Avignon

Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)

a-ven-yon, a French city. It is situated on a beautiful plain on the east bank of the Rhone. It is the chief town of the department of Vaucluse. The particular site of the city was determined by a precipitous rock rising from the river's edge. This rock was no doubt at one time the site of a castle, in the shelter of which the town grew up. The walls of the city are among the best preserved in Europe. They are surrounded by extensive boulevards, occupying the space once devoted to protective ditches. Avignon was an important post in the time of the Roman Empire. Many Roman antiquities are preserved in the museum. The city was a part of the early kingdom of Burgundy, after which it was for a time one of the many petty republics. From 1309 to 1377 the popes, elected and controlled by French influence, resided at Avignon. This seventy years is spoken of as "The Babylonian Captivity of the Church." French anti-popes kept the semblance of a papal court here until 1418. The chief building of the city is the palace of the popes. It covers an area of an acre and a quarter. It was used for a long time by the French for military barracks and was much abused, but it has been restored. Avignon was papal territory from 1348 until wrested from the church by the French at the time of the French Revolution . Petrarch resided in Avignon for a time. The Laura of his sonnets is said to have been buried in the church of Cordeliers. Although destroyed long ago, guides still claim to show her tomb to visitors. The modern town has a multitude of antique houses, situated on narrow, crooked, not altogether savory streets. The city is the center of the silk industry. Raising silk worms, reeling raw silk, and weaving silks, velvets, and ribbons occupy the majority of the inhabitants of the district. There are also manufactures of paper, leather, hats, and jewelry. The population of the city and district (1906) was 48,312. Avignon is subject to dry African winds. One of these is known as the mistral. According to an Italian proverb, the city is known as "Windy Avignon, subject to plague without the wind, and plagued with the wind when it has it!" See Vaucluse ; Petrarch ; France ; Silk