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PROVENCE (Provincia, Proenza)

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 506 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PROVENCE (Provincia, Proenza) , a See also:province in the See also:south-See also:east of See also:ancient See also:France, bounded on the N. by the See also:Dauphine, on the E. by the See also:Rhone and See also:Languedoc, on the W. by the See also:Alps and See also:Italy, and on the S. by the Mediterranean. The See also:coast, originally inhabited by Ligurians, was from an See also:early date the See also:home of some Phoenician merchants. About 600 B.C., according to tradition, some traders from See also:Phocaea founded the See also:Greek See also:colony of Massalia (See also:Marseilles) and the colonists had See also:great difficulty in resisting the Cavares and the See also:Salyes, i.e. the Ligurian peoples in the vicinity. Other colonies in the neighbourhood, such as See also:Antibes, See also:Agde, See also:Nice, originated in this See also:settlement. During the See also:wars which followed, the inhabitants of Massalia asked assistance from the See also:Romans, who thus made their first entry into See also:Gaul (125 B.C.), and, after a See also:campaign which lasted several years under the ' Gras was Capoulie from 1891 till 1901, succeeding his See also:brother-in-See also:law, Roumanille, who held the See also:office from 1888 till 1891. The first Capoulie was, of course, See also:Mistral (1876–1888). Gras's successor was See also:Pierre Devoluy, of See also:Die (appointed in See also:April 1901). the See also:government to his brother-in-law, See also:Duke Boso, who, taking See also:advantage of the struggles between the Frankish princes which followed the See also:death of See also:Charles the Bald, reconstituted the former See also:kingdom of Charles, the son of See also:Lothair, and in 879 was acknowledged as its See also:sovereign at Mantaille in Viennois. This is the kingdom of Provence (Provence, Viennois, Lyonnais and Vivarais), sometimes, but improperly, called Cisjuran See also:Burgundy. Boso died in 887, having succeeded in maintaining his See also:independence against the See also:united Frankish princes. His widow Ermengarde, daughter of See also:Louis II., with the assistance of the See also:emperor See also:Arnulf, had her son Louis acknowledged See also:king at an See also:assembly held at See also:Valence in 890. Louis attempted to seize the See also:crown of Italy in goo, and in got was even crowned emperor at See also:Rome by See also:Pope See also:Benedict IV.; but in 905 he was surprised at See also:Verona by his See also:rival Berengar, who captured him, put out his eyes, and forced him to give up Italy and return to Provence; he lived here till his death in 928, leaving an illegitimate son, Charles See also:Constantine.

The See also:

principal figure in the See also:country at this See also:time was See also:Hugo (See also:Hugues) " of See also:Arles," See also:count, or duke, of Viennois and See also:marquis of Provence, who had been king of Italy since 926. In See also:order to retain See also:possession of this country, he gave the kingdom of Louis the See also:Blind to See also:Rudolph II., king of Burgundy (q.v.), and thus the kingdom of Burgundy extended from the source of the See also:Aar to the Mediterranean. But the See also:sovereignty of Rudolph II. and his successors, See also:Conrad (937–993) and Rudolph III. (993–1032), over Provence was almost purely nominal, and things were in much the same See also:condition when, on the death of Rudolph III., the kingdom of Burgundy passed into the hands of the See also:German See also:kings, who now See also:bore the See also:title of kings of Arles, but very rarely exercised their authority in the country. At the beginning of the loth See also:century Provence was in a See also:state of See also:complete disorganization, a result of the invasions of the See also:Saracens, who, coming from See also:Spain, took up their quarters in the neighbourhood of Fraxinetum (La Garde-Freinet in the See also:department of See also:Var) and ravaged the country pitilessly, the Christians being unable to oust them from their strongholds. All the real See also:power was in the hands of the See also:counts of the country. It is probable that from the 9th century several of the Provencal countships were united under one count, and that the count of Arles had the title of duke, or marquis, and exercised authority over the others. In the See also:middle of the loth century the count-See also:ship of Provence was in the hands of a certain Boso, of unknown origin, who See also:left it to his two sons See also:William and Roubaud (Rotbold). These two profited by the commotion caused by the See also:capture of the famous See also:abbot of See also:Cluny, St Maiolus (Mayeul), in 973, who had fallen into the hands of the Saracens, and marched against the Mussulmans, definitely expelling them from Fraxinetum. About the same See also:period the marquisate seems to have been re-established in favour of Count William, who died in 993, and from that time the descendants of the two See also:brothers, without making any See also:partition, ruled over the different countships of Provence, only one of them, however, bearing the title of marquis. The counts of Provence had, from about the middle of the 11th century, a tendency to add the name of their usual See also:residence after their title, and thus the lordships, known later under the names of the countships of Arles (or more properly Provence), of Nice, and of Venaissin, See also:grew up. Roubaud had one son named William, who died without See also:children, about 1043, and one daughter, Emma, who married William, count of See also:Toulouse, by whom she had a son, Pons (1030–1063), the See also:father of See also:Raymund of See also:Saint-Gilles (1063–1105).

William also had a son of the same name. This William II. had three sons by his wife Gerberge—See also:

Fulk, See also:Geoffrey and William. The last-mentioned had a son, William See also:Bertrand (1044-1067), whose daughter See also:Adelaide married, first, Ermengaud, count of Urgel, and then Raimbaud of Nice. Geoffrey was the father of Gerberge, who married See also:Gilbert, count of Gevaudan, and he had a daughter See also:Douce, who in 1112 married Raymund-See also:Berenger, count of See also:Barcelona; by this See also:marriage, Provence, in the correct sense of the word, passed over to the See also:house of Barcelona. At the beginning of the 12th century the various marriages of the Provencal heiresses, of whom mention has just been made, ledto the See also:land being divided up among the different branches of the ancient countly See also:family (1105, 1125 and 1149), and thus the countships of Provence, Venaissin and Forcalquier were definitely formed. Under the command of Raymund of Saint-Gilles the Proven-gals took an important See also:part in the first crusade, and the use of the See also:term " Provencal" to denote the inhabitants of See also:southern France, their See also:language and their literature, seems to date from this period. The See also:history of the princes of the house of Barcelona, Raymund-Berenger I. (rxr3–1131), Raymund-Berenger II. (1131–1144) and Raymund-Berenger III. (1144-1166), is full of accounts of their struggles with the powerful feudal house of Baux, which had extensive See also:property in Provence; in 1146 one of the representatives of this house, Raymund, obtained from the emperor the See also:investiture, though only in theory, of the whole countship of Provence. After the death of Raymund-Berenger III., who was killed at the See also:siege of Nice (1166), his See also:cousin See also:Alphonso II., king of See also:Aragon, claimed his See also:inheritance and took the title of the count of Provence. But his See also:succession was disputed by the count of Toulouse, Raymund V., a marriage having been previously arranged between Raymund-Berenger's daughter and his son, and he himself hastening to marry the widow Richilde, niece of the emperor See also:Frederick I.

The See also:

majority of the See also:lay and ecclesiastical lords of Provence recognized Alphonso, who in 1176 signed a treaty with his competitor, by which Raymund V. gave up his rights to the king of Aragon in See also:consideration of a sum of See also:money. Alphonso was represented in Provence by his brothers Raymund-Berenger and Sancho in turn, and in 1193 by his son Alphonso, who succeeded him. This Alphonso gave Aragon and See also:Catalonia to his brother See also:Peter (Pedro), and kept only Provence for himself, but on the death of his father-in-law, Count William II., in 1208, whose son had been disinherited, he added to it the See also:county of Forcalquier. He was able to protect Provence from the consequences of the See also:war of the Albigenses, and it was not until after his death (1209), during the minority of his son Raymund-Berenger IV., who succeeded him uhder the regency of his See also:uncle, Peter of Aragon, and later of his See also:mother Gersende, that Provence was involved in the struggle of the count of Toulouse against See also:Simon de See also:Montfort, when the part played by the See also:city of See also:Avignon in the Albigensian See also:movement finally led to Louis VIII.'s expedition against the See also:town. William of Baux took advantage of the troubles caused by Raymund-Berenger's minority to have the kingdom of Arles conferred upon himself by Frederick II.; this led, however, to no See also:practical result. Raymund-Berenger had also to fight against Raymund VII., count of Toulouse, the emperor having ceded to this latter in 1230 the countship of Forcalquier, and showed another See also:mark of his favour in 1238, when, in consequence of some difficulties with the city of Arles, Raymund-Berenger drove the imperial See also:vicar from the town. The intervention of St Louis, who in 1234 had married See also:Margaret, the eldest daughter of the count of Provence (the second, Eleanor, married See also:Henry III. of See also:England in 1236), put an end to the designs of the count of Toulouse. Raymund-Berenger died in 1245, leaving a will by which he named as his heiress his See also:fourth daughter, See also:Beatrice, who shortly afterwards, in 1246, married the celebrated Charles of See also:Anjou (see CHARLES I., king of See also:Naples), brother of the king of France. After her death, in 1267, Charles still maintained his rights in Provence. The countship of Venaissin was left to him by his See also:sister-in-law, Jeanne, countess of Toulouse, but in 1272 King See also:Philip the Bold took possession of it, giving it up in 1274 to Pope See also:Gregory X., who had claimed it for the See also:Roman See also:Church in pursuance of the treaty of 1229 between Raymund VII. of Toulouse and St Louis. Almost all the time and See also:energy of Charles of Anjou were taken up with expeditions and wars concerning the kingdom of Naples, which he had gained by his victories over See also:Manfred and See also:Conradin in 1266 and 1268. His government of Provence was marked by his struggles with the towns.

The movement which resulted in the emancipation of these had its origin fairly far back. In the first part of the 12th century the towns of Provence, no doubt following the example of those in Italy, began to See also:

form municipal administrations and consulates, See also:independent of the viscounts, who in theory represented the authority of the count in the towns. This movement was occasionally interrupted by home disturbances, such as struggles against the See also:civil and ecclesiastical authorities; nevertheless Marseilles, Arles, See also:Tarascon, Avignon (whose consulate See also:laws date from the 1zth century), See also:Brignoles and See also:Grasse were self-governing and elected their magistrates, sometimes negotiating with the count, as a power with a power, and concluding See also:political or commercial See also:treaties without consulting him. The city of Nice, which was joined to Provence in 1176, had retained its freedom. This state of affairs was in See also:direct opposition to the authoritative government of Charles of Anjou, who tried to bring back the most independent of these towns under his sway. In 1251 he seized Arles and Avignon and placed them under a viguier (vicar) nominated by himself. In 1257 Marseilles was also subdued, and ministers nominated by the See also:court performed their duties See also:side by side with the municipal officials. The successors of Charles of Anjou also showed great See also:interest in maintaining their rights over the kingdom of Naples, and only occasionally do they appear in the history of Provence. Charles II. (1285-1309), after failing in several attacks on the house of Aragon in southern Italy, lived in the country during the latter years of his reign as duke, and tried to reform some of the abuses which had grown up in the See also:administration of See also:justice and See also:finance. See also:Robert of See also:Calabria (1309-1343), his son and successor, was forced to sustain a See also:long siege in See also:Genoa, whither he had been called by the Ghibelline party: a siege which cost a large number of lives to the Provencal See also:navy. Robert was succeeded by his granddaughter See also:Joanna, widow of See also:Andrew of See also:Hungary, who sold her rights over the city of Avignon to Pope See also:Clement VI. in 1348, in order to raise funds to enable her to continue the struggle against the house of Aragon in her Neapolitan states.

The political situation of the country was not much changed by Charles IV.'s residence in Provence, nor by the empty ceremony of his See also:

coronation as king of Arles (1365). Charles IV. gave up his rights, or his claims, to Louis, duke of Anjou, brother of Charles V., but the expedition which this See also:prince made to take possession of Provence only resulted in the seizure of Tarascon, and failed before Arles (1368). Joanna had nominated as her See also:heir Charles of Anjou-See also:Gravina, duke of Duras, who had married her niece Margaret, but to provide herself with a See also:protector from Louis of Hungary, who accused her of murdering her first See also:husband Andrew and wished to dispute her right to the kingdom of Naples, she married again and became the wife of See also:Otto of See also:Brunswick. Charles of Duras, discontented with this marriage, took part against her, and she in her turn disinherited him and named Louis of Anjou as her eventual successor (1380). The duke of Anjou took possession of Provence, whilst Charles of Duras made the See also:queen prisoner at Naples and gave orders for her to be put to death (1382). Louis of Anjou also made an expedition to Naples, but did not arrive till after her death, and he died in 1384. His son Louis II. (1384-1417) banished the See also:viscount of See also:Turenne from Provence, because he had taken advantage of his sovereign's See also:absence to ravage the country. He did not live in Provence till the last years of his See also:life; in 1415 he established a See also:parlement. The following See also:year the country was devastated by a terrible See also:plague. The wars carried on by his successor Louis III. (1417-34) against the kings of Aragon, his rivals at Naples, were the cause of the complete ruin of Marseilles by the Aragonese See also:fleet.

The town, however, regained its former state comparatively quickly. Although Louis III. had centred almost all his See also:

attention on the expeditions in Italy, he managed to secure the lands belonging to the house of Baux on the death of the last of the family, the Baroness Alix (1426). Rene, duke of See also:Lorraine (q.v.), Louis's brother and successor, after an unsuccessful attack on Naples (146o-1461), went to live on his property in France, and after 1471 was principally in Provence, where he built the See also:castle of Tarascon and interested himself in See also:art, literature, and See also:pastoral amusements. He left his territories(Anjou, Lorraine, 'Provence) to his See also:nephew Charles, count of See also:Maine, by his will in 1474• Louis XI., king of France, protested at first in the name of the rights of the Crown, and even seized Rene's duchies. In consequence, however, of an interview between Rene and the king at See also:Lyons, the former obtained a withdrawal of the seizure and ended his • days peacefully in Provence (148o). The rights of his successor, Charles, were disputed by Rene II., duke of Lorraine, but, with the support of Louis XI., his attack on Provence was defeated. On the other See also:hand, Louis had corrupted some of Charles's advisers, especially Palamede de See also:Forbin, with the result that, at Charles's death in 1482, he left Provence to the king of France in his will. Rene of Lorraine protested in vain; Louis claimed the possession of the disputed territory, but Provence was not definitely annexed to France till 1486, under Charles VIII., and even then it preserved a certain individuality. In laws See also:relating to this country the sovereigns added to their title of king of France " and count of Provence and of Forcalquier," and Provence always preserved a See also:separate administrative organization. In the 16th century Provence took part in a war between France and the imperialists. The See also:constable de See also:Bourbon, who had received the investiture of Provence from the emperor Charles V., crossed the Var in 1524 with an See also:army, but was defeated at Marseilles. The expedition under Charles V. and the duke of See also:Savoy in 1536 had no more definite result than the coronation of the emperor at See also:Aix as king of Arles.

About the same time the first signs of the See also:

Reformation became evident in Provence, at first in the country of the ancient Vaudois at Cabrieres and at Merindol in the county of Venaissin. A See also:sentence passed in 1540 by the parlement of Provence against these heretics was See also:carrier out with great severity in 1545 by the See also:president d'Oppede aad the See also:baron de la Garde, who burned the villages and massacred the inhabitants. Protestantism did not take a great hold on Provence, but See also:drew a See also:fair number of followers from the ranks of the lesser nobles, who, with See also:Paul de Mauvans at their See also:head, began the struggle against the Catholics under the See also:comte de Carces. Charles IX.'s See also:journey in Provence in 1567, followed by the See also:establishment in the parlement at Aix of a court (chambre) in which Catholics and Protestants had an equal number of seats, led to a momentary cessation of hostilities. These were resumed between the Carcistes (Roman Catholics) and Razats (Protestants), and again interrupted by the See also:peace of 1576, which gave some guarantees to the Protestants, with La Seyne as a See also:place of See also:security, and also by the plague of 1579, which affected the whole country. The See also:league, on the other hand, made rapid progress in Provence under the direction of the comte de Sault and See also:Hubert de la Garde, seigneur of Vins, and the See also:governors of See also:Epernon and La Valette vainly tried to pacify the country. La Valette and the political party or Bigarrats were finally more or less reconciled to the Protestants, and, at the time of the death of Henry III., the struggle was no more than a question of See also:district politics. Weakened by the See also:division between the comtesse de Sault and the See also:young comte de Carces, the league applied to the duke of Savoy, who was besieging Marseilles. Carces and the other heads of the league submitted one after the other to the new See also:governor See also:Lesdiguieres, who was succeeded by the duke of See also:Guise in 1595, and in 1596 the religious wars in Provence were definitely ended by the See also:capitulation of Marseilles. During the reign of Henry IV. the country was comparatively peaceful; but under See also:Richelieu the restriction of See also:local freedom and the creation of new offices led to the insurrection of the Cascaveous (small bells, a name derived from their rallying sign), which See also:Conde came to suppress in 1630-1631. At the time of the See also:Fronde additional taxes were levied by the parlement at Aix, and the struggle began between the Canivets (Mazarins) and the Sabreurs (prince's party), who captured the governor, the comte d'See also:Alais, for a See also:short time. The duke of Mercoeur calmed the country down.

Louis XIV.'s tour in Provence (166o) was marked by an insurrection at Marseilles, which brought about the abolition of the last remaining municipal liberties of the town. Provence was severely tried by the imperialist invasions of 1706 and 1746, and 'the great plague of 1720. Towards the end of the ancien regime the movement which resulted in the revolution of 1789 made itself See also:

felt in Provence, and was most apparent in the See also:double See also:election at Aixand at Marseilles of See also:Mirabeau as See also:deputy for the states-See also:general. Provence, with its own See also:special language and its law so closely related to Roman law, has always been quite separate from the other See also:French provinces. Theoretically it retained its provincial estates, the origin of which has been traced to the assemblages of the 12th century. They met annually, and included representatives of three orders: for the See also:clergy, the See also:archbishop of Aix, president ex officio of the estates, the other bishops of Provence, the abbots of St See also:Victor at Marseilles, of Montmajour and of Thoronet; for the See also:nobility, all the men of See also:noble See also:birth (gentilhommes) until 1623, when this See also:privilege was restricted to actual holders of fiefs; for the third, the members of the twenty-two See also:chief towns of the vigueries 1 and fifteen other privileged places, among which were Arles and Marseilles. There were theoretically no taxes, but only supplies given freely by the estates and assessed by them. However, this assembly did not meet after 1639. The administrative divisions of Provence were constantly changing. In 1307 Charles II. divided it into two senechaussees, Aix and Forcalquier, comprising twenty-two vigueries. At the end of the ancien regime the government (gouvernement) of Provence, which corresponded to the generalite of Aix, was made up of eight senechaussees, those of See also:Lower Provence—Aix, Arles, Marseilles, Brignoles, See also:Hyeres, Grasse, Draguignan, See also:Toulon; and four of Upper Provence—See also:Digne, Sisteron, Forcalquier, Castellane. From a judicial point of view the parlement of Aix had replaced the former conseil eminent or cour souveraine.

There was a chambre See also:

des comptes at Aix, and also a cour des aides. A See also:decree, dated the 22nd of See also:December 1789, divided Provence into the three departments of Bouche du Rhone, Basses-Alpes and Var, and in 1793 See also:Vaucluse, the former county (comtat) of Venaissin, which be-longed to the pope, was added to these. The boundaries of the department of Var were modified in 1863 after the See also:annexation, when the department of the Alpes Maritimes was formed. AurHOiITIES.—There is no See also:good general history of Provence. For a complete See also:work consult the ancient See also:works of H. Bouche, Chorographie et histoire chronologique de Provence (2 vols. in fol., Aix, 1664) ; Papon, Histoire generale de Provence (4 vols. in 4to, See also:Paris, 1777–1786); L. See also:Merv, Histoire de Provence (3 vols. in 8vo, Marseilles, 1830-1837). For special periods of history see F. Kiener, Verfassungsgeschichte der Provence, 5zo–1200 (8vo, See also:Leipzig, 1900); R. Poupardin, Le Royaume de Provence sous See also:les Carolingiens (in 8vo, Paris, 1901) ; G. de Manteyer, La Provence du xiie siecle (in 8vo, Paris, 1907) ; See also:Lambert, Essai sur le regime municipal et l'affranchissement des communes en Provence (in 8vo, Toulon, 1882); Les Guerres religieuses en Provence (2 vols. in 8vo, 187o) ; Cabasson, Essai historique sur le parlement 'de Provence (3 vols. in 8vo, Aix, 1826). (R.

End of Article: PROVENCE (Provincia, Proenza)

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