Note 453 — Chapter VII

The Comtât Venaissin was not reincorporated in the French monarchy until 1663. Louis XIV., in revenge for the insult offered him when, on the twentieth of August of the preceding year, his ambassador to the Holy See was shot at by the pontifical troops, and some of his suite killed and wounded, ordered the Parliament of Aix to re-examine the title by which the Pope held Avignon and the Comtât. The parliament cited the pontiff, and, when he failed to appear, loyally declared his title unsound, and, under the lead of their first president (another Meynier, Baron d'Oppède), proceeded at once to execute sentence by force of arms, and oust the surprised vice-legate. No resistance was attempted. Meynier was the first to render homage to the king for his barony; and the people of Avignon, according to the admission of the devout historian of Provence, celebrated their independence of the Pope and reunion to France by Te Deums and a thousand cries of joy and thanksgiving to Almighty God. Bouche, Histoire de Provence, ii. (Add.) 1068-1071.