The County of Provence was a largely autonomous medieval state that eventually became incorporated into the Kingdom of France in 1481. For four centuries Provence was ruled by a series of counts that were vassals of the Carolingian Empire, Burgundy and finally the Holy Roman Empire, but in practice they were largely independent.

The County of Provence (in Old Occitan, Comtat de Provensa) was a former fief east of the Rhône delta. A territory that emerged from Middle Francia, Provence was first organized as a kingdom before gradually disintegrating due to feudal transfers and the civil war of the Union of Aix. Its natural borders originally stretched south from the Rhône to Nice and north from Embrun to the Vivarais, passing through the Drôme provençale [fr]. To the north, its boundaries extended as far as Valence.

The county was annexed to France in 1487, and the king assumed the title "Count of Provence, Forcalquier [fr], and adjacent lands," while appointing Palamède de Forbin as Grand Seneschal, Governor, and Lieutenant General of Provence. Provence retained its privileges, franchises, and freedoms.

In terms of taxation, Provence was a pays de taille réelle (a land-tax-paying region); the don gratuit, the principal direct tax, was levied on property, except “noble property.” Regarding the salt tax (gabelle), Provence was a pays de petite gabelle (small salt-tax region); salt was sold through five salt warehouses (in Berre, Toulon, Hyères, Fréjus, and Cannes), along with additional storage depots.

The political structure of the County was reformed into departments in 1790, with legislative institutions transferred to the new capital, Paris. These events triggered federalist movements, which were repressed by the Convention’s centralist armies. During this time, Toulon and Marseille were renamed Port-la-Montagne and La Ville-sans-nom (“The City Without a Name”), respectively.

The term “County of Provence” is attested as early as 1059. It derives from the title “Count of Provence,” which had been recorded since 972 and became more commonly used from the 1020s–1030s onward.

Provence owes its name to Roman times: it was the first region of Transalpine Gaul conquered between 58 and 51 BCE, and it became part of the Roman province (Provincia in Latin), with Narbonne as its capital—thus the name Gallia Narbonensis. The Latin Provincia gave rise to the Provençal form Proensa, which evolved into Provensa, then Prouvença (in Simon-Jude Honnorat’s [fr] Provençal dictionary), and eventually Prouvenço under French influence in Provençal orthography. The spelling Prouvènço was standardized by followers of Roumanille and the phonetic writing system known as mistralian or “modern.” Classicists later proposed returning to a more original form, Provensa, which appeared on several early 20th-century maps. However, the medieval form Provença was chosen, as it included the letter ç representing the etymological c of provincia. In The Gallic Wars, Caesar mentions passing from Provincia to Narbonnensis when crossing the Rhône, which likely explains why only the part of former Narbonese Gaul east of the Rhône came to be known as Provence.

Historically, after the fall of the Roman Empire, “Provence” referred to the territory incorporated into the Frankish Kingdom in 536 and which became the Marquisate of Provence under the Kingdom of Burgundy-Provence in 947. It later became the County of Provence, with Arles, then Aix-en-Provence as its capitals (Arles suffering frequent attacks from the Count of Toulouse, Marquis of Provence). The borders fluctuated: in 1125, a treaty between Raymond Berenger and Alphonse Jourdain of Toulouse divided Provence. The County of Provence was tied to the Crown of Aragon until the Treaty of Meaux-Paris (1229). In 1388, after Queen Joanna’s death, her territories east of the Var were lost and ceded to the States of Savoy in what became known as the Dédition de Nice [fr], initially forming the Terres Neuves de Provence and later the County of Nice from 1526. A century later, in 1481, the County of Provence passed by succession to King Louis XI of France and thus became a French province.