Grignan (; oc, Grinhan) is a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

in the

Drôme Drôme (; Occitan: ''Droma''; Arpitan: ''Drôma'') is the southernmost department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. Named after the river Drôme, it had a population of 516,762 as of 2019.

department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

in southeastern

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 area ...

. It has a Renaissance castle and is mentioned in the letters that

Madame de Sévigné Madame may refer to: * Madam, civility title or form of address for women, derived from the French * Madam (prostitution), a term for a woman who is engaged in the business of procuring prostitutes, usually the manager of a brothel * ''Madame'' ...

wrote to her daughter, Madame de Grignan, in the 17th century.

Geography

Grignan is located in the south of the Drôme department, near the border of the neighbouring

Vaucluse Vaucluse (; oc, Vauclusa, label= Provençal or ) is a department in the southeastern French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It had a population of 561,469 as of 2019.Mont Ventoux Mont Ventoux (; oc, Ventor, label= Provençal ) is a mountain in the Provence region of southern France, located some northeast of Carpentras, Vaucluse. On the north side, the mountain borders the department of Drôme. At , it is the highest ...

, the highest mountain in

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 Italian border to the east; it is bor ...

. To visit Grignan, take the

A7 autoroute The A7 Autoroute, also known as l'autoroute du Soleil (English: the Motorway of the Sun) is a French motorway. It continues the A6 and links Lyon to Marseille. The autoroute du Soleil is long and forms part of European routes E15, E80, and ...

and use either exit #18,

Montélimar Montélimar (; Vivaro-Alpine: ''Montelaimar'' ; la, Acumum) is a town in the Drôme department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in north Provence, Southeastern France. It is the second-largest city in the department after Valence. In 2018 ...

Sud, or #19,

Bollène Bollène (; Provençal: ''Bouleno'') is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. Geography Bollène is a commune located in the north of the Vaucluse department next to the juncti ...

Agriculture

The main crops produced in the area are

lavender ''Lavandula'' (common name lavender) is a genus of 47 known species of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It is native to the Old World and is found in Cape Verde and the Canary Islands, and from Europe across to northern and easte ...

truffles A truffle is the fruiting body of a subterranean ascomycete fungus, predominantly one of the many species of the genus ''Tuber''. In addition to ''Tuber'', many other genera of fungi are classified as truffles including '' Geopora'', '' Pe ...

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

, and

sunflowers ''Helianthus'' () is a genus comprising about 70 species of annual and perennial flowering plants in the daisy family Asteraceae commonly known as sunflowers. Except for three South American species, the species of ''Helianthus'' are native to N ...

. Nearby is the village of

Nyons Nyons (; See mistralian norm, and classical norm of Provençal.) is a commune in the Drôme department in southeastern France. History Nyons was settled in the 6th century BC as ''Nyrax'' by a Gallic tribe, probably the Segusiavi or the Se ...

, world-famous for its olives.

History

Several archeological excavations have shown that the rocky promontory of Grignan has been occupied since the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

. There is evidence of a former

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 prin ...

society here, as well as Roman occupation in the 5th and 6th centuries AD. Historians have noted that in the year 1035, a ''cartulaire'' (a ledger of church or monastery property titles) from the Abbey of Saint-Chaffre in the Haute-Loire, makes mention of an obscure ''castellum Gradignanum''. Over the next century, the name steadily evolved to become the ''castrum Grainan'' (1105), then ''Graigna'', ''Grazinam'' ... We know very little about the birth of the castle or those who built it. The existence of a certain Christophe de Grignan has been established some time around the year 1030, and in 1035, the cartulaire of Saint-Chaffre, speaks of a 'Rostaing du château de Grignan,' ''Rostagnus de castello Gradignano''. A century later, according to various documents, the Grignan family appears to have become well established. It is precisely during this time that the Grignans seem to have lost the ownership of the castle which bears their name. Beginning in 1239, the records show that Grignan ceased to belong to the Grignans ... but to the Adhémar de Monteil family. The expansion of the castle coincided with the rise in power of the Adhémars of Grignan. The Adhémars were up-and-coming so their castle necessarily had to follow. Beginning in the 13th century, the Adhémars rose from Barons to Dukes, finally being elevated to the rank of Counts by Henry II, King of France. Grignan Castle progressively became an imposing stronghold. The Adhémar family line ended when Louis Adhémar died without an heir in 1559. The titles and possessions of Louis Adhémar, Count of Grignan, fell upon his nephew Gaspard de Castellane, son of Louis' sister Blanche Adhémar. Although the Adhémars were an illustrious family, in terms of sheer glory they were rivalled by the Castellane clan. The castle was eventually inherited by François de Castellane-Ornano-Adhémar de Monteil de Grignan, who carried among his titles the Duke of Termoli, Count of Grignan, Count of Campobasso, and the Baron of Entrecasteaux, as well as a knight in the service of King

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Ver ...

. He was governor general of Provence, and through the Dutch of their cíty of Orange. François, the last Count of Grignan, was two-times a widower (his wives Angélique-Clarisse d'Angiennes, daughter of the Marquis de Rambouillet, and Marie-Angélique du Puy-du-Fou having died in quick succession). For his third marriage, he chose a certain Françoise-Marguerite de Sévigné, daughter of the marquise of the same name whose illustrious letters have perpetuated the memory of her son-in-law—and his castle to this very day.

travelled three times to Provence (that is to say,

Aix Aix or AIX may refer to: Computing * AIX, a line of IBM computer operating systems *An Alternate Index, for a Virtual Storage Access Method Key Sequenced Data Set * Athens Internet Exchange, a European Internet exchange point Places Belgi ...

and Grignan) in order to spend time with her daughter and son-in-law: a 14-month stay beginning in 1672; another 14-month stay beginning in 1690 taken before a quick trip to Brittany; and a third stay of 22 months leading right up to her death in 1696. In other words, Madame de Sévigné spent only a little less than four years total in the part of France which occupied so much space in her heart and letters.

Population

Sights

Louis Adhemar, governor of Provence, remodelled the medieval castle from 1545 to 1558. From 1668 to 1690, François de Castellane-Adhemar turned it into a sumptuous

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

palace. Construction on the site of Grignan's present castle was originally begun in the 12th century, but it wasn't until the 13th century that the Adhémar family expanded it into a mighty fortress. In the 17th century, François Adhémar de Monteil transformed the fortress into a luxurious residence. Reduced to ruins in 1793, it was reconstructed in the early 20th century by Madame Fontaine who spent her entire fortune to restore the castle to its former grandeur. Presently, the castle belongs to the Drôme ' and is a major tourist attraction.

Collegiate Church of the Holy Saviour

Located under the castle terrace, the

collegiate church In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons: a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, which may be presided over by ...

was constructed between 1535 and 1539 at the request of Louis Adhémar. The Renaissance façade is flanked by two square towers and a Gothic rose window. Inside is a 17th-century altar and organ loft. On the floor in front of the altar is a marble funerary stone marking the sealed entrance to the tomb of

Rochecourbière Cave

Located about a half kilometre from Grignan, this shallow, natural cave sheltered from the Provençal sun, was a favourite writing spot of Madame de Sévigné.

Notable people

* Morton Beiser (born 1936), member of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the cen ...

* Roger Duchêne (1930–2006), biographer specializing in the letters of Madame de Sévigné * Bruno Durieux (born 1944), mayor of Grignan *

Sérgio Ferro Sérgio Ferro (born 25 July 1938) is a Brazilian painter, architect and professor. Ferro was born in Curitiba, Paraná. He graduated from the University of São Paulo with a degree in architecture in 1962 and completed his post-graduate studies ...

(born 1938), Brazilian painter, architect, and professor * J. Timothy Hunt (born 1959), American-Canadian author and journalist *

Philippe Jaccottet Philippe Jaccottet (; 30 June 1925 – 24 February 2021) was a Swiss Francophone poet and translator. Life and work After completing his studies in Lausanne, he lived for several years in Paris. In 1953, he moved to the town of Grignan in ...

(1925-2021), Swiss poet and

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

who publishes in French * François-Adhémar de Monteil de Grignan (1632–1714), Comte de Grignan *

Françoise-Marguerite de Sévigné Françoise-Marguerite de Sévigné, comtesse de Grignan (10 October 1646 – 13 August 1705), was a French aristocrat, remembered for the letters that her mother, Madame de Sévigné, wrote to her. Life Françoise-Marguerite was born in Paris, ...

(1646–1705), Comtesse de Grignan *

(1626–1696), French aristocrat, remembered for her letters