PROVENCE (Provincia}, a province of France lying to the extreme south-east on the shores of the Mediterranean, bounded on the W. by Languedoc, on the N. by Ven aissin and Dauphine, and on the E. by Italy. It now forms the departments of Bouches-du-Rhone, Var, and Basses- Alpes, with portions of Vaucluse and Alpes Maritimes. It was divided into Upper Provence, containing the four seneschalates of Forcalquier, Castellane, Sisteron Digne, and the Valley of Barcelonnette ; and Lower Provence, containing the eight seneschalates of Aix, Aries, Brignoles, Grasse, Marseilles, Draguignan, Hyeres, and Toulon. In ancient as in modern times the most important city was Marseilles (Massilia), a chief seat of trade for the Greek merchants of the Mediterranean, who extended their power along the coast and founded Agde, Antibes, Grasse, and Nice. They afterwards called in the aid of the Romans (125 B.C.) against the Ligurian inhabitants of the surround ing country, and the new-comers soon made themselves masters of the territory which later formed the provinces of Languedoc, Dauphine, and Provence. The new pro vince, of which the capital was Aquae Sextias (Aix), was called Provincia Gallica until the total conquest of Gaul, when the name of the district was changed to Gallia Narbonensis. In the 4th century of the Christian era, when the greater part of Languedoc, or Narbonensis Prima, had become subject to the Visigoths, and the Burgundians had spread to the Viennois, Provincia came to be applied only to the country lying between the Rhone, the Durance, and the Alps which was still held by the Romans. But they could not withstand for long the advancing tide of barbarian power. Although the Visi- gothic king Theodoric I. was defeated by Aetius before Aries in 425 A.D., and their united armies in turn defeated Attila in 451, yet Theodoric II. imposed the emperor Avitus on the Romans, and Euric by the capture of Aries (480) made the Visigoths masters of Provence. Their defeat at the battle of Bougie in 507 by Clovis and Gundibalcl, king of the Burgundians, placed Provence at the mercy of the latter, who ceded it in 511 to Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, as guardian of the Visigothic king. The powers so gained were, however, resigned by his suc cessor Witiges in 536 to Theodebert, king of the Franks, who had previously overthrown the Burgundian kingdom. On the death of Clotaire I. (561) Provence was divided between his sons Sigebert, king of Austrasia, and Gontran, king of Burgundy, Marseilles falling to the former and Aries to the latter. When Gontran died in 593 the pro vince was united under his nephew Childebert, only to be divided again by his sons and reunited under Clotaire II. (613), until the sons of Dagobert, Sigebert II. and Clovis II. (633) parted it between them. In 719 the Saracens crossed the Pyrenees and made themselves masters of almost all Septimania, or Languedoc, and in 739 they joined with Maurontis, a Byzantine governor of Marseilles, in his attempt to drive out the Franks. Fortunately for Europe their forces were completely defeated by Charles Martel, who again united Provence to the Frankish kingdom. On the division of the Carlovingian empire in 843 Provence fell to Lothair, who left it with the title of king to his son Charles (855), at whose death without issue in 863 it was seized by Charles the Bald. In 879 his brother-in-law Boson, a son-in-law of the emperor Louis II., and governor of Vienne, was elected king by the synod of Mantale, when his united provinces became known as Cisjuran Burgundy. His son, Louis the Blind, obtained the crown of Italy (900), but was deposed by Hugo, who, in his turn obtaining the Italian kingdom, ceded Provence in 932 to Rudolph II., king of Transjuran Burgundy. The two Burgundies thus united received the name of the Kingdom of Aries, which lasted in a phantom form until 877 1032, but Provence was always governed by princes whose powers gradually increased, until the county was changed from a beneficiary to an hereditary fief. The line of bene ficiary counts begins with Boson I. (926), who was rein vested by Rudolph II. in 934. He was succeeded by Boson II. (948), whose son William I. (968) signalized his reign by driving out from the stronghold of Fraxinet the Moorish pirates who had seized it in 889, and thence ravaged the neighbouring country. His brother Rothbold, who held the fief until 1008, was followed by his nephew William II, and, as the union of the kingdom of Aries with the German empire was by this time almost nominal, the counts of Provence claimed independence, and William s sons, Geoffrey-Bertrand I. and William III, divided the county in 1018 as an allodial fief. William III. died in 1053 and Geoffrey-Bertrand handed over to his nephews the northern part, or the county of Forcalquier, he himself retaining the main province to which his son Bertrand II. succeeded in 1063. At his death without issue in 1093 the county was ruled by his mother Etiennette, who was followed (1100) by her daughter Gerberge, wife of Gilbert, viscount of Milhaud and Ge>audan. Their daughter Douce was married to Raymond-Berenger, count of Barcelona, of the house of Aragon, and Provence passed to him in 1112. But his succession was not undisputed. Raymond de S. Gilles, count of Toulouse and Venaissin, a great-grandson of Rothbold, had about 1085 laid claim to the county of Forcalquier, and his pretensions were pro bably partly admitted. The excitement of the crusades put a stop to further action, and in 1096, accompanied by Count Gilbert, he led the Provencal contingent, which was, however, more distinguished for foraging than fighting. On his death in 1105 his claims were revived by his son Alfonse Jourdain, who succeeded in obtaining from Raymond-Berenger an extension of the county of Venaissin. Raymond-Berenger I. died in 1130, and was succeeded by his son Berenger-Raymond, whose rights were disputed by Raymond de Baux, husband of his mother s sister Etiennette. In the war which ensued the count was killed before Melgueil, leaving a young son, Raymond-Berenger II. (1144), to the guardianship of his uncle, Raymond-Berenger of Aragon. The claims of Raymond de Baux were renewed by his son Hugo, on whose defeat in 1162 the ernperor Frederick I. gave his niece Richilda in marriage to the young count, and invested him with the fiefs of Provence and Forcalquier. His only daughter Douce had been betrothed to the count of Toulouse, who accordingly on the death of Raymond- Berenger II. (1166) claimed the county, but was defeated by Alphonso I. of Aragon, who invested his brother Raymond-Berenger III., on whose death in 1181 the fief reverted to Alphonso I. to pass to his son Alphonso II. (1196). This prince died in 1209, and was succeeded by his son Raymond-Berenger IV., who, seeing that the great cities were nests of intrigue for rivals to the throne, set himself to destroy their independence. Through all changes of rulers the cities had kept their internal freedom and old Roman self-government. The election of the governing body had always remained in the hands of the citizens, but the office of chief magistrate, after ceasing to be filled by a nominee of the Byzantine emperor, had be come vested either in certain families or in the bishops. In the 12th century measures of reform were imitated from the Italian republics, the chief characteristic of which was the election for life of a stranger as chief magistrate or podesta. The power of the podestas was too great to be broken at once, and, though the Albigenses in Avignon capitulated in 1226, and Nice, Grar-se, Toulon, and Marseilles afterwards submitted to Raymond-Berenger
IV., it was left to his son-in-law, CHARLES OF AXJOU (see