Grignan is a commune in south-eastern France
in the
DrĂ´me
department in the Rhone-Alpes region.
It has a magnificent Renaissance castle and is mentioned in the
letters that
Madame
de Sévigné wrote to her daughter, Madame de Grignan, in the
17th century.
Geography
Grignan is
located in the south of the DrĂ´me department, near the border of
the neighbouring Vaucluse
department,
and close to Mont
Ventoux
, the highest mountain in Provence.
To visit
Grignan, take the A7 autoroute and use
either exit #18, Montélimar
Sud, or #19, Bollène
.
Agriculture
Market in Grignan
The main crops produced in the area are
lavender,
truffles,
wheat, and
sunflowers.
Nearby is the village of Nyons
, world
famous for its olives.
History
View of Grignan
Several archeological excavations have shown that the rocky
promentory of Grignan has been occupied since the
Iron Age. There is evidence of a former
Bronze Age society here, as well as Roman
occupation in the 5th and 6th centuries AD.Historians have noted
that in the year 1035, a
cartulaire (a ledger of church or
monastery property titles) from the
Abbey of Saint-Chaffre in the
Haute-Loire, makes mention of an obscure
castellum
Gradignanum. Over the next century, the name steadily evolved
to become the
castrum Grainan (1105), then
Graigna,
Grazinam ... We know very little about
the birth of the castle or those who built it. The existence of a
certain Christophe de Grignan has been established some time around
the year 1030, and in 1035, the cartulaire of Saint-Chaffre, speaks
of a 'Rostaing du château de Grignan,'
Rostagnus de castello
Gradignano.
A century later, according to various documents, the Grignan family
appears to have become well established. It is precisely during
this time that the Grignans seem to have lost the ownership of the
castle which bears their name. Beginning in 1239, the records show
that Grignan ceased to belong to the Grignans ... but to the
Adhémar de Monteil
family.
The expansion of the castle coincided with the rise in power of the
Adhémars of Grignan. The Adhémars were up-and-coming so their
castle necessarily had to follow. Beginning in the 13th century,
the Adhémars rose from Barons to Dukes, finally being elevated to
the rank of Counts by
Henry II, King
of France. Grignan Castle progressively became an imposing
stronghold. The Adhémar family line ended when Louis Adhémar died
without an heir in 1559. The titles and possessions of Louis
Adhémar, Count of Grignan, fell upon his nephew Gaspard de
Castellane, son of Louis' sister Blanche Adhémar. Although the
Adhémars were an illustrious family, in terms of sheer glory they
were rivalled by the Castellane clan.
The castle was eventually inherited by François de
Castellane-Ornano-Adhémar de Monteil de Grignan, who carried among
his titles the
Duke of Termoli,
Count of Grignan,
Count of Campobasso, and the
Baron of Entrecasteaux, as well as a
knight in the service of King
Louis
XIV. He was governor general of Provence, and through the dutch
of their cĂty of Orange.
François, the last Count of Grignan, was two-times a widower (his
wives Angélique-Clarisse d'Angiennes, daughter of the Marquis de
Rambouillet, and Marie-Angélique du Puy-du-Fou having died in quick
succession). For his third marriage, he chose a certain
Françoise-Marguerite de Sévigné, daughter of the marquise of the
same name whose illustrious letters have perpetuated the memory of
her son-in-law—and his castle to this very day.
Madame de Sévigné travelled
three times to Provence (that is to say, Aix
and Grignan)
in order to spend time with her daughter and son-in-law: a 14-month
stay beginning in 1672; another 14 month stay beginning in 1690
taken before a quick trip to Brittany; and a third stay of 22
months leading right up to her death in 1696. In other
words, Madame de Sévigné spent only a little less than four years
total in the part of France which occupied so much space in her
heart and letters.
Demographics
Population history
| 1962 |
1968 |
1975 |
1982 |
1990 |
1999 |
| 1072 |
1113 |
1099 |
1147 |
1300 |
1353 |
| Starting in 1962: Population
without duplicates |
Sites and monuments
Louis Adhemar, governor of Provence, remodelled the medieval castle
from 1545 to 1558. From 1668 to 1690, Francois de
Castellane-Adhemar turned it into a sumptuous
Renaissance palace.Construction on
the site of Grignan's present castle was originally begun in the
12th century, but it wasn't until the 13th century that the Adhémar
family expanded it into a mighty fortress. In the 1600s, François
Adhémar de Monteil transformed the fortress into a luxurious
residence. Reduced to ruins in 1793, it was reconstructed in the
early 1900s by Madame Fontaine who spent her entire fortune to
restore the castle to its former grandeur. Presently, the castle
belongs to the DrĂ´me
département and is a major tourist
attraction.
La collégiale Saint-Sauveur / Collegiate Church of the Holy
Saviour
Located under the castle terrace, the
collegiate church was constructed between
1535 and 1539 at the request of Louis Adhémar. The Renaissance
façade is flanked by two square towers and a beautiful Gothic rose
window. Inside is an impressive 17th century altar and organ loft.
On the floor in front of the altar is a marble funerary stone
marking the sealed entrance to the tomb of
Madame
de Sévigné.
La grotte de Rochecourbière
Located about a half-kilometre from Grignan, this shallow, natural
cave sheltered from the Provençal sun, was a favourite writing spot
of Madame de Sévigné.
Notable people
- Morton Beiser
(born 1936), Professor of Psychiatry at
the University of
Toronto
and a Member of the Order of Canada
- Roger DuchĂŞne (1930-2006),
biographer specializing in the letters of Madame de Sévigné
- Bruno Durieux (born 1944), current
mayor of Grignan
- SĂ©rgio Ferro (born 1938),
Brazilian painter, architect, and professor
- J. Timothy Hunt (born 1959), American-Canadian
author and journalist.
- Philippe Jaccottet (born
1925), Swiss poet and translator who publishes in French
- François-Adhémar de Monteil de
Grignan (1632-1714), Comte de Grignan
- Françoise-Marguerite
de Sévigné (1646-1705), Comtesse de Grignan
- Madame
de Sévigné (1626-1696), French aristocrat, remembered for her
letters
- Hamilton Southam
External links
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