At the beginning of the loth century Provence was in a state of complete disorganization. All the real power was in the hands of local counts. It is probable that from the 9th century several of the Provençal 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 middle of the loth century this position was held by a certain Boso, of unknown origin, who left it to his two sons Williar ._ and Roubaud (Rotbold). From the end of the loth cen tury the descendants of the two brothers, without making any 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 nth century, a tendency to add the name of their usual residence after their title, and thus the lordships, known later under the names of the countships of Provence, of Nice and of Venaissin grew up. At last, by the marriage of an heiress in 1112 to Raymund-Berenger, count of Barcelona, the marquisate of Provence, with the over lordship of this region, passed to the house of Barcelona. The definite establishment of the countships of Provence, Venaissin and Forcalquier belongs to this period.
After the death of Raymund-Berenger III. (1166) his cousin Alphonso II., king of Aragon, took the title of count of Provence. His succession was disputed by the count of Toulouse, Raymund V. Most of the lay and ecclesiastical lords of Provence recognized Alphonso, who in 1176 signed a treaty with his competitor, by which Raymund V. sold his rights to the king of Aragon. Alphon so was represented in Provence by his brothers Raymund-Beren ger and Sancho in turn, and in 1193 by his son Alphonso, who succeeded him. This Alphonso gave Aragon and Catalonia to his brother 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 county of Forcalquier. He was able to protect Provence from the conse quences of the war of the Albigenses, and it was not until after his death (1209), during the minority of his son Raymund Berenger IV., that Provence was involved in the struggle of the count of Toulouse against Simon de Montfort, when the part played by the city of Avignon in the Albigensian movement finally led to Louis VIII.'s expedition against the town. Raymund Berenger had also to fight against Raymund VII., count of Toulouse, who had received from the emperor in 1230 the i count ship of Forcalquier. The intervention of St. Louis, who n
had married Margaret, the eldest daughter of the count of Provence (the second Eleanor married Henry III. of England in 1236), put an end to the designs of the count of Toulouse. Ray mund-Berenger died in 1245, leaving a will by which he named as his heiress his fourth daughter, Beatrice, who shortly after wards, in 1246, married the celebrated Charles of Anjou (see CHARLES I., king of 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 sister-in-law, Jeanne, countess of Toulouse, but in 1272 King Philip III. took possession of it, giving it up in 1274 to Pope Gregory X., who had claimed it for the Roman Church in pur suance of the treaty of 1229 between Raymund VII. of Toulouse and St. Louis. Charles of Anjou was continually occupied with his kingdom of Naples. His government of Provence was marked by his struggles with the towns. In the first part of the 12th cen tury the towns of Provence began to form municipal administra tions and consulates, independent of the viscounts, who in theory represented the authority of the count in the towns. Marseille,
Arles, Tarascon, Avignon (whose consulate laws date from the 12th century), Brignoles and Grasse had become self-governing and elected their magistrates, sometimes negotiating with the count, as a power with a power, and concluding political or com mercial 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 direct opposition to the arbitrary policy of Charles of Anjou. In 1251 he seized Arles and Avignon and placed them under a viguier (vicar) nominated by himself. In 1257 Marseille was also subdued, and ministers nominated by the court performed their duties side by side with the municipal officials.
The successors of Charles of Anjou were chiefly interested in maintaining their rights over the king dom of Naples. Charles II. (1285-1309) lived in Provence dur ing the latter years of his reign, and tried to introduce reforms into the administration of justice and finance. Robert of Cala bria (1309-43), his son, was succeeded by his granddaughter Joanna, widow of Andrew of Hungary, who sold her rights over the city of Avignon to Pope Clement VI. in 1348 to raise money to continue the struggle against the house of Aragon in Naples. Charles IV. resided in Provence and had himself crowned king of Arles in 1365. He gave up his claims to Louis, duke of Anjou, brother of Charles V., but the expedition which this prince made to take possession of Provence only resulted in the seizure of Tarascon, and failed before Arles (1368). Joanna had nominated as her heir Charles of Anjou-Gravina, duke of Duras, who had married her niece Margaret, but to provide herself with a protec tor from Louis of Hungary, who accused her of murdering her first husband Andrew and wished to dispute her right to the kingdom of Naples, she married again and became the wife of Otto of Brunswick. Charles of Duras therefore took part against her, and she in her turn disinherited him and named Louis of Anjou as her eventual successor (1380). He took possession of Provence, whilst Charles of Duras made the 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), only resident in Provence towards the end of his life, established a parlement in 1415. The wars carried on by his successor, Louis III.
against the kings of Aragon, his rivals at Naples, were the cause of the temporary ruin of Marseille by the Aragonese fleet. Rene, duke of Lorraine (q.v.), Louis's brother and successor, after an unsuccessful attack on Naples (1460-61), retired to France, and after 1471 generally resided in Provence, where he built the castle of Tarascon and interested himself in art, literature and pastoral amusements. In 1474 he left his territories by will to his nephew Charles, count of Maine, who on his death in 1482 bequeathed Provence to Louis XI., king of France. Under Louis's successor, Charles VIII., Provence was definitely annexed to France, though even then it preserved a certain individuality. In laws relating to this country the sov ereigns added to their title of king of France "and count of Provence and of Forcalquier," and Provence always preserved a separate administrative organization.