Provence

Religious Troubles.

In the 16th century Protestantism made its appearance in Provence. A sentence passed in 1540 by the parlement of Provence against the heretics was carried out with great severity in 1545 by the president d'Oppede and the baron de la Garde. The movement drew a fair number of followers from the ranks of the lesser nobles. Charles IX.'s journey in Provence in 1567, followed by the 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 Car cistes (Roman Catholics) and Razats (Protestants), and again interrupted by the peace of 1576, which gave some guarantees to the Protestants, with La Seyne as a place of security, and also by the plague of 1579, which affected the whole country. The League, on the other hand, made rapid progress in Provence, and the governors of 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 local politics. In 1596 the religious wars in Provence were definitely ended by the capitulation of Marseille.

Under Richelieu the restriction of local freedom led to a rising which Conde suppressed in 163o-31. At the time of the Fronde additional taxes were levied by the parlement at Aix, and a period of local unrest began which culminated in an insurrection at Marseille in 166o followed by the abolition of the last remain ing municipal liberties of the town. Provence was severely tried by the imperialist invasions of '706 and 1746, and the great plague of 172o.

Administration.

Provence, with its own language and its law so closely related to Roman law, was quite separate from the other French provinces. Until 1639 it retained its provincial estates, the origin of which has been traced back to the 12th century. They met annually, and included representatives of three orders : for the clergy, the archbishop of Aix, president ex officio of the estates, the other bishops of Provence, the abbots of St.

Victor at Marseille, of Montmajour and of Thoronet; for the nobility, all the men of noble birth until 1623, when this privi lege was restricted to actual holders of fiefs; for the third estate the members of the 22 chief towns of the vigueries divisions corresponding to the prevotes of the rest of France, and 15 other privileged places, among which were Arles and Marseille. There were theoretically no taxes, but only supplies given freely by the estates and assessed by them. The administrative divisions of Provence were constantly changing. At the end of the ancien regime the government (gouvernement) of Provence, which cor responded to the generalite of Aix, was made up of eight sene chaussies, those of Lower Provence--Aix, Arles, Marseille, Brig noles, Hyeres, Grasse, Draguignan, Toulon ; and four of Upper Provence—Digne, Sisteron, Forcalquier, Castellane. For judicial purposes the parlement of Aix had replaced the former conseil eminent or cour souveraine. There was a chambre des comptes at Aix, and also a cour des aides. A decree, dated Dec. 22, 1789, divided Provence into the three departments of Bouches du Rhone, Basses-Alpes and Var, and in 1793 Vaucluse, the former county of Venaissin, which belonged to the pope, was added to these. The boundaries of Var were modified in 186o after the annexation, when the department of the Alpes Maritimes was formed.

is no good general history of Provence. For a complete work consult the ancient works of H. Bouche, Choro graphie et histoire, chronologique de Provence (2 vols., Aix, 1664) ; J. P. Papon, Histoire generale de Provence (4 vols., 1777-86) ; L. Mery, Histoire de Provence (3 vols., Marseille, 183o-37). For special periods of history see P. Cabasse, Essais historiques sur to de Provence (3 vols., Aix, 1826) ; G. Lambert, Essai sur le municipal et l'affranchissement des communes en Provence (Toulon, 1882) ; F. Kiener, Verfassungsgeschichte der Provence, 510-5200 (Leipzig, 1900) ; R. Poupardin, Le Royaume de Provence sous les Carolingiens (19oI) ; G. de Manteyer, La Provence du ier au xue siecle (1907). (R. P.; X.)