Comtat Venaissin in the context of "Principality of Orange"

John II (French: Jean II; 26 April 1319 – 8 April 1364), called John the Good (French: Jean le Bon), was King of France from 1350 until his death in 1364. When he came to power, France faced several disasters: the Black Death, which killed between a third and a half of its population; popular revolts known as Jacqueries; free companies (Grandes Compagnies) of routiers who plundered the country; and English aggression that resulted in catastrophic military losses, including the Battle of Poitiers of 1356, in which John was captured.

While John was a prisoner in London, his son Charles became regent and faced several rebellions, which he overcame. To liberate his father, he concluded the Treaty of Brétigny (1360), by which France lost many territories and paid an enormous ransom. In an exchange of hostages, which included his son Louis I, Duke of Anjou, John was released from captivity to raise funds for his ransom. Upon his return to France, he created the franc to stabilise the currency and tried to get rid of the free companies by sending them to a crusade, but Pope Innocent VI died shortly before their meeting in Avignon. When John was informed that Louis had escaped from captivity, he voluntarily returned to England, where he died in 1364. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Charles V.

The Treaty of Paris, also known as Treaty of Meaux, was signed on 12 April 1229 between Raymond VII of Toulouse and Louis IX of France in Meaux near Paris. Louis was still a minor, and it was his mother Blanche of Castile, as regent, who was instrumental in forging the treaty. The agreement officially ended the Albigensian Crusade, and according to the terms of the treaty, Raymond's daughter Joan was to be married to Louis' brother Alphonse. Moreover, Raymond ceded the eastern provinces of his lands to Louis and the Marquisat de Provence to the Catholic Church. The treaty also gave the Inquisition absolute power regarding searching for, and seizing of heretics by the Catholic Church.

Raymond ceded more than half his land to the French crown and retained the remainder only during his life, and it would then be inherited by his son-in-law Alphonse, Louis's brother or, if Alphonse had no heir, by the French crown. The Papacy gained the Comtat Venaissin.