Villelaure

Villelaure
Commune
Castle Forbin

Coat of arms
Villelaure
Location within Provence-A.-C.d'A. region
Villelaure
Coordinates: 43°42′41″N 5°26′05″E / 43.7114°N 5.4347°E / 43.7114; 5.4347Coordinates: 43°42′41″N 5°26′05″E / 43.7114°N 5.4347°E / 43.7114; 5.4347
Country France
Region Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Department Vaucluse
Arrondissement Apt
Canton Pertuis
Government
 • Mayor (2008–2014) Jean-Claude Dorgal
Area1 18.25 km2 (7.05 sq mi)
Population (2006)2 3,094
 • Density 170/km2 (440/sq mi)
Time zone UTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST) UTC+2 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code 84147 /84530
Elevation 159–369 m (522–1,211 ft)
(avg. 173 m or 568 ft)

1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Villelaure (Occitan: Vilalaura) is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.

History

The village takes its name from the Roman-era settlement of Villa Laura which was at the same location or nearby. Since Roman times, a nucleus of inhabitants lived near the present village. However, like all the southern Luberon, Villelaure and its region were completely ruined in the second half of the 14th century by the ravages of the Hundred Years War and the Black Death.

Villelaure is one of about forty localities, on both sides of the Luberon, in which at least 1,400 families from the alpine valleys of Piedmont and approximately 6,000 people came from the alpine dioceses of Turin and Embrun between 1460 and 1560.

In 1512, Antoinette de la Terre, assisted by her husband Jean de Forbin, established Villelaure with 19 families from the neighboring villages and Piedmont.

See also

References

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