The Provence (in Occitan Of Provence: , Provença according to the traditional standard or Prouvènço according to the Standard mistralienne, even Proença term used in the Middle Ages) is a geographical denomination which indicates an old county (become in 1481 a French province royal) and which corresponds today, in the broad sense, with most of the administrative area Provence-Alp-Coast of Azure. It is located at the south-east of the France, extending from left bank of the the Rhone (bank is) to Right Bank of the Var where it borders old the Comté of Nice located on left bank.

More largely, in a cultural and tourist direction, Provence extends until the east and the east from the Gard (beyond the Rhone until Nimes and the Vidourle) and until the south from the Ardèche and the Drome.

But to the Middle Ages, Provence was extended, it included in particular the Alps of the South and the Pays niçois. Historical cuttings detached of it part of the Alps (included in the province of the Dauphiné) and the Pays niçois (attached to the States of Savoy in 1388, in which it ended up constituting the Comté of Nice). Since second half of the 20th century, the creation of the administrative area Provence-Alp-Coast of Azure more or less restored the initial space of large medieval Provence, with the Hautes-Alpes and the Pays niçois.

Geography

Administrative divisions

The departments resulting from the old county (annexed in France by Louis XI) and old French royal province were included in the administrative area of Provence-Alp-Coast of Azure which recovers the department S of the Alp-of-High-Provence (04), of the the Alpes-Maritimes (06), of the Rhone delta (13), of the Var (83) and of the Vaucluse (84).

Area Provence-Alp-Coast-in Azur

  • Surface: 31.400 km ²

  • Population: 4.781.000 inhabitants (01-2006)
  • regional Prefecture: Marseilles
  • Prefectures: Worthy, Gap, Nice, Toulon and Avignon
  • Density: 143,5 hab/km ²
  • Active population: 1.892.000 inhabitants
    • regional
  • GDP: 105,826 million euros (7% of the national GDP)
  • industrial Specialities: chemistry, naval construction, armament
  • Agriculture: wine, fruits, vegetables, flowers and plants

the Alpes-Maritimes

  • Surface: 4.299 km ²

  • Population: 1.063.846 inhabitants (2005)
  • Prefecture: Nice
  • Sub-prefectures: Fatty
  • Density: 247 hab/km²

Alp-of-High-Provence

VAr

  • Surface: 5.973 km ²

  • Population: 967.054 inhabitants (2005)
  • Prefecture: Toulon
  • Sub-prefectures: Brignoles and Draguignan
  • Density: 162 hab./Km²

Vaucluse

  • Surface: 3.566 km ²

  • Population: 529.077 inhabitants (2005)
  • Prefecture: Avignon
  • Sub-prefectures: Apt and Carpentras
  • Density: 148 hab/km²

Rhone delta

Culturally and historically, one can as consider as the southern part of the departments of the Hautes-Alpes (05), of the Ardèche (07), of the Drome (26), as well as the part is and southern Gard (30) are provençaux.

Gard

  • Surface: 5.853 km ²

  • Population: 678.445 hab. (2005)
  • Prefecture: Nimes
  • Sub-prefectures: Ales, Vigan
  • Density: 116.5 hab./km²

Drome

  • Surface: 6.561 km ²

  • Population: 463.001 inhabitants (2005)
  • Prefecture: Valence
  • Sub-prefectures: Die and Nyons
  • Density: 70 hab. /km ²

Climate and topography

Provence is an area with the privileged Climat, profiting from the influence of the the Mediterranean, with hot and dry summers. The winters there are soft close to the coast, generally wet in the east, but are harder in north and the North-East where it becomes alpine. In its central part and Mediterranean the vegetation of Provence east of the type Scrubland, the dryness of summer making it particularly vulnerable to the Fire S. On the other hand in its Eastern part and most alpine, it becomes greener and wet.

The relief is overall undulating with of the impressive Pre-Alps in its central part and the alpine range of the South with l´Est and the North-East (culminating to 3.412 m with the Aiguille of Chambeyron - Alp-of-High-Provence). Its coasts of Marseilles to Menton are rather escarpées (Calanques - Moors - Esterel). Erosion due to the storms violent one of summer which can constitute gullies dug enough. The plans of High-Provence delimit the Pre-Alps of the central hills (Plateau of Valensole - Plan of Canjuers - Plateau of Albion). L´ouest of the area is marked by the plain of the Crau and the the Camargue which constitute only true flat spaces of the area of Provence.

History

Antiquity

It owes its name at the time Roman which knew it like Provincia (one of many the Roman provinces). Provence belonged to the Gaulle Transalpine (i.e. beyond the the Alps, for the Romain S), renamed Gaulle Narbonnaise (of the name of the capital of the Roman province, Narbonne) at first century BC

  • independent Provence

The littoral of Provence was colonized by the Greeks: towards 600 av. J. - C., the Phocée NS settle with Marseilles (in Greek, Massalia ; in Latin, Massilia ). They essaiment with Nice, Arles, Agde, Cannes and in the south of Nimes. Before the area was populated Celts called also Ligures or Celto-Ligurians (cf Dominique Garcia, Celtic Mediterranean the . Paris, Wandering, 2004,206 p.)

  • the Roman conquest at second century BC

    • summary Chronology

      • -181: Marseilles calls Rome with the help against the pirates Ligure S
      • -154: Nice and Antibes besieged by the Ligurians of the Maritime Alps, forwarding of Opimius
      • -125/-124: coalition of tribes celto-Ligurians (the Salyens) supported by the Voconces, Allobroges and Arvernes: the consul Marcus Fulvius Flaccus crosses the Alps and overcomes them. In -123, new countryside which ends in the destruction of the Oppidum of Entremont.
      • In -123/-122: foundation of Aix-en-Provence to control Salyens.
      • -122 : the proconsul Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus crushes Allobroges
      • -121: Volques, with the head of a vast territory of 24 oppidums accommodate without resistance the legions of Rome. Nemausa (Nimes), the Gallo-Roman city is about to be born.
      • -120 : Ahenobarbus in shift; one allots to him the foundation and the organization of Provincia
      • -117: beginning of the construction of the Via Domitia (in the Cn honor. Domitius Ahenobarbus) in direction of the the Pyrenees. It borrows the layout of an old Greek road (the way héracléenne). Its installation is the symbol of the romanisation and brings a development of the commercial exchanges.
      • -109/-105: incursions of the Germanic people (Cimbres, Teutons, Tigurins, Ambrons)  : Marius crushes Teutons with Pourrières (close to Aix-en-Provence) (-102) and Cimbres with Verceil (-101).

The Middle Ages

With the the Middle Ages, it was a Marquis At, a county and a kingdom.

In 843, the Traité of Verdun gave Provence to Lothaire Ier. His/her son Charles of Provence made of it the kingdom of Provence-Viennese or Burgundy cisjurane , with the transitory existence (855 - 863). After one turbid period, Provence was again included in the imperial field by the Traité of Meerssen, for a short duration, since it échut with died of the emperor Louis II, in 875, with the king de France Charles the Bald person, there too for a short period. Boson V of Provence, his/her brother-in-law, was made proclaim king of the second kingdom of Provence in 879. Boson was in fight with the Carolingiens. The son of Boson, Louis, emperor, entrusted the government of Provence to Hugues of Arles, which gave it in its turn in 934 with Rodolphe II, king of Burgundy transjurane . The new unit will be the second kingdom of Burgundy-Provence , also called Royaume of Arles . There will remain until in 1032.

In the years 880, some Sarrasins coming from the Califat of Cordoue failed by chance on the of the department of Var shore and established a base with the Fraxinet or Freinet which one traditionally locates in the area of the Guard-Freinet, from where they launched raids, in particular in low Eastern Provence. Hugues of Arles conducted two victorious attacks against them in 931 and 942 with the assistance of Byzantine ships but without pushing the advantage until their expulsion.

In 947, the bosonide Boson, count d' Arles was invested of Provence. With its death, its two sons, Guilhem known as the Liberator (Guillaume Ier) and Roubaud, divided in undivided the county, joint possession which their descendants maintained. The branch resulting from Guilhem will give that of the counts de Provence, that resulting from Roubaud will give the counts de Forcalquier, which will be detached in 1054 (the latter are also called Marquis de Provence). In 972, following the removal of Mayeul, abbot of Cluny, Guillaume Ier and Roubaud, with the assistance of provençaux lords and from the marquis de Turin, released Provence of Buckwheats which since the Massif of the Moors (above Saint-Tropez) plundered the area. Named marquis in 975, Guillaume made of Arles its capital.

In 1037, Emma, marchioness of Provence, Marie with Guillaume III Taillefer, count de Toulouse, transmitting the rights of the line of Roubaud to the house of Toulouse. In 1112, Soft of Provence, heiress of the rights of the line of Guilhem, marries Raimond-Berenger III, count de Barcelone, which becomes Raimond-Berenger Ier of Provence . The houses of Toulouse and Barcelona enter then in conflict for the marquisat. To lead to a treaty in 1125 between Raymond-Berenger and the Alphonse-Jordan of Toulouse, which divided the county between a marquisat in the north of the Durance, given to Toulouse, and the county in the south, given to Barcelona which are opposed between 1144 and 1162 to the house of the Beams during the Guerres Baussenques. In 1193, Alphonse II of Provence wife Gersande de Forcalquier, which gives rise to the county of Provence-Forcalquier.

For this period, the county of Orange, vassal of Provence, was set up in 1181 in principality.

In 1245, dies Raymond-Berenger V of Provence, whose four girls are married respectively: Marguerite with Saint-Louis, Sance with Richard de Cornouailles, Éléonore with Henri III, king d' Angleterre and Béatrix with Charles, count d' Anjou and of the Maine, brother of Saint Louis. It is the latter which receives in heritage the two counties of Provence and Forcalquier, transmitting them to the first house capétienne of Anjou. This is why Forcalquier is called " the city of the 4 reines".

Accumulating the royal titles (Naples - Sicily, Jerusalem, Cyprus, Acre, Thessalonique, etc), the counts are made call king , whose king Rene celebrates it, of the Second house capétienne of Anjou.

But meanwhile, the county of Provence-Forcalquier had been dismembered. In accordance with the Treated of Meaux-Paris (1229) which marked the end of the Albigensian Crusade, to died from Alphonse of Poitiers, in 1271, the marquisat passes to the king de France Philippe III which yields it as of 1274 to the pope Gregoire X to become the Comtat Venaissin.

In 1388, the town of Nice and its Viguerie -   administrative division correspondante  - the city of Puget-Théniers and the valleys of the Tinée and the Vésubie are constituted in new grounds of Provence and are put under the protection of the Maison of Savoy, it is the Dédition of Nice in Savoy . These grounds will take the name of Comté of Nice in 1526.

In 1382, with died of the queen Jeanne, is completed the first house capétienne of Anjou. It adopted the brother of the king Louis I {{er}}, made count then Duc of Anjou, melting the second house capétienne of Anjou. This dynasty will be completed with the death of Charles III '' of Maine '' in 1481, bequeathing Provence to the king de France Louis XI which attaches to the royal Domaine.

Rebirth

At the time traditional, popular wisdom protested that the three evils of Provence were the Durance, the mistral and the Parliament of Aix.

It nevertheless is touched precociously by the wars of religion, whose prelude is the massacre of Mérindol (1545), and who take place of 1562 with 1598. At the time of the Massacre of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre (August-October 1572), the governor Sommerive, however catholic intransigent prevents the massacre of the Protestants there.

1720 -1722 : large the plague, left Marseilles, invades Provence and as well as the Papal States devastates it (Comtat Venaissin)

Modern time

At the time of the French revolution, Provence was divided into three departments: Rhone delta, VAr and the Low-Alps. It finds the Comté of Nice into 1793 which gives rise to the department of the Alpes-Maritimes before passing by again under Piedmontese and Sardinian control. In 1860, following a popular referendum, the final fastening of the County of Nice in France brings back Nice to Provence. Some alpine territories of the County remain however Italian jusqu´en 1947 when a new referendum votes by plebiscite their fastening in France, putting a term at nearly 7 centuries of schism of Provence.

Contemporary time

  • the Provence and history of the cinema

  • August 15th 1944: Unloading in Provence (Dragoon Operation)

Sovereigns of Provence

See also: List of the kings, counts and marquis de Provence

Language

The own language of Provence is the of Provence one, which belongs to the language Occitan E or Langue of oc. It is a polynomic language whose varieties spoken in Provence are: the Vivaro-alpine in the Alps and the Of Provence strictly speaking in the South (compound of maritime, the resident of the Rhone and the Niçois). The Niçois, form arcaïque of of Provence nearest to the original language of the troubadours, is often asserted like a literary variety with whole share. Spoken by nearly 500.000 people and included/understood by several million , the of Provence one, in all its varieties referred above, currently saw a cultural revival in spite of the domination of the French.

Until the middle of the 20th century, the term of Provence, associated to the troubadours, indicated the whole of the language of oc. In 1854, around Frederic Mistral is formed the Félibrige, association literary which gives itself for objective the national rebirth of the South by the literature and particularly poetry. In 1904, F. Mistral obtains the Nobel Prize of literature for the whole of its literary work and philological. At the 20th century, the literature of Provence was renewed and been more productive than ever, thanks to the work of genious writers among which we will quote Joseph d' Arbaud, Max-Philippe Delavouët, Henriette Dibon, Robert Lafont, Florian Vernet, Philippe Gardy, Danielle Julien, Rene Toscano, Michel Miniussi, Claude Barsotti, Pierre Pessemesse, Alain Peillon…

The music into of Provence is very creative, as well in the traditional kinds as in the more modern kinds, with a folk wave since the years 1970 (Miquèla E lei Chapacans, Jan Nouvè Mabelly, Daumas…) and a second wave renewed since the years 1990 with new kinds (like the groups Massilia Sound System, Nux Vomica, Wasted-Empega, Dupain, Crous E Pielo, Terro de Sau, lo Còrou de Berra, D' Aquí Dub, Lo Còr of Plana for example).

Main associations which work for the development of the language of Provence are: the Institute of Occitanes Studies (with its regional section, the Regional center of studies occitanes/CREO), LEIS Amics de Mesclum, the maintenance of Provence of the Félibrige (oldest of all current associations), the federation of associations Parlaren , Unioun Prouvençalo , the Couleitiéu Prouvènço, Astrado Prouvençalo, the Association of the teachers of language of Oc, the Calandretas schools, Lou Prouvençau in Escolo, the Federation of Associations of the County of Nice, Acadèmia Nissarda , the Center Culturau Occitan-País Niçard .

See too

Literary works evoking Provence

Many literary works evoke Provence:

Wikisource

  • Edict of meeting of the county of Provence to the crown of France (1498)

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