Châteauneuf-du-Pape (; ) is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. The village lies about to the east of the Rhône (which marks the departmental border with Gard) and north of the city of Avignon. As of 2023 the commune had a population of 2,050. In old French, its name translates into "new castle of the Pope" or "Pope's new castle".
A ruined medieval castle sits above the village and dominates the landscape to the south. It was built in the 14th century for Pope John XXII, the second of the popes to reside in Avignon. None of the subsequent Avignon popes stayed in Châteauneuf but after the schism of 1378 the antipope Clement VII sought the security of the castle. With the departure of the popes the castle passed to the archbishop of Avignon, but it was too large and too expensive to maintain and was used as a source of stone for building work in the village. At the time of the Revolution the buildings were sold off and only the donjon was preserved. During the Second World War an attempt was made to demolish the donjon with dynamite by German soldiers but only the northern half was destroyed; the southern half remained intact.
Almost all the cultivable land is planted with grapevines. The commune is famous for the production of red wine classified as Châteauneuf-du-Pape Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) which is produced from grapes grown in the commune of Châteauneuf-du-Pape and in portions of four adjoining communes.
Toponym The first mention of the village is in a Latin document from 1094 that uses the name Castro Novo. The term castrum or castro in the 11th century was used to denote a fortified village, rather than a castle (castellum). The current French name of "Châteauneuf" (English: "New Castle") is derived from this early Latin name and not from the ruined 14th-century castle that towers above the village. Just over a century later in 1213 the village was referred to as Castronovum Calcernarium. Other early documents use Castronovo Caussornerio or Castrum Novum Casanerii. The official French name became Châteauneuf Calcernier. The word 'Calcernier' comes from the presence of important lime kilns in the village. Calcernarium is derived from the Latin calx for lime and cernere means sift or sieve. From the 16th century the village was often referred to as "Châteauneuf du Pape" or "Châteauneuf Calcernier dit de Pape", because of the connection with Pope John XXII, but it was not until 1893 that the official name was changed from "Châteauneuf Calcernier" to "Châteauneuf-du-Pape". The name in the Provençal dialect of the Occitan language that was spoken in the village is Castèu-Nòu-De-Papo.
Population
History
Early settlement
The earliest settlement is believed to have been near the Chapel Saint-Théodoric, to the east of the current village center. This Romanesque chapel was erected by the monks of the abbey of Saint-Théodoric in Avignon at the end of the 10th or the beginning of the 11th century and is the oldest building in the commune. Although the village lay within the Comtat Venaissin, it was one of the fiefs of the bishop of Avignon and thus had a special status. The bishop of Avignon also held the fiefs of Gigognan and Bédarrides.
In the second half of the 11th century a fortified village was built higher up the hill by the Viscount Rostaing Béranger in the fiefdom of his brother, the bishop of Avignon. The wall of the present church building formed part of the fortification and the arrowslits in the clock tower are still visible. Two towers and other vestiges of these early fortifications have survived. The new village would have contained a suitable fortified residence for the bishop which is believed to have been located between the church and the site of the later castle.
In 1238 the bishop of Avignon obtained an important privilege from the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II (r. 1195–1250). Salt that was shipped on the Rhône and landed at Châteauneuf would not be subject to tax. As a result, the trade in salt became a considerable source of revenue for the village.
Avignon popes Bertrand de Got, archbishop of Bordeaux, was elected pope in 1305, and took the name of Clement V. He transferred the papacy to Avignon from Rome in 1309. The register of pontifical letters reveals that Clement V visited Châteauneuf on several occasions, sometimes for long periods. While in the village he would have been a guest at the bishop's residence. In 1312 he stayed in the village from 6–22 November. In 1313 he returned from 9 May to 1 July and again from 19 October to 4 December. The following year, 1314, he was in Châteauneuf from 24–30 March. He died in the castle of Roquemaure on the opposite bank of the Rhône on 7 April 1314.
The next pope, Jacques Duèze, was elected in 1316 and took the name John XXII. After his coronation in Lyon on 5 September 1316, he travelled down the Rhône and spent 10 days in Châteauneuf before he arrived in Avignon. He had served as the bishop of Avignon between 1310 and 1313 and while bishop had also been the seigneur of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. He had arranged for his nephew Jacques de Via to succeed him as bishop. But on the death of his nephew in 1317 he chose not to appoint a successor, so during his papacy the village belonged directly to the pope. John XXII initiated a large number of building projects, including additions to the Palais des Papes in Avignon as well as defensive castles at Barbentane, Bédarrides, Noves and Sorgues. In 1317, work began on the construction of the castle in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. John XXII derived little benefit from the new castle, which was not completed until 1333, a year before his death. The ruins of the castle are now a prominent feature of the village.
There is no record of the next Avignon pope, Benedict XII (1334–1342) having ever stayed in this castle, but in 1335 he granted the village the right to have a ship mill on the Rhône, a market every Tuesday and two fairs during the year. He did not keep the post of bishop of Avignon and appointed a new bishop to replace himself in 1336. None of the following four popes stayed in Châteauneuf-du-Pape either, but after the schism of the Catholic Church in 1378, the Avignon antipope Clement VII frequently sought the security of the castle and from 1385 to 1387 had improvements carried out on the building.
In the 14th century the presence of the pope in Avignon and construction of the castle brought considerable prosperity to the village. The economy was based on agriculture, but the villagers also possessed lime kilns and the local merchants supplied roof tiles for the Palais des Papes in Avignon and floor tiles for the castle being built in Barbentane. The village outgrew the mid-11th century defensive walls and houses began to be built outside. In 1381 the village obtained permission to impose a local tax to fund the construction of a new system of fortifications around the village. These defensive towers have all disappeared except for the Portalet tower in the Rue des Papes, but parts of the walls remain.
Pope John XXII's castle
Construction In 1317, one year after his election, Pope John XXII ordered the construction of a castle at the top of the hill above the village. Some of the stone may have been from a local quarry but most was probably imported from Courthézon. The mortar and the roof tiles would have been manufactured in the village. To provide water, between August 1318 and July 1319, a large deep well was dug in the courtyard to the northeast of the donjon. According to the papal accounts, much of the work was completed by 1322, but in 1332 there is an entry for the purchase of timber from Liguria for four towers. The castle not only had a defensive role, but was also designed to serve as a summer residence. There was a garden on the west side and a 10 hectare park to the north enclosed by high walls in which vines, olive trees and fruit trees were cultivated.
Neglect With the departure of the popes the castle became part of the fief of the bishop and, after 1475, the archbishop of Avignon, but it was much too big and expensive for them to maintain. The captain in charge of the village's defences lived in the castle but there was no permanent garrison, and most of the buildings were allowed to deteriorate. In the 16th century Huguenots occupied Châteauneuf for several months during the Wars of Religion. In March 1563, they pillaged the village and set fire to the church and parts of the castle including the apartments of the pope. The extent of the damage is not known.
During the 17th century, and perhaps earlier, the ruined buildings of the castle were used as a source of stone for the construction of houses in the village. The community also used the stone to repair the walls around the village (18 to 20 cartloads in 1717) and to repair the church in 1781. At the time of the Revolution the castle had not been inhabited for a number of years. The buildings and the adjoining parkland were put up for sale and bought in July 1797 by Jean-Baptiste Establet, a farmer in the village. The following year, these were resold in 33 equal parts. By 1848 most of the castle had been destroyed by the purchasers. The mayor forbade the destruction of the donjon and in May 1892 the castle was listed as one of the French Historical Monuments. During the Second World War, the donjon was used as an observation post by German soldiers. In August 1944, just before their departure, they attempted to demolish the building with dynamite but by chance, only the northern half of the tower was destroyed, leaving the southern half as it appears today. In the 1960s the municipality constructed a meeting hall within the ancient ruined cellar of the castle.
Buildings
There are no surviving plans of the castle from the 14th century. The earliest depiction is an anonymous drawing from the Album Laincel in the collection of the Musée Calvet in Avignon that dates from the second half of the 17th century. By this time the castle had not been properly maintained for three centuries and the drawing is probably an interpretation by the artist of the surviving structure. Another source of information is a plan of the village from the 1813 cadastre which indicates the position of some of the buildings but not their original function. The appearance of the donjon before its destruction in 1944 is known from old photographs. The image has been flipped horizontally.
The main entrance to the castle was just above the village and consisted of two successive gatehouses. The first was on the path up from the church and the second was just to the east of the donjon. The vulnerable north side of the castle would have been protected by a deep ditch. The northern entrance was defended by a tower and was probably accessed by a drawbridge. Very little is known about the buildings of the castle other than the ruined donjon and papal apartments. The castle contained a chapel dedicated to Saint Catherine but the location is uncertain. The donjon had a ground floor with a low barrel vaulted ceiling and two upper levels with rib vaulted ceilings. The large roof terrace was surrounded by a machicolated battlement. The floors were connected by a stone staircase built into the thickness of the western wall. The entrance to the tower on the east side was protected by an unusually tall bretèche. A similar bretèche survives above the entrance to the Tour Philippe-le-Bel in Villeneuve-lès-Avignon.