Castellane


Castellane is a commune in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. With a population of 1,470, it has the distinction of being France's least populated subprefecture, ahead of Largentière in Ardèche.
Its inhabitants are referred to as Castellanais and Castellanaises.

Geography

Castellane is a very old city located upstream of the Gorges du Verdon. The city is above sea level.
The Roc, or the Roc of Notre-Dame, overlooks the city from above. It has been occupied since the High Middle Ages and is a registered historical site. It can be accessed from the centre of town behind the old Church of St. Andrew. The walk takes about 25 minutes.
Two reservoirs are located in the territory of Castellane:
  • Lake Castillon
  • Lake Chaudanne, created by the dam of the same name, the.
The area has two water gaps:
The GR 4 hiking trail crosses through the town. The neighboring municipalities are:

Climate

Castellane features a warm-summer mediterranean climate, bordering on a mediterraneran continental climate. Summers are warm to hot and dry, while winters are cold and snowy.

Geology

The commune is part of the Jurassic limestone area of the French Prealps in Provence, formed by the tectonic upheaval of the Alps during the Tertiary. Limestone deposits run the length of the Verdon river, giving rise to spectacular gorges formed through karst erosion. Around Castellane older formations surface, such as gypsum and Triassic black marl.
Neighboring mountains and passes
The commune contains of wood and forests. The extends over the western part of the commune.

History of place names

Castellane's name appeared in texts for the first time circa 965–977 as Petra Castellana. The name breaks down into three Occitan terms, pèira, castel and the suffix -ana, which means fortified rock and village, and could be translated as "Castellane rock", in other words, the rock that has a fortified village, or simply the stronghouse or stronghold. Castellane is called Castelana in the Provençal dialect in the classical norm, or Castelano in the Mistralian.
The former commune of Castillon, now beneath the lake, appeared around 1300 as de Castilhone, an Occitan word for a small castle.
The first part of the name "Chasteuil" is obscure, but the second, -ialo, is a Celtic suffix for "clearing".
The village of Robion has the same name as the river that and flows through it into the and takes its source from the Massif du Robion to the east of the village. The name in Rubione, which first appeared for it in 1045, is derived from the vulgar Latin robigonem, a distortion of the classical Latin robiginem for rust, according to Ernest Nègre. Charles Rostaing, on the other hand, believed that the name might predate the Gauls and designate a steep-sided ravine.
, was first mentioned in 1095 when the château of Taloire was given to the Abbey of St. Victor, Marseille, which became the lay seigneur of the fief. It derived its name from the Occitan talador, meaning soldiers especially recruited to devastate the land of an adversary. Adding the -ia suffix designates, either a land inhabited by these devastators, or a land devastated by the taladors. Rostaing thought this name also probably also predated the Gauls. noted a tautology: *Tal- et *Tor-, the teo roots. The name "Taloire" contains two terms designating a mountain.

Economy

In 2017, the unemployment rate of the Castellane population was 20.1%, up from 12.4% in 2007. The largest sector of activity in December 2015 was the public sector with 45 businesses and 280 paid workers.

History

Prehistory and antiquity

The inhabitants of Castellane are known back to a very early date. Neolithic nomads came through the area; the oldest traces date back to 6000 BC. A grotto with cave paintings exists in the commune but its location is kept confidential to protect the artwork; Bronze Age tombs have also been discovered in a cave in Castillon. Ligurian tribes occupied the territory. The Suetrii or Suètres later created an oppidum named Ducelia, near the Roc. They mined salt in the area and sold it. Most of the communes attached to Castellane today were peopled by the Suetrii. Taulanne was the exception, inhabited by the people who had their capital in Senez.
The region was conquered by Augustus in 14 BC. Castellane was attached to the Roman province of Alpes-Maritimes and began to grow. Homes were established in the plain, and the city was named Civitas Saliniensum. The name of the town later became Salinae.
Several roads left from or passed through the town:
Residents first settled on the bank of the Verdon to mine the saline sources which are still visible today. A treasure of antiquity, 34 gold coins issued by Arcadius and Honorius, were discovered in 1797 in Taloire. A limestone funerary stele for one Julius Trofimus, dating back to Roman times, was discovered near the old chapel of Notre-Dame-du-Plan. Until 1942 it was used in a retaining wall, and can be found today in the public garden of the savings bank. The inscription is included in the collection of Gallia Narbonensis Roman inscriptions and is listed on the historic register.
A diocese was founded in the fifth century: its seat was transferred to Senez before the 6th century however and despite all attempts to have it return to Castellan it remained there until it was closed in the French Revolution.

Middle Ages

In the early ninth century, the area around the current town of Castellane was inhabited by only 84 people. In 812 the area was invaded by Moors, also sometimes called Saracens; they destroyed Salines, the early settlement near the salt marshes. The inhabitants of Salines took refuge on the summit of the Roc and built a stronghold there, building the first Notre-Dame there, inaugurated in 852, in thanks for the refuge. Some vestiges of this site, which was named Sinaca in 813 and Petra Castellana in 965, are still visible at the place now known as Le Signal. People later also settled at the foot of the Roc in the valley bottom.
In 852 a lord of Castellane, possibly named Guillaume won a victory against the Moors and put together a barony of 46 village communities stretching from Cotignac in Var to the south, to Thorame-Haute in the north, and from Soleilhas to Esparron-de-Verdon. The Barony was considered a small sovereign state ruled by hereditary sovereign barons. Over time Castellane came to have three co-existing sites:
  • the Rupes, on top of the Rock, was soon entirely occupied by the castle built in 977 by Pons-Arbaud and Aldebert
  • the Castrum, halfway up, on a larger site but easy to defend;
  • the Burgum, current site of Castellane, easily accessible, facilitating trade.
In 1189, Baron de Castellane Boniface III was attacked by Alfonso I of Provence. He had refused to do homage, explaining that he was a vassal of the Holy Roman Empire. But in the face of brute force he was forced to bend the knee. Another war broke out in 1227 between the Provence and Boniface of Castellane, presumably the son. In 1257 Charles II—then still just prince of Salernes, gave the castle to the Austinian monks. In 1262, Charles I of Anjou defeated Boniface of Castellane and made Castelle the seat of a baile. In the thirteenth century, the family of Castellane lost possession of the city to the Counts of Provence. To protect themselves from attack, in addition to the protections for the city, Castellane built a series of fortified outposts at Demandolx, La Garde,, Rougon, and perhaps Taloire. In 1300 a small Jewish community of eight households was established in the area.
The Black Death reached Castellane in 1348, and was followed by a devastating flood of the Verdon River. The capture and death of Queen Joanna I of Naples created a succession issue in the county of Provence, the cities of the Union of Aix supporting Charles de Duras against Louis I of Anjou.
Lord of Castellane Louis d'Anduse, also often known as Lord of La Voulte, sided with the Duke of Anjou from the spring of 1382, supporting him on condition he participate in an expedition to rescue the queen. Castellane itself initially also backed the Duke, but changed allegiance in February 1386 after the Duke died, and rallied to the cause of the queen-regent, Marie de Blois. She negotiated with them, hoping to set off a chain of similar declarations of support. Guillaume de Forcalquier and his son Jean Raynaut, lords of Eoulx, submitted to the Duchess in July 1386. In 1390, Raimond de Turenne ravaged the surrounding territory and the village of Taulanne and failed to take the city, but did destroy the wooden bridge over the Verdon River.
The wooden bridge over the Verdon was rebuilt in stone in the 15th century. A monastery took care of its maintenance. The bridge on the Place Castellane put Castellane on the frequently travelled routes between the Mediterranean and the bridge over the Durance river at Sisteron. The bridge toll for the Verdon and the fair began at the end of the Middle Ages. The fair continued until the end of the Ancien Régime, assuring the town relative prosperity.
In the fifteenth century, a community settled on the present site of Taloire. In the middle of the fifteenth century, the upper village was completely abandoned in favor of the lowland site.