1In spite of a pronounced recent revival in interest for the study of Provençal castle architecture, little information has been available concerning the Chateau de Gréoux-les-Bains. The present study of the castle, as part of an analysis of settlement in the area since Antiquity, has been facilitated by field documentation and archives of an unusually rich nature for a rural site in the Provencal region.

21 The geographical and human context

3There is evidence, albeit sparse, that occupation of this land, with its rich natural potential, dates back to the prehistoric and protohistoric periods. À small town is known to have existed in the valley area from Antiquity : located near hot springs, it was frequented by the Roman aristocracy.

4There is little evidence for further organisation of the landscape before the middle of the medieval period, at which time two centres of occupation appear. The old Roman site is occupied by the parish of Saint Peter and its cemetery (twelfth to thirteenth century) ; the castle and its associated settlement are built on a prominent rise in the Valensole plateau. The settlement was endowed with a parish church in the thirteenth century and was encircled by two successive surrounding walls marking the thirteenth and sixteenth century boundaries of the site.

52 The castle : architectural description

6The castle and its bailey were built on a site overlooking the village and separated from it by a surrounding wall. This fortified area underwent changes at different periods which were intended, particularly in the sixteenth century, to strengthen its defences. Later transformations were designed either to embellish the area or to render it more functional.

7The seigniorial residence, built inside the enclosure, formed an enormous parallelepiped organized around the area of the inner courtyard. An overall reading of the architecture makes it possible to define the castle’s main construction phases. During the most important of these, in the fourteenth century, the building was laid out around a courtyard. An examination of building techniques and the analysis of archival documents have contributed to more precise dating, while at the same time revealing the existence of structures which have today disappeared.

8The main entrance to the seigniorial residence, a vaulted porch topped by a portcullis room, was placed in the north building. In the fourteenth century, rooms were laid out on two floors which were subdivided in modern times.

9The building’s outline is punctuated by the northwest tower, whose semi-projecting, square-planned volume comprises three levels, crowned by a terrace. The tower –an architectural echo of stone keeps– has received few structural modifications. Later internal alterations mainly involved the communication system between the different floors.

10Contemporary to the northwest tower and the north side of the building, the west wing appears to be later than the south wing. Its fairly straightforward layout, considerably obliterated by modern and contemporary works, can still be partly reconstructed.

11Built in 1625, at the junction of the south and west buildings, the southwest complex occupies an area that, for some reason, until this time had not been built upon. On the first level there are two narrow, oblong vaulted areas and, on the second, a crenelated terrace.

12The oldest elevations have been found in the castle’s south building and correspond to a twelfth century church, which faced the village and was connected, to the north, to the original castle complex. The fourteenth century rebuilding campaign incoporated it into the castle’s south building. At that point, this wing was built on three levels that were altered in modern times.

13Also part of the fourteenth century building programme, the ground floor of the east building was used for domestic activities. Like the south wing, its interior later underwent major alterations which subdivided the large medieval halls into smaller spaces.

14The northeast tower was put up in the second half of the sixteenth century to reinforce the castle’s defences, but it was converted into a dovecot early in the seventeenth century.

15The central area of the inner courtyard, which had a water tank at its centre, was the residence’s main thoroughfare. During the first half of the fifteenth century, a monumental structure composed of two superimposed levels of planked galleries was built against the four façades facing into the courtyard. These galleries were reached by a stone staircase in the southeast corner.

163 The castle : general analysis and architectural context

17Five main phases marked the castle’s architectural history, from the twelfth century to the contemporary period. The first phase is represented by the church in the south wing and by archaeological evidence of residential occupation during the thirteenth century. Subsequent phases were marked by the rebuilding of the castle in the fourteenth century, by the creation of the courtyard in the fifteenth century and, from the sixteenth century on, by military additions and work on the interior. Finally, after the Revolution, the castle was abandoned and suffered much damage.

18The functions of the various parts of the castle can only be identified in a general way. In particular, attention has been drawn to the galleries, the grand staircase and the northwest tower, with its-very strong symbolic significance.

19The seigniorial castle at Gréoux, –created as a result of the thirteenth century spread of Gothic architectural innovations to southern regions, remains atypical, in Provence, with respect to the orderliness and sheer size of its architectural programme. These features underline the castle’s clear architectural link with important aristocratic townhouses

204 History of the domain, the castle and the village

21The first evidence of land organisation dates from the early eleventh century. Now that the presence of Templars at Gréoux is no longer generally accepted, it is possible to consider that the domain belonged to the Pontevès family’s ancestral lands, and that before the middle of the thirteenth century, it had been the property of a lord close to the Castellane family. The phenomenon of clustered and hanging habitat appears in the twelfth century, but with no trace of fortification. It was only in the thirteenth century that incastellamento took place, with the construction of a rampart and a new parish church.

22It is likely, from the dating established for the castle, that one of three lords commissioned its construction in the fourteenth century : the comte de Provence, the Hospitallers or, most probably, Arnaud de Than, after 1324. The village site was already established with a fairly large population, located on good land quite close to Lower Provence.

23The descendents of Arnaud de Trian held lordship until 1379, after which it passed into the hands of the Glandevès, Clapiers, Audiffret and Albertas families. These families successively completed or changed the layout of the medieval residence and developed the property’s boundaries whose final form was determined towards the middle of the seventeenth century. The lords of Gréoux were little affected by the conflicts between Catholics and Protestants at the end of the sixteenth century but did clash with the village community during the modern period.

24After the Revolution, the main and last lord occupying the castle was a certain Arnoux Guibert. Listed in 1840, the castle was only recently protected from pillaging by a restoration programme carried out under the aegis of the Ancient Monuments Directorate.