Carcès

The ancient medieval town of Carcsès stands on the hill where the waters of the Argens and Caramy rivers meet, in the heart of Var region, at 115m above sea level, between the Provençal Alps and the Mediterranean beaches.It is a typical small Provençal town, sleepy in winter and lively in summer, with a population of around 3,000, surrounded by pine woods and picturesque hills. Every year, the area attracts numerous nature lovers, thanks to its striking scenery, shaded edges of its rivers, and many walking and cycling paths.

In 1849 in Carcès Maurice Lambot built a world-first ferro-concrete (!) rowing-boat and put it on display on the World Exhibition in Paris in 1854. However this first attempts was soon largely forgotten, until 1896 when the first practical use of ferro-concrete ships started by Carlo Gabellini in Rome, Italy.

In 1891 Carces became the third commune in France lit with electricity.

Local products include oil, honey and, of course, excellent wine(there are five wineries in this tiny town alone!).

List of local winemakers:

From ProvenceWeb
From Carces Website

History

Chapelle Notre-Dame de Carami

Carcès traces its history back to 11th century, when the first lords of Carcès, the Châteaurenards, built the fort on the site in the year 1000. In two charters of 1085 and 1099, Bertrand and Berenger, bishops of Frejus, restored the abbey of St Victor de Marseille, together with the churches located in the valley, one of which was Notre-Dame de Carami de Carcès. In 1235, the castle of Carcès got a knight. The seignery of Carcès belonged at that time in Guillaume de Cotignac, and passed successively, like that of Cotignac, in the families of Pontevès, Simiane, Rohan-Soubise and Condé.

Charles IX (1550 – 1574), son of Henry II and Catherine de Medici

But the village got particularly famous in the second half of 16th century during The French Wars of Religion. These wars were a series of conflicts fought between the Catholic League and the Huguenots from the middle of the sixteenth century to the Edict of Nantes in 1598. They began with a massacre of 30 Huguenots at Vassy on March 1, 1562.

Charles IX’s journey in Provence in 1567, followed by the establishment in the parliament at Aix of a court (chambre) in which Catholics and Protestants had an equal number of seats, led to a momentary cessation of hostilities.

These were resumed between the Carcistes (Roman Catholics) and Razats (Protestants), and again interrupted by the peace of 1576, which gave some guarantees to the Protestants, with La Seyne as a place of security, and also by the plague of 1579, which affected the whole country.

Louis XIV (1638-1715),
The Sun King (Le Roi Soleil)

The league, on the other hand, made rapid progress in Provence under the direction of the comte de Sault and Hubert de la Garde, vainly tried to pacify the country.

La Valette and the political party or Bigarrats were finally more or less reconciled to the Protestants, and, at the time of the death of Henry III, the struggle was no more than a question of district politics. Weakened by the division between the comtesse de Sault and the young comte de Carcès, the league applied to the duke of Savoy, who was besieging Marseilles.

Carcès and the other heads of the league submitted one after the other to the new governor Lesdiguires, who was succeeded by the duke of Guise in 1595, and in 1596 the religious wars in Provence were definitely ended by the capitulation of Marseilles.

Paul-François Vicomte de Barras
(1755 – 1829)

Louis XIV and his court stayed in the village in 1660 when on pilgrimage of the area. The castle, which accommodated him, was destroyed during the Second World war, and only the ruins remain today.

In 1792, August 4, under the patronage Vicomte de Barras de Fox-Amphoux, the patriotic Company "the friends of freedom and the legality" established in a room of "Under-city", the part of the village under the fort; starting from this act, Carcès will become a high place of the French revolution. In 1793, this company will be transformed into "revolutionary club", and the revolutionary commands of the mountain were registered on its walls.

To read the full article on the history of Provence, go to "PROVENCE."LoveToKnow 1911 Online Encyclopedia. © 2003, 2004 LoveToKnow ( Encyclopedia/PROVENCE )

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