Two years later civil war broke out again between the Sabreurs, the
Fronde party, and the Canifets, the favourers of Royal prerogative;
each was headed by a young peasantess armed with a scythe. Frightful
violence ensued. The mayor and many officers of the town were killed.
Men, women, and children were massacred indiscriminately as this or
that faction got the upper hand.
The king sent troops to Draguignan, and ordered the demolition of the
castle, which was the bone of contention between the parties, and most
of the Sabreurs fled into Piedmont. The story goes that a cavalry
regiment called La Cornette blanche was quartered in the town, and
having behaved with great insolence, the people rose in the night and
massacred every man in the regiment, But in the municipal records there
is nothing to be found to confirm the tradition.
Les Tourettes by Fayence, easily accessible from Draguignan, is a most
extraordinary pile, like no other castle known. In the time of the
religious wars it was held by the Carcists, and they, being short of
provisions, at night raided the neighbourhood. The people of Fayence
complained to the Governor of Provence, and he authorised them to take
what measures they liked to free themselves of the inconvenience.
Accordingly they sent for a cannon from Antibes and proceeded to
batter the castle down; and by keeping up an incessant fire they made
the castle too hot for the Carcists, who fled, and then the good folk
of Fayence proceeded to gut and unroof the castle, so as to save
themselves from further annoyance from that quarter.
Draguignan was supplied with water by a canal cut, so it is asserted,
by Queen Jeanne I. of Sicily, and she is also credited with having
built the church at Salernes at the confluence of the Bresgne and the
Brague, and to have resided at Draguignan.
It is remarkable that only two names of their former rulers have any
hold on the imagination and hearts of the Provençals of to-day, and
these the names of two totally different characters—_la reino Jeanno_
and good King Réné. It was through Queen Joanna or Jeanne of Sicily
that King Réné acquired his empty royal titles. At Grasse a flight
of stone steps built into a vaulted passage is all that remains of
her palace. Houses said to have been occupied by her are pointed
out in many places, but in some instances, as in that of the pretty
Renaissance palace of Queen Jeanne at Les Baux, there is confusion made
between her and Jeanne de Laval, the wife of King Réné.
It may be asked, How in the name of Wonder did Joanna obtain the title
of Queen of Jerusalem, so as to transmit the Crown of the Holy City to
Réné through her grandniece, Joanna II.?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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