Provence is the southernmost province of the kingdom of France, its coast opening onto the Mediterranean between the Rhône and the Alps.
| Type | Place |
| Year | 1648 |
| Spanish entry | Provence |
Situation in 1648
Provence is not a quiet territory. The Parliament of Aix has had its own frictions with royal authority. Distance from Paris makes it a land of slow rumors, where local powers negotiate their loyalty with more care than haste.
Role
For the network around Cardinal Mazarin, who comes from an Italo-papal family used to seeing the Mediterranean as political space, Provence is a corridor of communication with Rome and the Italian states. The ports of Marseille and Toulon let in resources and news that do not always pass through Paris. People who prefer to avoid the checkpoints of the northern royal roads also move through this flow.
Certain affairs that began in the Quartier de Saint-Germain or in the cellars of the Cour des Miracles reached their outcome, or their postponement, somewhere between the Rhône and the coast.