Valréas ( French pronunciation: [valʁeas] ; Occitan : Vauriàs ) is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France .
6-494: The area around the town of Valréas is known as L'Enclave des Papes . It is an enclave of Vaucluse, surrounded by the department of the Drôme . The foundation of the Enclave began in 1317 when Pope John XXII bought Valreas for the papacy of Avignon . The story goes that following a visit to Valreas, feeling unwell he was offered some wine from the area. Liking it he decided to purchase
12-810: A rich history. For the Vaucluse, the Enclave des Papes is an exclave ; for the Drôme, it is an enclave . From 1305 to 1378, the Popes lived in Avignon , in what is now France, and were under the influence of the French kings. During this period, known as the Avignon Papacy , the city of Avignon and the adjacent Comtat Venaissin were added to the Papal States . In 1316 the Cardinals chose
18-505: A sickly man, hoping that his reign as Pope would be short. Pope John XXII surprised them; he died at the age of 89 after 18 years of pontifical reign. All of this, so the story goes, thanks to the excellent wines of the Valréas region. When he had travelled through Valréas, he liked the wine so much that, in 1317, he purchased the estate of Valréas. Pope Clement VI later added the villages of Visan, Grillon and Richerenches. The Enclave des Papes
24-690: The enclave des Papes ("Enclave of the Popes"), is a canton of the Vaucluse department , a part of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (PACA) region in Southern France . It consists of four communes : Grillon , Richerenches , Valréas and Visan . The Enclave des Papes is surrounded by the Drôme département , separated from the Vaucluse proper by roughly 2.5 km at the closest point. Its four towns, Valréas, Visan, Grillon and Richerenches have
30-458: The departments of France were created after the Revolution the people of the Enclave requested to remain as part of the department of Vaucluse (see Comtat Venaissin ). Hence the "Enclave des Papes". Valréas is twinned with: This Vaucluse geographical article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Canton of Valr%C3%A9as The canton of Valréas , sometimes called
36-471: The town to ensure his wine supply. Over the next 150 years or so his successors added to the Enclave by the addition of the small towns of Visan , Richerenches and Grillon . The boundaries were defined by tall stone markers carrying the coat of arms of the popes. The present-day boundaries are still delimited by some of these stones, one of which is outside the entrance to the Valreas Tourist office. When
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