PROVENCE, a province in the south-east of ancient France, bounded on the north by the Dauphine, on the east by the Alps and Italy, on the west by the Rhone, and on the south by the Mediterranean sea. About 600 B.c., according to tradition, some traders from Phocaea founded the Greek colony of Massalia (Marseille). Other colonies in the neighbourhood, such as Antibes, Agde, Nice, originated in this settlement. During the wars which followed the inhabitants of Massalia asked assistance from the Romans, who thus made their first entry into Gaul (125 B.c.), and conquered the territories between the Alps, the sea and the Rhone (with the province of Narbonne on the right bank of this river). These lands formed the Provincia romana, and the name was retained by Provence. The town of Aix (Aquae Sextiae) was founded to form the capital of this con quered land. Under the empire the territory of the former Provincia was divided into the new provinces of Narbonensis II., of the Maritime Alps and of Viennois, and formed an im portant centre of Roman learning and civilization. Arles was made the chief town of the province, becoming after the capture of Treves by the barbarians (A.D. 418) the capital of Gaul. By the 5th century bishoprics had been founded in all the cities of Provence.
At the beginning of this century Provence was attacked by the Visigoths. In 480 Arles was captured by Euric I., and the country south of the Durance thus came definitely under Visigothic rule. The more northern cities, such as Orange, Apt and Trois Châteaux, were joined to the kingdom of Burgundy. Towards 510 Visigothic Provence was ceded to Theodoric, king of the Italian Ostrogoths, by Alaric II. in return for the support given to him during the war against the Franks, and soon afterwards the Ostrogoths took advantage of the wars between the Franks and the Burgundians to extend their lands in the north as far as Gap and Embrun. Witigis, king of the Ostrogoths, ceded Provence to the kings of the Franks about 537, when the northern cities and those on the coast (Arles, Marseille, Toulon, Antibes, Nice) were given back to Burgundy, whilst a narrow strip of territory, with Avignon, Apt, Cavaillon, Riez, etc., extending from the west to the east as far as the Alps, was added to the kingdom of Aus trasia, and from that time followed the fortunes of its dependency of Auvergne.
Martel, who brought the country definitely under Frankish rule. Under Charlemagne and Louis the Pious the history of Provence became incorporated with that of the rest of the empire. At the partition of Verdun (843) Provence fell to the share of the emperor Lothair I., who joined it to the duchy of Lyons in 855 to form a kingdom for his youngest son, Charles. On the death of the latter in 863 his inheritance was divided between his two brothers, when Lothair II., king of Lorraine, received the north ern part, Lyonnais and Viennois, and the emperor Louis II., king of Italy, received Provence. At his death in 875 Provence passed into the hands of Charles the Bald, and he entrusted the govern ment to his brother-in-law, Duke Boso, who reconstituted the former kingdom of Charles, the son of Lothair, and in 879 was acknowledged as its sovereign at Mantaille in Viennois. Thus arose the kingdom of Provence (Provence, Viennois, Lyonnais and Vivarais), sometimes called Cisjuran Burgundy.
Boso died in 887, having succeeded in maintaining his inde pendence against the united Frankish princes. His widow Ermen garde, daughter of Louis II., with the assistance of the emperor Arnulf, had her son Louis acknowledged king at an assembly held at Valence in 89o. Louis attempted to seize the crown of Italy in 900, and in 901 was even crowned emperor at Rome by Pope Benedict IV. ; but in 905 he was surprised at Verona by his rival Berengar, who captured him, put out his eyes, and forced , him to give up Italy and return to Provence, where he lived till his death in 928, leaving an illegitimate son, Charles Constan tine. The principal figure in the country at this time was Hugo "of Arles," count, or duke, of Viennois and marquis of Provence, who had been king of Italy since 926. To strengthen his position there he gave the kingdom of Louis the Blind to Rudolph II., king of Burgundy (q.v.), and thus the kingdom of Burgundy extended from the source of the Aar to the Mediterranean. But the sov ereignty of Rudolph II. and his successors, Conrad (937-993) and Rudolph III. (993-1032), over Provence was little more than nominal, and conditions changed little when, on the death of Rudolph III.. the kingdom of Burgundy passed into the hands of the German kings, who now bore the title of kings of Arles.