County of Provence


The County of Provence was a largely autonomous medieval state that eventually became incorporated into the Kingdom of France in 1481. 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.
File:Map_Kingdom_Arelat_EN.png|thumb|Map showing the march and county Provence and the county of Forcalquier as parts of the Kingdom of Burgundy-Arles in the 12th and 13th centuries.

Summary

The County of Provence was a former fief east of the Rhône delta. A territory that emerged from Middle Francia, Provence was first organized as a kingdom before gradually disintegrating due to feudal transfers and the civil war of the Union of Aix. Its natural borders originally stretched south from the Rhône to Nice and north from Embrun to the Vivarais, passing through the. To the north, its boundaries extended as far as Valence.
The county was annexed to France in 1487, and the king assumed the title "Count of Provence,, and adjacent lands," while appointing Palamède de Forbin as Grand Seneschal, Governor, and Lieutenant General of Provence. Provence retained its privileges, franchises, and freedoms.
In terms of taxation, Provence was a pays de taille réelle ; the don gratuit, the principal direct tax, was levied on property, except “noble property.” Regarding the salt tax, Provence was a pays de petite gabelle ; salt was sold through five salt warehouses, along with additional storage depots.
The political structure of the County was reformed into departments in 1790, with legislative institutions transferred to the new capital, Paris. These events triggered federalist movements, which were repressed by the Convention’s centralist armies. During this time, Toulon and Marseille were renamed Port-la-Montagne and La Ville-sans-nom, respectively.

Toponymy

The term “County of Provence” is attested as early as 1059. It derives from the title “Count of Provence,” which had been recorded since 972 and became more commonly used from the 1020s–1030s onward.
Provence owes its name to Roman times: it was the first region of Transalpine Gaul conquered between 58 and 51 BCE, and it became part of the Roman province, with Narbonne as its capital—thus the name Gallia Narbonensis. The Latin Provincia gave rise to the Provençal form Proensa, which evolved into Provensa, then Prouvença, and eventually Prouvenço under French influence in Provençal orthography. The spelling Prouvènço was standardized by followers of Roumanille and the phonetic writing system known as mistralian or “modern.” Classicists later proposed returning to a more original form, Provensa, which appeared on several early 20th-century maps. However, the medieval form Provença was chosen, as it included the letter ç representing the etymological c of provincia. In The Gallic Wars, Caesar mentions passing from Provincia to Narbonnensis when crossing the Rhône, which likely explains why only the part of former Narbonese Gaul east of the Rhône came to be known as Provence.

Geography

Borders

Historically, after the fall of the Roman Empire, “Provence” referred to the territory incorporated into the Frankish Kingdom in 536 and which became the Marquisate of Provence under the Kingdom of Burgundy-Provence in 947. It later became the County of Provence, with Arles, then Aix-en-Provence as its capitals. The borders fluctuated: in 1125, a treaty between Raymond Berenger and Alphonse Jourdain of Toulouse divided Provence. The County of Provence was tied to the Crown of Aragon until the Treaty of Meaux-Paris. In 1388, after Queen Joanna’s death, her territories east of the Var were lost and ceded to the States of Savoy in what became known as the, initially forming the Terres Neuves de Provence and later the County of Nice from 1526. A century later, in 1481, the County of Provence passed by succession to King Louis XI of France and thus became a French province.
In the Middle Ages, Provence included the southern Alps up to the left-bank tributaries of the Var. Parts of the Alpine regions were later separated: in the north, incorporated into the Dauphiné province, and in the east, the Pays Niçois was granted to the House of Savoy in 1388 under the name Terres Neuves de Provence. This Savoyard acquisition, at Provence’s expense, led to the creation of the County of Nice from 1526 to 1860.
During the French Revolution, Provence was divided into three departments: Basses-Alpes, Bouches-du-Rhône, and Var. The department of Vaucluse was created in 1793 from Avignon, the Comtat Venaissin, and the northern part of Bouches-du-Rhône. The Alpes-Maritimes were created in 1860 from the County of Nice and the eastern part of Var.
The southern part of Drôme, though historically part of the Dauphiné, is known as Drôme provençale. It is culturally close to Provence due to language, the fact that the bishopric of Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux belonged to the metropolitan province of Provence, the region of Bouchet was part of the Comtat Venaissin, and because Diois and Valentinois were vassals of the Marquis of Provence.
Over time, some authentically Provençal enclaves persisted in southern Drôme provençale, such as the County of Grignan, the Provençal enclave of Lemps, and the enclaves of Saint-May, Rémuzat, Cornillon, Pommerol, and Eygalayes. All these villages identify with Provence and have legitimate historical claims to that heritage.

Relief

The relief of Provence is generally hilly, with impressive Prealps in the central part and, to the east and northeast, the Southern Alps, which reach their highest point at 3,412 meters at the Aiguille de Chambeyron. Further south lies the Pelat massif, rising to 3,050 meters. On either side of the Var River, as well as east of the Verdon River, the Castellane Prealps, which peak at at 1,996 meters, are composed of plateaus and mountain ranges oriented west to east. The High Provence Plains separate the Prealps from the central hills. To the west, the Mont Ventoux massif, mostly located in the Comtat Venaissin, extends into Provence, where it reaches an altitude of 1,600 meters in the Sault National Forest. The Sainte-Victoire Mountain, famous for Cézanne’s paintings, dominates the Aix region. In the Bouches-du-Rhône department, the Alpilles are notable, while in Vaucluse, at the edge of the Comtat Venaissin, stands the Petit Luberon, Provençal in its eastern part, followed by the Grand Luberon, which reaches its highest point at. Lastly, the Sainte-Baume massif stretches from west to east, from Gémenos to Mazaugues.
The coastlines from Marseille to Menton are rather rugged. Erosion caused by violent summer storms can create deeply carved ravines.
The western part of the region is marked by the Crau Plain and the Camargue, formed by the Rhône Delta, which are the only truly flat areas in the Provençal region.

Hydrography

Among the waterways that cross Provence, the most significant is the Rhône, which forms the western border of the region. The Rhône has the second-largest flow rate of all rivers flowing into the Mediterranean Sea, after the Nile. As it flows into a tide-less sea, the river has formed a delta. Now embanked, this delta remains stable except during exceptional floods such as those in 1993, 1994, and 2003.
The Durance is a tributary of the Rhône, with its source at approximately 2,390 meters above sea level, at the Pré de Gondran, on the slopes of the. The source lies near the former Gondran Fort, in the commune of Montgenèvre, in the Hautes-Alpes, near the Italian border. It flows into the Rhône a few kilometers southwest of Avignon, between the Vaucluse and Bouches-du-Rhône departments, serving as a border between the two. The Durance is known as a “capricious” river, once feared for both its floods and its low-water periods.
The Ubaye is a river that originates at the at an altitude of 2,655 meters, in the Ubaye Valley. It passes through Barcelonnette and feeds into the Durance in the Serre-Ponçon hydroelectric reservoir.
The Verdon River, which rises at the foot of the , flows into the Durance after covering approximately 175 kilometers. It is especially renowned for its gorges.Many coastal rivers also exist in Provence, notably:
  • The Var River, which originates at an altitude of 1,790 meters, south of the Cayolle Pass, and travels 114 kilometers through Alpes-Maritimes before reaching the Mediterranean Sea between Nice and Saint-Laurent-du-Var. The Var River, whose flow is usually low, is considered the natural border between Provence and the County of Nice.
  • The Argens River crosses the Var department from Seillons Source d’Argens to Fréjus, where it flows into the Mediterranean.

    Climate

Provence is a region with a Mediterranean climate, featuring hot, dry summers. Winters are mild along the coast and generally humid in the east but are harsher in the north and northeast, where the climate becomes alpine.
In its central and Mediterranean areas, the vegetation of Provence is characteristic of the garrigue, and the summer drought makes it particularly vulnerable to wildfires. However, the region becomes greener and more humid in its more easterly and alpine parts.
The main wind is the mistral, whose speed can exceed 110 km/h. It blows between 120 and 160 days per year, with gusts averaging 90 km/h. The following table indicates the various mistral wind speeds recorded at the Orange and Carpentras-Serres stations in the southern Rhône Valley and its frequency during the year 2006. The "normal" corresponds to the average of the past 53 years for Orange’s meteorological records and 42 years for those of Carpentras.
Jan.Feb.MarchAprilMayJuneJulyAugustSept.Oct.Nov.Dec.
Maximum speed recorded during the month96 km/h97 km/h112 km/h97 km/h94 km/h100 km/h90 km/h90 km/h90 km/h87 km/h91 km/h118 km/h
Trend: days with a speed > 16 m/s --+++---++++++++==+++++---=++