The territory of Provence has never had a fixed outline. From the sixth century BC, when Greek colonisation founded Marseille, to 1970, when the Basses-Alpes became the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, its boundaries have shifted with each founding, annexation and reattachment. The Rhône, the Durance, Arles and Aix mark this movement in every period, while Rome and later the barbarian kingdoms kept redrawing the frontiers around Marseille. The reattachment of Tende and La Brigue to France in 1947 closed 559 years of division of Provence.
This map follows these 55 dates from the Greek founding to the last administrative adjustments of the twentieth century, pausing on the figures who traced or moved these frontiers, from Julius Caesar to Theodoric.
What the corpus attaches to this theme
Places most present : Arles, Marseille, Rhône, Provence, Durance, Italie, Aix, Fréjus
Figures most present : Jules César, Auguste, Annibal, Domitius Ahenobarbus, Alaric, Euric, Théodoric, Théodebert
Antiquity
594 BC
Ionian sailors from Phocaea land in a cove of the Ligurian coast and found Massalia
124 and 123 BC
The consul Caius Sextius Calvinus joins his predecessor's army rather than relieving it, a sign of Rome's intent to settle, and resumes operations against the Salluvii
122 BC
Sextius Calvinus founds Aquae Sextiae Salluviorum (Aix), at the foot of Entremont
118 BC
Founding of the Roman colony of Narbo Martius (Narbonne)
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
From the year 12
Construction of the via Julia Augusta, the major route of the network, from Vada Sabatia near Savona to Fréjus by way of Vintimille, La Turbie and Cimiez
After 6 BC
The pacified Alps form three provinces, that of the Alpes-Maritimes having its chief town at Cimiez, Nice having remained Massaliote
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
Since 443
The Burgundians, transferred to Savoy, progressively reach Valence, Die and Embrun
470
The Burgundians reach the Durance
476
Euric takes Arles then Marseille and becomes master of lower Provence; Busquet places the end of ancient Provence here
481
The Franks enter the scene and begin their advance, before conquering Gaul as far as between the Somme and the Loire
484
Death of Euric at Arles; the Burgundians immediately cross the Durance and become masters of the whole of Provence
508
The Ostrogothic king Theoderic lifts the siege of Arles, enters Marseille and takes Avignon
510
Theoderic restores the praetorian prefecture of the Gauls at Arles; the Ostrogoths also retake Nîmes, Narbonne, Orange and Valence
523
Ostrogothic advance as far as the Isère; Theoderic buys Burgundian neutrality with what they still held in Provence, all of Provence passes to the Ostrogoths
534
The sons of Clovis subdue Burgundy and divide it between them; Theudebert lays siege to Arles, repulsed by the patrician Liberius
536 (536-537 according to Wikipedia)
The Franks seize the country, integration of Provence into the Frankish kingdom
Middle Ages
536
End of Ostrogothic rule, Provence passes to the Franks
843
Treaty of Verdun, Provence granted to Lothair
15 October 879
The assembly of Mantaille confers the royal title on Boson, who founds a kingdom bearing the name of Provence
883
Saracen settlement in the Massif du Freinet, above the Gulf of Saint-Tropez
August 928
Provisional division of influence between Raoul, king of France (Viennois and the north), and Hugh of Arles (Provence)
end of 934
Hugh of Arles cedes to Rudolph II of Transjurane Burgundy all his rights west of the Alps
947
Boson of Arles invested with the county of Provence
end of 948
Otto constitutes, for the benefit of Conrad, the kingdom of Provence united with Jurane Burgundy
974
Final expulsion of the Saracens from the Freinet
1032
Death of Rudolph III, the kingdom of Burgundy incorporated into the Empire
around 1042
Death of William, son of Roubaud, last count from the male line of the elder branch; his sister Emma carries the comital rights to the house of Toulouse through her marriage to William, count of Toulouse
1112
Marriage of Douce to Raimond Bérenger, count of Barcelona, transfer of the county to the counts of Barcelona
1125
Treaty dividing the county between the count of Toulouse and Raimond Bérenger, marquisate north of the Durance and county south of it
1181
Erection of the county of Orange into an autonomous principality
1229
Submission of Nice to the count of Provence
1229
Treaty of Meaux-Paris, passage of the marquisate to the papacy
19 August 1245
Death of Raimond Bérenger V, passage of the county to his daughter Beatrice and founding of the first house of Anjou
1271
Passage of the marquisate to the king of France
1274
Cession of the marquisate to the pope, formation of the Comtat Venaissin
22 March 1309
Agreement between Charles II and Bertrand IV, prince of Baux, on the rights of the kingdom of Arles
1316
Installation of the popes at Avignon
6 August 1388
Dedition of Nice, Puget-Théniers, the Lantosque valley and the bailliage of Barcelonnette to the count of Savoy
24 July 1474
Testament of René bequeathing Provence to his nephew Charles of Maine
10 December 1481
Charles III dictates his testament making Louis XI universal legatee
day after 10 December 1481
Death of Charles III, last sovereign count, passage of Provence to the king of France
Early modern period
19 December 1481
Louis XI charges Palamède Forbin with taking possession of Provence in the king's name
December 1481
Death of Charles V of Anjou (Charles III of Provence), last independent count, passage of Provence to the King of France
15 January 1482
The Estates of Provence vote, under the impetus of Palamède de Forbin, a charter of fifty-three chapters forming the "Provençal Constitution", its first article already ratifying the recognition of the King of France as Count of Provence
August to October 1486
The Estates ask Charles VIII for the definitive and eternal union of Provence with the crown, letters patent grant their request
9 April 1487
The letters patent are communicated to the Estates gathered at Aix: the union of the county with France is definitively established
1536
Second imperial invasion, led by Charles V in person, halted before Marseille and Arles, Charles V having himself proclaimed king of Arles at Aix during the invasion
1691 to 1706
The county of Nice is conquered by France, returned, then reconquered
1768 to 1774
The King of France seizes Avignon and the Comtat Venaissin once again
22 December 1789
Decree of the National Assembly dividing the kingdom into departments, opening the Bouche/Sinéty controversy over the Provençal division and the assignment of the chef-lieu to Aix
Read the period: Early modern period
Contemporary period
February 1790
The principle of forming a department with Haute-Provence is adopted
14 September 1791
Vote for the annexation of Avignon and the Comtat Venaissin to France
12 August 1793
Creation of the department of Vaucluse
1815
The county of Nice falls back under Piedmontese control
1860
Treaty of Turin: definitive attachment of the county of Nice to France, recreation of the department of Alpes-Maritimes
1861
Annexation of Menton and Roquebrune
1947
Attachment of Tende and La Brigue to France, ending 559 years of division of Provence that had begun in 1388
1970
The Basses-Alpes are renamed Alpes-de-Haute-Provence