The Château des Baux is a fortified

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

built during the 10th century, located in

Les Baux-de-Provence Les Baux-de-Provence (; oc, label=Provençal, Lei Bauç de Provença), commonly called Baux, is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of Southern France. It is located in the Alpilles mountain ...

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 l ...

, 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 ar ...

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 pri ...

, Les Baux-de-Provence did not really start growing until the medieval period. Built in the 10th century, the

fortress A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

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" (aft ...

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 France–Italy border, Italian border ...

. 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 w ...

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 A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in ...

Image:1004 BAUX1075.jpg, Chapel within the castle Image:4611_Baux_cr_dit_photo_Culturespaces_www_tophoto_fr_com_Armedieval_358.jpg,

Trébuchet 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 weigh ...

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 othe ...

s, including a couillard,

bricole The mangonel, also called the traction trebuchet, was a type of trebuchet used in Ancient China starting from the Warring States period, and later across Eurasia by the 6th century AD. Unlike the later counterweight trebuchet, the mangonel opera ...

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 weig ...

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