le Menon Valley: Hannibal’s Route(?)
Hannibal crossed the Pyrenees and then what is now France, to the lower Rhône valley in August 218 BCE.
He and his army of 50,000 infantry, 9,000 cavalry and 37 elephants, were on their way east to the Po Valley to confront the Romans in the Second Punic War.
The army moved up the west bank of the Rhône Rivière to north of Avignon. They took three days to cross the river southwest of Orange. From that point, there are two most probable routes; north and south, both using Mont Ventoux as a landmark. The southern route is up l’Ouvèze Rivière and le Charuis Rivière past Mévouillon and Villefranche-le-Château.
Château du Montbrun-les-Bains Tower
Charles Dupuy-Montbrun (1530-1575), who like many lords of the time embraced Calvinism with zeal and fanaticism of a new convert. So starts one of the Wars of Religion.
When he was in his early twenties he fought in Flanders in the wars of Henry II. Wounded in the face during a fight, he is dubbed Charles le Balafré (Scarface). He returned to Montbrun and learns that one of his sisters, Jeanne Du Puy, traveled to Geneva to join the Reformation. Enraged, he went to Geneva with the intention of bringing his Catholic faith back to her or to kill her. But his sister talked him into listening. Charles was impressed by the sermons of Theodore Beza, a noted follower of John Calvin.
Returning to Montbrun, Charles was more Huguenot than Calvin himself. He quickly abolishes the Catholic worship in Montbrun and changes the church into a Protestant church. He installed a Protestant pastor and forces his vassals to convert. But he was more hooked on feudal independence than religious strife. Charles fortifies his castle, arms his peasants and uses foreign soldiers to set up a state of open rebellion.
Another part of the Hundred Years War.
la Nesque Valley from Aurel
Many caves are located near the town where archaeologists have found stone tools indicating that the area had been occupied in Neolithic times.
During the Wars of Religion, Ménerbes Catholic League troops seized Aurel in 1576, as the residents were too favorable to Protestants and the reformers of Geneva. René de La Tour du Pin-Gouvernet, a Protestant captain, returned in 1591 and bombarded the place to capitulation.
In 1630 and 1631, the plague decimated the village despite a protection line established around the village.
The first genuine Mont Ventoux hiker was the Abbe Jean-Antoine Constantin, Aurel’s parish priest. From 1783 to 1788, often accompanied by the Marquise de Montbrun, he made several expeditions to the summit of Ventoux.
Toulourenc Gorge
I do like Gorges, but the significant landmark of Provence is Mont Ventoux, which is north and slightly west of Sault.
Route map, profile and details of passing interest are in the Sault, Séderon & Montbrun-les-Bains route as part of “Provence Luberon & Lavender – a Bicycle Your France guidebook”, May 2011. Even if you are not planning a trip to France, you may know someone who is, either cycling or motoring. Amazon and iTunes has seven guides of different areas that I crafted.
http://www.amazon.com/Provence-Luberon-Lavender-Bicycle-Guidebook/dp/1468096923/
Provence Luberon & Lavender 