Bresse

Sous l'angle de l'histoire des identités nationales et régionales, ce Mémoire de Master 1 en Histoire Contemporaine cherche à comprendre la formation et le renforcement d'une identité locale sous l'angle du folklore et de la gastronomie, deux marqueurs identitaires forts. L'attachement au territoire de la population locale et ses variations fait office de fil conducteur dans ce travail mêlant ethnologie, anthropologie et histoire.
Il prend pour exemple une aire d'étude spécifique, la Bresse (Bresse de l'Ain et Bresse louhannaise) entité territoriale particulièrement complexe à définir et dont les limites demeurent, durant la période étudiée, plutôt floues et multiples (1937-1964) mais progressivement redessinées.
Mémoire soutenu en juin 2019 à l'Université de Bourgogne.

The origin of the Palunčić family is in Sicily. They had emigrated in a period between 2nd and 5th century AD from the Roman colonies Carthage and Egypt. In Sicily they had risen to the title of Counts in possession of land in Catania and Cefalu. They were known as de Palude or by the name of the main barony de Calragirone. During Saracen occupation of Sicily they left the island to escape persecution. They settled, temporarily, in Cilento near Naples and from 8th century they were a Noble Roman family, according to the writings of historian Angelo da Erbo in 1565. During the revolt against Pope Leo, they supported rebels against a corruptive pontiff and in 800 AD they left Rome with many other patricians and settled in the region of Parma in Northern Italy. They clandestinely carried out the body of St. Basilide in a vine barrel and build the church in honour of the saint. After their meeting with the king Charlemagne in Parma, de Palude were been granted land by the king. Their feuds spread to Reggio Emilia where they had built four Castles and to the city of Pisa where they had ruled the city as Podestas, admirals of a fleet and Rectors of Toscana under the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. In the year of 1000 AD they received from the Royal family of Savoy lands north of Lyon in Bresse, based on merits of defending Piedmont, where they had built Varembon Castle. Della Palude had become one of the most famous medieval families in Italy with numerous bishops, archbishops, cardinal and Patriarch of Jerusalem. Wars of 14th century had brought difficult challenges for Della Palude, as they had to defend their castles from the rulers of Milan, the Viconti family, who were in Sicily their respectful neighbours. Many Castles were ruined during the wars and possession of Palude had been burned and destroyed as they had to fight for survival. The Italian Wars, as they had became known, forced Della Palude, twice, to return to Sicily in 1367 and 1572. Consequences of religious wars in central Europe were that Varembon Castle had been ruined. Della Palude emigrated to the Duchy of Savoy, under relative protection of the Duke.
Della Palude were known in Italy under different surnames such as Palu, Palude, Padule and Paule, because of dynamic changes in the Italian language. The Senate of Pisa issued a decree that all these surnames had to be treated as equal, as they belonged to the same family. In Avignon in 13th and 14th century Palude was translated into Occitan or Langue d’oc language and family became known as Palun and from 14th century in papal registers we find the form Palunco, which had become the nickname for Patriarch of Jerusalem, Pietro Della Palude. Palunco was accepted by the Provencal branch in Aix, Nica and Marseilles after the terror of the French Revolution. Sicilian branch emigrated in the 16th century during the religious wars and brought the surname Palunco to the islands of Melita and Sipan in the Adriatic sea. They found their place in the histories of Pisa, Genova, Reggio, Ravenna, Milan, Naples, Turin, Sicily, Avignon, Lyon, Bresse, Aix, London, Paris, Leuven, Bern and Lausanne. Different branches of the family had always been appropriated as members of local nobility and this is the first coherent history that gives real insight of an unique, identical and truly remarkable medieval family.