“In Vaison, the bishop has owned the town of Vaison, its market, its oven, its mill, and the surrounding lands since 1108. He exercises domination over the population, which is overwhelmed by taxes, corvées of oats and wine, house taxes, tithes, champart, etc. The bishop in his “Palatium” is both master and judge. Thus, around 1160, the Count of Toulouse, Raymond V, intervened against this domination.
It is said that he attacked the town, then on the plain (the 12th-century city is around the cathedral; these are indeed medieval buildings and not a reoccupation of Gallo-Roman houses).
Between 1160 and 1170, there was a lull. Raymond VI returned around 1175, employing a different strategy. Instead of seizing the lower town, he attempted to create another on the hill that was his face. This is why he decided to build a castle there.”
“Originally, therefore, this castle had nothing to do with military matters; it was a symbol of power. In 1175, the Count began by building a wooden castle, perhaps a motte (a conical mound on which a wooden tower was built). Observing the current construction, we believe we have discovered the remains of this motte, carved into the rock, on top of which the stone keep was later built. The Count used this type of “archaic” fortification for its speed of execution but also because it is symbolic.”
“With this motte, the Count settled in Vaison. Very quickly, around 1180-85, the wooden tower was replaced by the stone keep, in the construction of which the men of Vaison participated: “every man is obliged, at one time or another, to work on the tower.” “The keep is the castle's most beautiful architectural feature: it is a 9-meter by 8-meter tower with two levels of pointed barrel vaulting. It was accessed from the south through a system of high doors and hidden staircases, characteristic of Roman keeps. It was surrounded by a rectangular wall, within which two buildings were later added to the north and west before 1200.”
These buildings housed residential rooms on the ground floor, outbuildings and a cistern on the first floor, a large room, the “aula,” and a large bedroom. This was where the Count's bailiff lived.
The Count owned little in Vaison. Besides some land, he owned the castle, the bridge toll, a furnace, and a mill.