The administration of Provençal territory spans 19 dates, with a Roman base of 5 dates in Antiquity, a medieval gap of a single date, then 8 in the early modern period and 5 in the contemporary era. Augustus organising the Provincia Narbonensis in 22 BC, Diocletian and Constantine dividing the south of Gaul, then the departmental reorganisations of the twentieth century, such as the Var receiving Toulon as its chef-lieu in 1974: administration redraws the boundaries again and again, without ever settling for good.
This map follows these reforms at Aix, Marseille, Arles and Sisteron, carried by administrators such as Romée de Villeneuve or Raimond Bérenger V.
What the corpus attaches to this theme
Places most present : Provence, Aix, Marseille, Arles, Tarascon, Avignon, Sisteron, Toulon
Figures most present : Raimond Bérenger V, Romée de Villeneuve, Charles Ier d'Anjou, René d'Anjou, Alfonse Ier (comte de Provence, roi d'Aragon), Jules César, Justas, Alphonse de Poitiers
Antiquity
Years 40 BC
Caesar founds colonies of veterans on provincial land, settled by Tiberius Nero: Narbonne for the Tenth Legion, Arles for the Sixth, along with Béziers, Orange and Vienne
Years 40 BC
The territory of the Salluvii is divided, the western part going to Arles, the eastern part to Fréjus, the central part with Entremont remaining to the Salluvii around Aix
Years 40 BC
Arles receives the name Colonia Julia Paterna Arelate Sextanorum and the greater part of the possessions taken from Marseille, Caesar making it the chief instrument of romanization in Transalpine Gaul
22 BC
Augustus definitively organizes the Gaulish provinces: creation of the Provincia Narbonensis
Under Augustus and the first emperors
Creation of 37 colonies with Latin rights, including Aix, which later received Roman rights; Avignon, Cavaillon, Apt, Carpentras, Digne and Riez receive Latin rights
After 6 BC
The pacified Alps form three provinces, that of the Alpes-Maritimes having its chief town at Cimiez, Nice having remained Massaliote
212 or 213
Edict of Caracalla, citizenship granted to all free men of the Empire; Marseille abandons its regime of timouchoi for the Latin municipal regime
Late 3rd century and 4th century
Administrative reforms of Diocletian then of Constantine, division of the south of Gaul into five provinces
Around 375
Birth of Narbonensis Secunda, by division of Viennensis, with its chief town at Aix
Late 4th century or early 5th century
The praetorian prefecture of the Gauls is installed at Arles
Middle Ages
911 or early 912
Louis the Blind entrusts the government of the southern part of his kingdom to his cousin Hugh, with the title of duke of Provence
948
Conrad appoints three Burgundian counts (Avignon, Arles, Apt-Glandève) to represent his authority in Provence, for want of a real domain
1178
Shift of the centre of power toward Aix, which becomes the capital
1277
Ordinance of Charles of Anjou on the use of French in the county's treasury services, left without effect
14th-15th centuries
It is in the charters of this period that the local language of Provence reads most clearly in writing
Late 15th century
French begins to appear spontaneously in legal and administrative texts, in Provence as in the Comtat
Early modern period
1 January 1482
Forbin replaces the seneschal Pierre de la Jaille with his own son-in-law, Raymond de Glandevès
1489
Institution of a governor of Provence above the seneschal by the court of France
13 June 1543
The municipal council of Saint-Tropez records in Provençal a decision on the defence of the town against the Spanish galleys
1557
The municipal preconizationes of Toulon, written in Latin in 1394, are translated into Provençal by D. Balthazarem
22 October 1595
The king appoints Charles de Lorraine, Duke of Guise, son of le Balafré, as governor of Provence
October 1596
Henri IV sends Étienne Bernard to preside at Marseille over the restored sovereign Chamber of Justice
Mid-17th century
Disappearance of Provençal from official writing
5 and 7 March 1660
Letters patent reorganising the municipal government of Marseille after the entry of Louis XIV: the office of viguier granted for life, then (7 March 1662) hereditarily, to Fortia de Piles
1669
Nicolas Arnoul has the new town centre of Marseille built (Cours, Canebière), an edict institutes the free port
16 September 1720
Clearing of the esplanade of Marseille, removal of the bodies directed by the chevalier Roze, captain and commissioner general
May to July 1721
Renewed surge of the contagion at Arles, more than 4,000 victims, the quarantines of Marseille lifted only in November
Read the period: Early modern period
Contemporary period
February 1790
The principle of forming a department with Haute-Provence is adopted
12 August 1793
Creation of the department of Vaucluse
1860
Treaty of Turin: definitive attachment of the county of Nice to France, recreation of the department of Alpes-Maritimes
1970
The Basses-Alpes are renamed Alpes-de-Haute-Provence
1974
The Var department gains Toulon as its administrative seat, replacing Draguignan