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Pernes-les-Fontaines (Municipality, Vaucluse, France)

by Arnaud Leroy

Presentation of Pernes-les-Fontaines
Municipal flag of Pernes-les-Fontaines
Vertical banner of Pernes-les-Fontaines

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Presentation of Pernes-les-Fontaines

The Provencal city of Pernes-les-Fontaines (10,309 inhabitants, 1999 census); 5,112 hectares, including 2,429 of cultivated lands) is located on the river Nesque on the edge of the plateau of Vaucluse, c. 15 km west of Avignon and 10 km south of Carpentras.

The oldest mention of Pernes dates back to 994, as Paternis villa, refering to an estate owned by a Gallo-Roman lord named Paternus. The settlement was then built around a church in the plain. In the XIth century, the settlement moved up to a hillock dominating the left bank of the rivers Nesque and constituted a fortified village called Paternensis castrum, later Paternae and eventually Pernes. On 18 March 1936, the President of the Republic granted the city its current name of Pernes-les-Fontaines.

Until the late XIIIth century, Comtat Venaissin belonged to the County of Toulouse. In 1125, the Counts transfered the capital city of the Comtat from Venasque to Pernes. When the Holy See inherited the Comtat in 1274, Pernes remained the capital city until 1320, when it was moved to Carpentras.
The black plague caused several damage in Pernes in the XVIth and XVIIth centuries: in 1580, the disease killed 2,500. In 1720, black plague was introduced in Marseilles via the ship Le Grand Saint-Antoine; the Parliament of Aix forbid any communication between Marseilles and the rest of Provence, which did not stop the disease. A fortified wall called mur de la peste (plague's wall) was built all along the southern border of Comtat Venaissin in order to stop the disease, of course to no avail. All the gates of Pernes were locked, except the Notre-Dame's gate, which was thoroughly watched; quarantine buildings were set up, such as the grange de l'Espérance (Hope's barn). These basic prophylactic measures were fairly efficient since only 122 died in 1721, whereas the neighbouring cities lost a quarter of their inhabitants. In 1722, the plague was eventually suppressed and the inhabitants of Pernes restored the chapel dedicated to St. Roch, traditionally invoked against plague. Since then, St. Roch is honored every year on the first Sunday after 15 August.

The city hall of Pernes is the former Hôtel de Brancas, which belonged to a very famous Provencal family. On 25 April 1671, Henri de Brancas, second Count of Forcalquier, Marquis of Céreste, Baron of Castelet, lord of Robion, aged 31, married Dorothée de Cheylus de Saint-Jean, aged 16 and later known as Madame la Comtesse. They settled in Pernes and h