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La Barben castle's Cascavéous, bells of anger

The castle | Georges Seguin (Okki) / CC-BY-SA
Castle Siege Revolt La Barben castle

Enough!

We were in 1630, in Aix-en-Provence. The situation wasn’t pretty good. The plague killed almost everyone, the starvation watched, and the king helped by cardinal Richelieu decided to promulgate an edict on taxes’ collection… the inflation watched.

People from Aix didn’t want that kind of thing! So, they rebelled. Until a small troop (2000 men all the same) led by a local lord, heard the lord de Forbin just left his castle of la Barben, to join the king’s army, sent to calm the rebels down.

Rebels ran to the castle… and besieged it!

This rebellion was known as the révolte des Cascavéous, “Cascavéous revolt”: Cascavéous means ″little bells″ in Provence, because those insurgents wore bells on their clothes!

Wood from mount Lebanon

The siege was vigorous: people even burnt the neighbouring woods, and we still can see shots traces on the castle’s walls! What about Forbin? Well, he had the time to hide his precious objects!

And peace came back: Aix Parliament asked to people from Aix to repair the castle of la Barben. Sirez wrote in his book Répertoire that the wood they took in the forest cost an arm… as if they brought them back from mount Lebanon!

About the the author

Vinaigrette
I'm fond of strolls and History, with juicy and spicy details!