Comtat Venaissin
Comtat Venaissin | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1271 (annexed as a Papal state in 1274)–1791 | |||||||||||
| Motto: Per lo Papa, per la nacion ("For the Pope, for the nation") | |||||||||||
Map of political borders in Europe between 1748 and 1766 | |||||||||||
| Status | Papal enclave | ||||||||||
| Capital |
44°5′N 5°0′E / 44.083°N 5.000°E | ||||||||||
| Common languages | |||||||||||
| Religion | Roman Catholicism | ||||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||||||||
• Death of Alphonse, Count of Poitiers | 21 August 1271 | ||||||||||
• Acquired by papacy | 1271 (annexed as a Papal state in 1274) | ||||||||||
• Capital moved to Carpentras | 1320 | ||||||||||
• Avignon purchased from Joanna, Countess of Provence | 1348 | ||||||||||
• French occupation | 1663, 1668, 1768–74 | ||||||||||
• Reversed into France by plebiscite | 14 September 1791 | ||||||||||
| 1797 | |||||||||||
| Currency | Roman scudo | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| Today part of | France | ||||||||||
The Comtat Venaissin (French pronunciation: [kɔ̃ta vənɛsɛ̃]; Occitan: lo Comtat Venaicin; 'County of Venaissin'), often called the Comtat for short, was a part of the Papal States from 1274 to 1791, in what is now the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of Southern France.
The state was a separate independent enclave within the Kingdom of France but not part of it, comprising the area around the city of Avignon (itself always a separate comtat) roughly between the Rhône, the Durance and Mont Ventoux, and a small exclave located to the north around the town of Valréas purchased by Pope John XXII. The Comtat also bordered (and mostly surrounded) the Principality of Orange. The region is still known informally as the Comtat Venaissin, although this no longer has any political meaning.