from the town and also joins the D5470N. The D35E goes south from the village to join the D81 in the south. The main railway line from Avignon to the south passes through the east of the commune with the Barbentane-Rognonas Station east of the town. Apart from the town there are also the districts of La Chinquine, Carrière, Le Grand Roumette, Cambageon, Fontgisclar, La Bruyère, Bragalance, and Mas de Basette. The slopes in the south of the commune are forested while the rest of the commune is mostly farmland, with an urban area containing a significantly sized town at the base of the slopes.
Hydrography
The north-western tip of the commune is the confluence of the Durance river, which forms the northern border of the commune, and the Rhône river, which forms the western border. The Canal des Alpines comes from the east and passes through the commune to continue south-west, parallel to the Rhône.Geology
From a geological point of view there are two components of the commune's surface area:- to the north and east, facing the present town, is a large plain which dates from the recent Quaternary period. It consists of modern alluvium from the Rhône and the Durance. The water table is located at one metre deep under very rich and intensely cultivated land which has neither pebbles nor gravel;
- to the west and south the Montagnette massif was formed by two uprisings. The first dates from the Neocomian period and the other is Miocene.
Toponymy
The first written evidence of Barbentane dates from the 9th century. Despite its late appearance this ancient name probably indicates a water source at the foot of a rocky rise: in Ligurian the syllable ar refers to water and tan to a cliff; and the prefixes barva or borvo are widespread throughout Europe. The etymology of Barbentane would be closer to spa towns such as La Bourboule, Barbotan-les-Thermes, etc.Until the end of the 19th century the spelling was Barbantane with an "a" but the name is now consistently always spelled with an e instead, as Barbentane.
Barbentane is called Barbentana according to the classical norm of Occitan and Barbentano according to the Mistralian norm.
History
Prehistory and Antiquity
Originally there were three separate occupied sites on the territory. The oldest is Fretta which disappeared in the 6th century but whose name has survived in the form of Frigolet. The other two sites of Bellinto and Barbentane are much better-known.In 1957 excavations near the site of Fretta, a Chasséen human bone was discovered in a burial pit amongst various flints and animal bones.
The Ligurians were the oldest people in the area who retained their name. Over time they associated with the Celts which resulted in the Celto-Ligurians. The name Bellinto came from these Celto-Ligurians for the place where a ferry was permitted to cross the Durance.
The name Bellinto was written for the first time in 333 on the road from Bordeaux to Jerusalem. Well before that date, however, Bellinto already existed and it is likely that the most illustrious of its occupants during this period was Gaius Marius. This Roman general established his camp in the Montagnette before going to crush the Cimbri and the Teutons on the plain of Pourrières in 102 BC.
This came at the time of the Pax Romana which lasted for four centuries and of which many vestiges remain
Middle Ages
A time of peace was followed the successive invasions of the Alemanni, the Vandals, the Visigoths, the Burgundians, the Ostrogoths, the Franks, the Lombards, the Normans, and the Saracens.The first known mention of a lord, in 1133, concerned Guillaume de Barbentane whose direct descendants until Marquis Henry de Puget de Cabassole du Réal de Barbentane were always from Barbentane. Guillaume lived in the Maison des Chevaliers, completed in 1178. As a borderland, Barbentane was alternately a fief of the Kingdom of France and of the Holy Roman Empire. It also benefited as a place of passage: a ferry crossing of the Durance is attested in 1178. The ferry merged with that of Rognonas around 1450.
The Papacy settled in Avignon in the 14th century and helped to clarify the situation. As well as all the benefits gained from the situation, including relief from or outright exemption from charges and taxes, the commune benefited from architectural attention and embellishments to the village. Enhanced fortifications and expansion of the church date from the same era as the Maison des Chevaliers and the construction of the Tour Anglica in 1364-1365. This tower was named after Bishop Anglic de Grimoard, the brother of Pope Urban V and built for the modest sum of 4,000 florins.
French Revolution
During the French Revolution the priest of Barbentane, who was a Juror, was thrown bound and gagged into the Durance during the First White Terror of 1795.Strong republican or monarchist/conservative family political traditions date from the Revolution. It is only since the end of the colonial wars that the people of Barbentane could express themselves politically as individuals without being banned from their families.
Heraldry
Administration
List of Successive Mayors| From | To | Name |
| 2001 | March 2018 | Jean-Louis Ichartel |
| March 2018 | 2026 | Jean-Christophe Daudet |
Twinning
Barbentane has twinning associations with Saillon since 1994.Population
The inhabitants of the commune are known as Barbentanais or Barbentanaises in French.Economy
The two major economic activities in Barbentane have always been from the beginning, agriculture and stone quarries.Its large alluvial plain allows intensive, high quality agriculture, in historical times based mainly on autarkical crops—wheat, beans, etc. Then came a time when Dyer's Madder was cultivated - its first real industrial cultivation. Harvesting this plant required 1000 locals and 600 immigrant workers. This period of cultivation was short-lived—the market collapsed after a few years when chemical dyes appeared. However, the construction of the main Paris–Marseille railway via Lyon in the 1840s led to the replacement in local agricultures of madders by other fruit and vegetables. The land had already been leveled and irrigated; it remained only to plant cypress trees to protect the crops from the mistral to begin cultivation of these new crops. The Mediterranean sunshine combined with the presence of a very shallow and abundant water table and irrigation with water from the Canal des Alpines gave varied fruit and vegetable crops. The Barbentane Railway Station was the junction with the railway line from Plan-d'Orgon and for a long time was the largest railway station in France for fruit and vegetables. Farmers practiced a triennial crop rotation and continued their activities in winter with the harvest of olives and almonds in the Montagnette, and culture of salad plants, cabbages, and spinach on the plain.
A variety of eggplant is called a "long purple eggplant of Barbentane". A variety of rustic and succulent figs is called "black of Barbentane". There is also a red cherry coloured rose which is named "Countess of Barbentane".
The rocky outcrop where the village is perched has been quarried for a long time. Barbentane stone was used in the construction of the village and the architectural elements of Avignon and surrounding villages.
The large void left by the quarrying within the village itself, were used by the inhabitants for Underground living and two districts remain fully inhabited today.
These two main economic activities are major users of manpower and this has led to strong immigration from Italy and Spain since ancient times and this lasted until the 1960s. Since then immigration has been mostly from the Maghreb.
Today the stone quarries have completely disappeared and agriculture has lost its primacy as the main activity of the village. Provençal culture remains very much alive.
As elsewhere it was common practice to give nicknames to differentiate between people who often had the same last name. The Barbentanais were nicknamed Li Broument, a Provençal word meaning "many" and used only in Barbentane.
Barbentane has its culinary specialty, "Les Tirettes" which are made from a special pâte and eaten at Sunday lunch and on holidays.
Culture and heritage
Civil heritage
The commune has a number of buildings and structures that are registered as historical monuments:- The Bullfight Arena on the D77B
- The Maison des Chevaliers has a Renaissance façade composed of a turret and two large arches topped by a columned gallery. The house was originally built in 1133 and belonged to the Marquis de Barbentane. The arches on the ground floor and the columns on the 1st floor date to the 16th century. The building was restored in 2000. The north wing served as town hall from 1670 to 1888.
- The Tour du Cardinal Grimaldi , also called the Tour Anglica, is the probable location of an oppidum. A castle was built there by the Bishop of Arles in 898. The tower itself was built in just two years by Angel de Grimoard and it was the property of the fief of Barbentane. It served as a forward defence for the papal city of Avignon. The tower is 28 metres high and 10 metres wide. It is topped with a round turret, or trunnion, surmounted by a flag with the motto Più forte nell' aversità and the papal coat of arms. Frédéric Mistral wrote of it in his poem Lis Isclo d'Or in 1875 which earned him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1904. It has served as an observatory for Cassini who was charged by King Louis XV to map France in the middle of the 18th century. Legend has it that there is a tunnel stretching from the tower to the Palace of the Popes. It could conceal some of the Vatican's treasures and the Germans began excavating to find it from 1943 to 1944. The tower is located in the private park of the Chateau of Andigné and remains a symbol of Barbentane. There was a well called "Puits du Seigneur" which supplied water to the Anglica Tower and was close to the side that supports the tower. Marius Girard, Félibrige of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, wrote a poem Le Puits du Seigneur.
- The Chateau of Barbentane is called the Petit Trianon de la Provence and was built in 1674 by Paul-François I of Puget, co-lord of Barbentane. Pierre Mignard II was the architect. It was remodeled by Paul-François II, his son, in 1741 with flat arches and a low profile to illustrate his glory. The interior was decorated in the 18th century by Joseph Pierre Balthazar de Puget, co-lord of Barbentane, son of Paul-François II, ambassador of Louis XV in Tuscany, when he was 20 years old. The Chateau was saved during the French Revolution when Hilarion Paul François Bienvenu de Puget, co-lord of Barbentane and a former officer of the king, agreed to become General of the Republic. The Chateau was the origin of the first suburbs of the village. The porch of the southern façade has an excellent view of the Barbentane Tower, the village, and the Montagnette. The Chateau contains several items that are registered as historical objects:
- * 2 Louis XVI Wing Chairs
- * 6 Louis XV Chairs
- * 2 Louis XV Sofas
- * A Louis XV Chest of Drawers
- * A framed Painting: The Entombment
- The Chateau Park
- An Agricultural Cooperative
- The Hotel of the Barons of Chabert is a house in Louis XIII style built in the early 17th century. This building has been the Town Hall since 1888. The interior can be visited during Heritage Days. Its wrought iron belfry supports the bell for the clock which weighs 250 kg. Louis XIV as a child stayed here overnight. It contains several items that are registered as historical objects:
- * 2 Paintings
- * The Interior of the Mayor's Office
- * A Statue: Virgin and child