The Château des Baux is a fortified castle built during the 10th century, located in

Les Baux-de-Provence Les Baux-de-Provence (; oc, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal, Lei Bauç de Provença), commonly called Baux, is a Communes of France, commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regio ...

Bouches-du-Rhône Bouches-du-Rhône ( , , ; oc, Bocas de Ròse ; "Mouths of the Rhône") is a department in Southern France. It borders Vaucluse to the north, Gard to the west and Var to the east. The Mediterranean Sea lies to the south. Its prefecture and ...

, southern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

History

Although already inhabited in the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

, Les Baux-de-Provence did not really start growing until the medieval period. Built in the 10th century, the fortress and the small town it protects were ruled by the

lords of Baux This is a list of the Lords, Barons and Marquisses of Baux. List of rulers of Baux Lords of Baux of the House of Baux * Pons the Younger (born , ), father of * Hugh I (born after 1059), father of * french: Guillaume Hugues or "Guilhem Uc" (af ...

for five hundred years, in the thick of the ceaseless conflicts that ravaged

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...

. It was also at Les Baux that the most famous

minstrel A minstrel was an entertainer, initially in medieval Europe. It originally described any type of entertainer such as a musician, juggler, acrobat, singer or fool; later, from the sixteenth century, it came to mean a specialist entertainer ...

s and

troubadours A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a ''trobairi ...

of the day sang songs of courtly love to the maidens of the House of Les Baux. In the 15th century, the lords of Baux were superseded by the barons of the Masons des Comtes de

. This was a golden age for the Château, before it came under the control of the kings of France. From the 16th century on, family feuds and wars of religion brought on the decline of the town until the fortress was pulled down in 1633 on the orders of

Louis XIII Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown ...

. Image:4496 BAUX5005 C Recoura.jpg, View from the castle Image:1006 BAUX1191.jpg, The keep Image:1004 BAUX1075.jpg, Chapel within the castle Image:4611_Baux_cr_dit_photo_Culturespaces_www_tophoto_fr_com_Armedieval_358.jpg, Trébuchet

The Château des Baux today

Visitors to the Château des Baux can see full-scale replicas of huge

siege engine A siege engine is a device that is designed to break or circumvent heavy castle doors, thick city walls and other fortifications in siege warfare. Some are immobile, constructed in place to attack enemy fortifications from a distance, while oth ...

s, including a couillard, bricole,

ballista The ballista (Latin, from Greek βαλλίστρα ''ballistra'' and that from βάλλω ''ballō'', "throw"), plural ballistae, sometimes called bolt thrower, was an ancient missile weapon that launched either bolts or stones at a distant ...

, and the biggest

trebuchet A trebuchet (french: trébuchet) is a type of catapult that uses a long arm to throw a projectile. It was a common powerful siege engine until the advent of gunpowder. The design of a trebuchet allows it to launch projectiles of greater weight ...

in Europe, which is launched during demonstrations several times daily between April and September.

External links

Official website of the castle

City council website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baux, Chateaux Des Ruined castles in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Bouches-du-Rhône Museums in Bouches-du-Rhône Military and war museums in France Historic house museums in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur