Abstract EN:

The Comtat Venaissin is characterized by the control of water supplies both in cities and in the country; the creation of the St Julien canal in the 12th century and of the Carpentras aqueduc in the 14th century bear testimony to that. The progress made from the 16th to the early 19th century shows less a technical change than a rise of a brand new sensitivity. The baroque frame of mind has left a deep mark on the province and has strengthened the wish for plenty of pure available water for the inhabitants. The water supply networks and the numerous fountains built between 1680 and 1790 represent the sometimes painstaking and deceiving fulfilment of this dream. The supply of water was plentiful in the 18th century : the high comtat populations were priviledged compared to those of many other european countries. But the cities remained filthy as the making of manure and the tannery activities required big quantities of stagnant water. In the southern comtat, there was a progressive increase in the number of irrigated areas thanks to the building of new irrigation canals. This resulted in a change of the landscape scenery and in a prosperity based on the growing of vegetables, especially beans, at least from 1650 onwards. All these changes had taken place within a community with limited means, without the backing of provincial authorities and at the price of a massive increase of debt. They were the result of a popular demand that was taken up by the consuls who were looking for social recognition. Political tensions were particularly sharp when urban elites opposed the higher nobility. Thus, all around cavaillon, the powerful oppede family failed in their attempt to control irrigations and to master the equipping of rural areas. The stakes were of international importance as the pope's rule over the comtat seemed to be under threat. The story of water in the comtat venaissin thus reveals the social and political particularities of a southern "state within a state".