X-Nico

12 unusual facts about Tarascon


Aicard

When Pope Urban II, the greatest of the Gregorian reformers after Gregory, travelled through Languedoc and Provence, visiting Montpellier, Nîmes, Saint-Gilles, Tarascon, Avignon, Aix, Cavaillon, and other cities, preaching the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont in 1095, he had to avoid Arles, where the deposed bishop was still in power.

Aix Cathedral

In 1750, this organ was replaced by the present "green and gold organ," built between 1743 and 1746 by Brother Jean-Esprit Isnard, a Dominican from the convent of Tarascon, who built several other notable organs in Provence, including that in the basilica of Saint-Maximin.

Esprit Fléchier

Fléchier was born at Pernes-les-Fontaines, in the département of Vaucluse, in the Comtat Venaissin, and brought up at Tarascon by his uncle, Hercule Audiffret, superior of the Congrégation des Doctrinaires.

Gui de Cavalhon

Since the early 19th century, the identity of Gui with the "Cabrit" of the poem Cabrit, al meu vejaire, written with Ricau de Tarascon, has been generally accepted.

Pablo Christiani

He was believed to have been a student of Rabbi Eliezer of Tarascon.

Phylloxera

In the same department, where the canal irrigation system built by the Romans still partly persists to this day, winter flooding is also practiced where possible, for instance south of the city of Tarascon.

Ricau de Tarascon

Ricau de Tarascon (also spelled Ricautz or Ricavi) was a Provençal knight and troubadour from Tarascon, active between 1200 and 1240.

Roger-Bernard III, Count of Foix

He died at Tarascon-sur-Ariège on 3 March 1302 and was buried in Boulbonne beside his ancestors.

Salyes

In addition to the capital of the Salyes at Entremont, where two major routes crossed, the inland route from the fords of the Durance to the Alpine valleys and the natural coastal route linking Italy and Hispania, among other important Roman towns in their territory may be mentioned Tarusco or Tarasco (Tarascon), Arelate (Arles), Glanum (Saint-Rémy-de-Provence) and Ernaginum (Saint-Gabriel, now part of Tarascon).

Tartarin of Tarascon

It tells the burlesque adventures of Tartarin, a local hero of Tarascon, a small town in southern France, whose invented adventures and reputation as a swashbuckler finally force him to travel to a very prosaic Algiers in search of lions.

Since 1985, a small museum in the town of Tarascon-sur-Rhône is dedicated to the fictional character Tartarin.

Tomier and Palaizi

Tomier and Palaizi (or Palazi) were two knights and troubadours from Tarascon, possibly brothers, and frequent comrades and co-composers (fl. 1199–1226).


Grinda Brothers

Honoré Grinda (30 September 1754 in Nice – 15 June 1843 in Prats-de-Mollo) first learned carpentry with his grandfather, then became an apprentice under Jean-Esprit Isnard, a Dominican from Tarascon near Avignon, himself a noted organ-builder.