County of Provence in the context of "House of Valois-Anjou"

During the Middle Ages, the Kingdom of France was a decentralised, feudal monarchy. In Brittany, Normandy, Lorraine, Provence, East Burgundy and Catalonia (the latter now a part of Spain), as well as Aquitaine, the authority of the French king was barely felt. France in the Middle Ages (roughly, from the 10th century to the middle of the 15th century) was marked by the fragmentation of the Carolingian Empire and West Francia (843–987); the expansion of royal control by the House of Capet (987–1328), including their struggles with the virtually independent principalities (duchies and counties, such as the Norman and Angevin regions), and the creation and extension of administrative and state control (notably under Philip II Augustus and Louis IX) in the 13th century; and the rise of the House of Valois (1328–1589), including the protracted dynastic crisis against the House of Plantagenet and their Angevin Empire, culminating in the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453) (compounded by the catastrophic Black Death in 1348), which laid the seeds for a more centralised and expanded state in the early modern period and the creation of a sense of French identity.

Up to the 12th century, the territory experienced an elaboration and extension of the seigneurial economic system (including the attachment of peasants to the land through serfdom); the extension of the feudal system of political rights and obligations between lords and vassals; the so-called "feudal revolution" of the 11th century during which ever smaller lords took control of local lands in many regions; and the appropriation by regional/local seigneurs of various administrative, fiscal and judicial rights for themselves. From the 13th century on, the state slowly regained control of a number of these lost powers. The crises of the 13th and 14th centuries led to the convening of an advisory assembly, the Estates General, and also to an effective end to serfdom. During the 70-year reign of Louis XIV, absolutist policies from Paris tightly constrained the regional nobility, centralising political power at Versailles.

René II (2 May 1451 – 10 December 1508) was Count of Vaudémont from 1470, Duke of Lorraine from 1473, and Duke of Bar from 1483 to 1508. He claimed the crown of the Kingdom of Naples and the County of Provence as the Duke of Calabria 1480–1493 and as King of Naples and Jerusalem 1493–1508. He succeeded his uncle John of Vaudémont as Count of Harcourt in 1473, exchanging it for the county of Aumale in 1495. He succeeded as Count of Guise in 1504.

History of Provence encompasses the entire history of Provence, stretching from the protohistoric times up to the contemporary period. As a historical region, Provence is located within borders of the modern administrative region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur in the southeast corner of France, between the Alps, the Mediterranean Sea, the river Rhône and the upper reaches of the river Durance. The region was inhabited since the prehistoric times. From about 900 BCE, it was settled by the Celts, and also by Greek colonists, from about 600 BCE. At the end of the 2nd century BCE, it was conquered by the Romans, who ruled the region until the 5th century CE. In the first half of the 6th century, it came under the Frankish rule, and was organized in time as the County of Provence. After the dissolution of the Carolingian Empire, it became part of the Kingdom of Lower Burgundy (since 879), the Welfish Kingdom of Burgundy (since 933), and the Kingdom of Burgundy (Arles) within the Holy Roman Empire from 1032 up to the 1486, when the County was united with the Kingdom of France. During those periods, it was ruled by the Counts of Provence from various feudal families. Provence has been a part of France for over 500 years, but the region kept a specific cultural identity that persists to this day, particularly in the interior.