Everything about Vaison-la-romaine totally explained
Vaison-la-Romaine (Latin:
Vasio Vocontiorum) is a small town and former bishopric in
Provence. It is part of a
commune of the same name, in the
Vaucluse département, a part of the ancient
French province of
Comtat Venaissin. The historic section is in two parts, the
Colline du Château on a height on one side of the
Ouvèze, the "upper city" and on the opposite bank, the "lower city" centered on the
Colline de la Villasse.
History
The area was inhabited in the
Bronze Age. The first inhabitants whom we can identify were
Ligures. At the end of the fourth century BCE, the upper city of Vaison became the capital of a Celtic tribe, the
Vocontii or Voconces. After the Roman conquest (125-118 BCE) the Vocontii retained a certain degree of autonomy; they'd two capitals,
Luc-en-Diois (in modern
Drôme département), apparently the religious center, and Vaison. Their continued authority in the gradual
Romanization of the Celtic
oppidum meant that the city plan incurred no disruptive re-founding along rigid Roman orthography. The city's modern archaeologist Christian Goudineau has suggested that early examples were set by Vocontian aristocrats who moved down from the
oppidum and established
villas along the river, around which the
Gallo-Roman city accreted. In the Roman period it became one of the richest cities of
Gallia Narbonensis, with numerous geometric mosaic pavements a fine small theatre on a rocky hillslope, probably built during the reign of
Tiberius, whose statue was found in a prominent place on its site. The Polyclitan
Diadumenos now in the
British Museum was discovered in the theatre in the nineteenth century. At Vasio
Pompeius Trogus, the Augustan historian, was born.
The barbarian invasions were presaged by a pillaging and burning in 276, from which Roman Vasio recovered, but in the fifth century the benches of the theatre began to be reused as Christian tombstones. Vaison belonged the
Burgundians, was taken by the
Ostrogoths in 527, then by
Clotaire I in 545, and became part of
Provence
The disputes which broke out in the twelfth century between the
counts of Provence, who had refortified the ancient "upper town" and the bishops, each of whom were in possession of half the town, were injurious to its prosperity; they were ended by a treaty negotiated in 1251 by the future pope
Clement IV, a native of
Saint-Gilles-du-Gard.
At disturbed times of the Middle Ages, the inhabitants emigrated to the higher ground on the left bank of
Ouvèze, with the shelter of the ramparts and a strong castle. From the eighteenth century most of the population had moved back down to the plains by the river.
Ecclesiastical history
St. Albinus (d. 262) was incorrectly placed by the
Carthusian Polycarpe de la Riviere among the bishops of Vaison. The oldest historical bishop of the see was Daphnus, who assisted at the
Council of Arles in 314.
Others were
St. Quinidius (Quenin, 556-79), who valiantly resisted the claims of the
patricius Mummolus, conqueror of the
Lombards;
Joseph-Marie de Suares (1633-66), who died in Rome while filling the office of librarian of the Vatican, and who left numerous works.
St. Rusticala (b. at Vaison, 551; d. 628) was abbess of the monastery of St. Caesarius at
Arles.
Two rather important councils as regards
Gallican ecclesiastical discipline were held at Vaison in 442 and 529, the latter under the presidency of
St. Caesarius.
The bishopric was suppressed by the
Napoleonic Concordat of 1801, and its territory divided between the dioceses of
Avignon and
Valence.
The recovery of Roman Vaison started about 1907 was for a generation under the control of Canon Joseph Sautel (died 1955), whose concern was the recovery of the 'best period' of the first century CE, in pursuit of which he ignored and eliminated later remains, with picturesque and highly visitable restorations. Its chief modern interpreter has been Christian Goudineau.
Sights
One of the most interesting aspects of the town is its geography, and its
Roman ruins.
The Roman ruins and the modern town are in the valley on the banks of the river
Ouvèze which is crossed by an ancient
bridge from the first century.
The medieval town is high on the rocky cliff. The valley floor was safe from attack in Roman and modern times. In the Middle Ages attacks were frequent, and the town retreated up-hill to a more defensible position.
The
apse of the Church of St. Quenin, dedicated to Saint Quinidius, seems to date from the eighth century; it's one of the oldest in France.
As a whole
the cathedral dates from the 11th century, but the apse and the apsidal chapels are from the Merovingian period.
Twin towns
Vaison is
twinned with
Martigny in Switzerland.
Further Information
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