The County of Provence (Occitan: Comtat de Provença) 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.
Overview
The County of Provence (in Old Occitan, Comtat de Provensa) 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 Drôme provençale. 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, Forcalquier, 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 (a land-tax-paying region); the don gratuit, the principal direct tax, was levied on property, except “noble property.” Regarding the salt tax (gabelle), Provence was a pays de petite gabelle (small salt-tax region); salt was sold through five salt warehouses (in Berre, Toulon, Hyères, Fréjus, and Cannes), 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 (“The City Without a Name”), 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 (Provincia in Latin), 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 (in Simon-Jude Honnorat's Provençal dictionary), 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 (Arles suffering frequent attacks from the Count of Toulouse, Marquis of Provence). 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 (1229). 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 Dédition de Nice, 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 (County of Nice) 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 (renamed Alpes-de-Haute-Provence in 1970), 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 (Grasse district).
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 (Archbishopric of Arles), the region of Bouchet was part of the Comtat Venaissin (Upper Comtat), 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 (including the neighboring villages of Réauville, Montjoyer, Salles, Colonzelle, Allan), the Provençal enclave of Lemps (written Lens in the 18th century), 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 (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence). 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 Puy de Rent at 1,996 meters, are composed of plateaus and mountain ranges oriented west to east. The High Provence Plains (Plans de Haute-Provence) separate the Prealps from the central hills (Valensole Plateau, Canjuers Plain, Albion Plateau). 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 (Pays d’Aix). 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 Mourre Nègre. Lastly, the Sainte-Baume massif stretches from west to east, from Gémenos (Bouches-du-Rhône) to Mazaugues (Var).
The coastlines from Marseille to Menton are rather rugged (Calanques, Maures, Esterel, French Riviera). 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 Sommet des Anges. 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 (Provençal tradition says the three plagues of Provence were the mistral wind, the Durance, and the Parliament of Aix) and its low-water periods.
The Ubaye is a river that originates at the Col du Longet at an altitude of 2,655 meters, in the Ubaye Valley. It passes through Barcelonnette (a sub-prefecture of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence) and feeds into the Durance in the Serre-Ponçon hydroelectric reservoir.
The Verdon River, which rises at the foot of the Tête de la Sestrière (altitude 2,572 meters), flows into the Durance after covering approximately 175 kilometers. It is especially renowned for its gorges.
Many coastal rivers also exist in Provence, notably:
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 (Pelat, Ubaye, Digne Prealps), where the climate becomes alpine.
In its central and Mediterranean areas, the vegetation of Provence is characteristic of the garrigue (scrubland), 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 (not included here) 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.
History
Antiquity
Greek provence
The Provençal coastline was colonized by the Greeks: around 600 BCE, the Phocaeans settled in Marseille (Massalia in Greek; Massilia in Latin). They spread out to other areas, founding colonies in Nice (Nikaia), Antibes (Antipolis), Hyères (Olbia), Six-Fours (Tauroeis), Arles, La Ciotat (Citharista), Brégançon (Pergantion), Monaco (Monoïkos), Athénopolis, and on certain parts of the Languedoc coast such as Agde (Agathé) and south of Nîmes. To the north, they founded Le Pègue near Valréas and stopped at La Laupie, east of Montélimar. Before the Roman invasion and colonization, the region was mainly inhabited by Ligurians, who later mixed with some Celtic soldiers and founded what is now referred to as the Celto-Ligurians (formerly Celto-Lygians).
The Roman conquest in the 2nd century BCE
Brief timeline