![[Flag of Aulan castle]](../images/f/fr-26-au.gif)
Last modified: 2014-05-04 by ivan sache
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The municipality of Aulan (4 inhabitants in 2006; 1,055 ha) is located in Upper Provence, 25 km east of Buis-les-Baronnies. The Baronnies region is an hilly area quite isolated from urban centers and main roads, which experienced a dramatic demographic decrease in the 20th century. The population of Aulan decreased from 125 inhabitants in 1789 to 60 in 1901, 25 in 1931 and 10 in 1975.
Ivan Sache, 15 December 2011
Flag of Aulan castle - Image by Ivan Sache, 15 December 2011
The Aulan castle was originally built in the 12th century on the
site of a Gallo-Roman oppidum (fortified camp) dominating the
entrance of the gorges of river Toulourenc. The lords of Mévouillon
used it as a fortress, communicating with their headquarters via
optical signals; ruined, Raymond IV of Mévouillon (d. 1274) sold Aulan in 1243 to his neighbor Hugh of Montbrun. The next owners of the
castle, the Suarez, transformed the fortress into a cosy manor, which
was eventually looted and destroyed during the French Revolution.
Louis de Suarez d'Aulan (1804-1878) and his son Arthur (1833-1915),
Napoléon III's esquire, rebuilt the castle in the 19th century. The
Suarez are considered as the local benefactors of the region: they
founded the spa of Montbrun-les-Bains and introduced Austrian pines to
reafforest the hills threatened by erosion. Completed in 1914, the
castle was looted and ruined again during the First World War.
In 1933, Marquis Jean Suarez d'Aulan (killed on 8 October 1944 when
piloting an aircraft of the Free French Air Force), invited his
cousin, the young Charles de Suarez (1910-2004), Count of Aulan, to
restore the castle, which had lost all of its furniture, most of its
roof and some of its wall. For years, the count rebuilt the castle and
regrew the surrounding plots. The writer Jean Giono (1895-1970)
visiting the castle in 1935, was impressed by the Count, "who made hay
together with the farmers and purchased stones for his castle." The
poet René Char (1907-1988) moved in winter 1944 to the castle the
headquarters of the anti-German resistance regional organization he
led as "Captain Alexandre". Charles Suarez himself joined the
resistance maquis in Mount Ventoux and enrolled in 1944 in the regular
French army; for his heroic behavior during the Battle of the Rhine,
he was awarded the War Cross by General Koenig. The writer Albert
Camus (1913-1960, awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1957)
planned to rent the castle as a calm place where he would finish his
book Le dernier homme; the car accident that claimed his life
prevented him to complete his project. Charles de Suarez, also a noted
local historian and genealogist eventually restored the castle, mostly
with his own funds, and opened it to public visits. Until his death,
he guided himself the visitors among his art collections, his family
museum and a gallery dedicated to local artists.
[Le Comte Charles Suarez d'Aulan, Le Dauphiné Libéré, September 1998]
The flag hoisted over the Aulan castle (photo) is horizontally divided blue-yellow-white-blue.
Dominique Cureau & Ivan Sache, 19 September 2013
![[Flag of Aulan Regiment]](../images/f/fr^aulan.gif)
Flag of Aulan Regiment - Image by Ivan Sache, 19 September 2013
Inside the castle, the room dedicated to the rich history of the
owners includes documents related to the Aulan Regiment (Grenadiers
Royaux Aulan Infanterie). established on 10 April 1745 by Henri de
Suarez, Bailiff of Aulan (1704-1775; Knight of the Order of Malta, 1719, subsequently Bailiff and Grand Cross of the Order). The regiment fought in Flanders and Lauffeld (1747), Maastricht (1748), and Aunis (1756-1762). Transferred to N. Le Camus on 10 February 1759 and to N. de Puységur in 1761, the regiment was eventually disbanded on 10 December 1762.
[G. Weiss, Les milices du Dauphiné (PDF]
Of particular interest, a colour plate shows the colour of the Aulan Regiment as quartered light blue-yellow by a white cross.
![[Flag of Aulan Regiment]](../images/f/fr!aulan.gif)
Flag shown inside the castle of Aulan - Image by Ivan Sache, 19 September 2013
In the ticketing room of the castle, a dummy wearing the livery of the Regiment holds a flag similar to the flag hoisted over the castle, but with the stripes in different proportions (2:1:1:2). The historical significance of the flag is unknown to me (I don't expect colours of that pattern to be used by regiments in the 18th century).
Ivan Sache, 19 September 2013
