The Republic of the Escartons (Italian: ''Repubblica degli Escartons''; French: ''République des Écartons'') was a collection of mountain territories located around

Mount Viso Monte Viso or Monviso (; oc, Vísol; Piedmontese: ''Brich Monviso'' or ''Viso'') is the highest mountain of the Cottian Alps. It is located in Italy close to the French border. Monte Viso is well known for its pyramid-like shape and, because it i ...

in the Briançonnais, with territory between

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

and

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The ...

. It had lands in what is now the French department of

Hautes-Alpes Hautes-Alpes (; oc, Auts Aups; en, Upper Alps) is a department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of Southeastern France. It is located in the heart of the French Alps, after which it is named. Hautes-Alpes had a population of 141,220 ...

, the province of Turin and

province of Cuneo Cuneo (Italian), or Coni (Piedmontese), is a province in the southwest of the Piedmont region of Italy. To the west it borders on the French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur ( departments of Alpes-Maritimes, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and Haut ...

. It was named after its capital. Escartons corresponds to the

Occitan Occitan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France. * Occitan language, spoken in parts o ...

name for Briançon and in French 'écarter' means 'to divide', specifically 'to divide taxes into quarters'. It consisted of a set of mountain territories in what is now the French department of

, the province of Turin and

. It enjoyed fiscal and political privileges from the French and although not very large, it had more than forty thousand inhabitants. Every year the leaders of various countries forming the Republic met in council to elect a consul as its leader.

Guigues VII of Viennois Guigues VII (1225–1269), of the House of Burgundy, was the dauphin of Vienne and count of Albon, Grenoble, Oisans, Briançon, Embrun, and Gap from 1237 to his death. He was the son of Andrew Guigues VI and Beatrice of Montferrat. When ...

conceded the inhabitants of

Briançon Briançon (, ) is the sole subprefecture of the Hautes-Alpes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. It is the highest city in France at an altitude of , based on the national definition as a community cont ...

a charter of liberty in 1244, which was confirmed as a grand charter on 29 May 1343 by his successor

Humbert II of Viennois Humbert II de la Tour-du-Pin (1312 – 4 May 1355) was the Dauphin of the Viennois from 1333 to 16 July 1349. Humbert was the last dauphin before the title went to the French crown, to be bestowed on the heir apparent. Character Humbert was a s ...

Beauvoir-en-Royans Beauvoir-en-Royans is a commune in the Isère department in southeastern France. Population See also *Communes of the Isère department *Parc naturel régional du Vercors The Vercors Regional Natural Park (French: ''Parc naturel régional ...

- he signed it with 18 representatives of the Alpine valleys. This gave birth to the Escartons republic, made up of five separate valleys – Briançonnais, Oulx, Casteldelfino, Val Chisone, and Queyras. The charter was later confirmed by letters patent from all the kings of France from

Charles V of France Charles V (21 January 1338 – 16 September 1380), called the Wise (french: le Sage; la, Sapiens), was King of France from 1364 to his death in 1380. His reign marked an early high point for France during the Hundred Years' War, with his armi ...

Louis XVI of France Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...

– after the

Treaty of Utrecht The Peace of Utrecht was a series of peace treaties signed by the belligerents in the War of the Spanish Succession, in the Dutch city of Utrecht between April 1713 and February 1715. The war involved three contenders for the vacant throne ...

, this continued until 4 August 1789 for the parts of the Republic which remained French territory.

External links

*http://www.escarton.it/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Principality of the Brianconese 1343 establishments in Europe 1340s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire 1789 disestablishments in France