Grignan, France - Arches and doorways in the old town.

A number of archeological excavations have been conducted in Grignan, and it has been shown that the rocky promontory of Grignan has been inhabited since the Iron Age. There is evidence of a former Bronze Age society here, as well as Roman occupation in the 5th and 6th centuries AD. It has been reported by historians that an obscure castellum Gradignanum was mentioned in a cartulaire (a ledger containing titles of church or monastery property) in the year 1035 of the Abbey of Saint-Chaffre in the Haute-Loire. In the course of the next century, the name gradually evolved to become the Castrum Grainan (1105), then Graigna, Grazinam... Very little information is available about the birth of the castle or the people involved in its construction. Sometime around the year 1030, it has been established that there existed a certain Christophe de Grignan; furthermore, the cartulary of Saint-Chaffre notes that in 1035 a Rostagnus de Castello Gradignano was recorded as a 'Rostaing du château de Grignan,' which refers to the 'Rostaing du château de Grignan'.

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