Record Atlas
5 eras · 947–2026 · 1 places

Lower Provence - Marseille, Aix and Arles (Bouches-du-Rhône)

Marseille, Aix-en-Provence, Arles, Tarascon, Salon, Camargue. Which empire held this ground in which years — and, the part that matters, which archive that means.

Whose archive this ground was

YearsWho held itWhose archive that means
947–1032 Kingdom of Arles - Count Boson of Arles invested with Provence in 947 no registers survive

Before registers. Boson, Count of Arles, was invested with Provence in 947.
1032–1246 County of Provence, a fief of the Holy Roman Empire no registers survive

The Kingdom of Arles passed to the Holy Roman Empire in 1032. The Treaty of Paris in 1229 transferred the part of Provence west of the Rhône to France.
1246–1481 County of Provence - Angevin counts Archives départementales des Bouches-du-Rhône · Archives municipales de Marseille · FamilySearch · Geneanet

The Angevin dynasty began to rule Provence in 1246.
1481–1790 County of Provence united with the French crown Archives départementales des Bouches-du-Rhône · Archives municipales de Marseille · FamilySearch · Geneanet

Charles III died on 11 December 1481, a day after his will named Louis XI heir; the Estates acknowledged the will in 1482, Charles VIII proclaimed the union in 1486, and the Estates received the decree in April 1487. It remained a personal union of crowns until the provincial institutions were dissolved in 1790.
1790–2026 France - department of Bouches-du-Rhône Archives départementales des Bouches-du-Rhône · Archives municipales de Marseille · FamilySearch · Geneanet

Provence was divided into departments in 1790; lay civil registers by the municipalities date from 20 September 1792.

The rings are approximate — deliberately. They exist to shade which filing system a place fell under, not to adjudicate a border. A place near a ring's edge should be checked against both neighbours.

See the whole span, 947–2026, on the map →

The map takes a range, and a range that crosses one of the rows above is where records get lost: the family never moved, and the archive on the far side of the handover will tell you it holds nothing.

1 places on this ground

118 FamilySearch collections reach this ground

Ranked with the regional ones first — a collection for a province is usually a better lead than a national index, though the national index is often where a name is actually written down. A free account opens the images.

…and 58 more.

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