Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
French Provence
In 1481 René's successor, his nephew Charles III, died heirless and Provence was ceded
to Louis XI of France. In 1486 the state of Aix ratified Provence's union with France and
the centralist policies of the French kings saw the region's autonomy greatly reduced. Aix
Parliament, a French administrative body, was created in 1501.
A period of instability ensued, as a visit to
the synagogue in Carpentras testifies: Jews liv-
ing in French Provence fled to ghettos in Car-
pentras, Pernes-les-Fontaines, L'Isle-sur-la-
Sorgue, Cavaillon or Avignon. All were part of
the pontifical enclave of Comtat Venaissin,
where papal protection remained assured until
1570.
An early victim of the Reformation that
swept Europe in the 1530s and the consequent
Wars of Religion (1562-98) was the Luberon. In April 1545 the populations of 11
Waldensian (Vaudois) villages in the Luberon were massacred. Numerous clashes fol-
lowed between the staunchly Catholic Comtat Venaissin and its Huguenot (Protestant)
neighbours to the north around Orange.
In 1580 the plague immobilised the region.
The Edict of Nantes in 1598 (which recognised Protestant control of certain areas, in-
cluding Lourmarin in the Luberon) brought an uneasy peace to the region - until its revoc-
ation by Louis XIV in 1685. Full-scale persecution of Protestants ensued.
The close of the century was marked by the French Revolution in 1789: as the National
Guard from Marseille marched north to defend the Revolution, a merry tune composed in
Strasbourg several months earlier for the war against Prussia -
Chant de Guerre de
l'Armée du Rhin
(
War Song of the Rhine Army
) - sprang from their lips. France's stirring
national anthem,
La Marseillaise,
was born.
PLAGUE
In 1720, Marseille was hit by a devastating out-
break of plague. The disease spread from a mer-
chant ship after the city's chief magistrate, owner of
the ship's cargo, ignored quarantine measures to en-
sure his goods made it to the local fair. Half the
city's population died.
From France to Italy, & Back
Provence was divided into three
départements
(administrative divisions) in 1790: Var,
Bouches du Rhône and the Basse-Alpes. Two years later papal Avignon and Comtat
Venaissin were annexed by France, making way for the creation of Vaucluse.
