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Office deTourisme
Place du Gl de Gaulle 06360 Eze France Tel : 33 (0) 4 93 41 26 00 Fax : 33 (0) 4 93 41 04 80 
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The
Moorish Gate
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Eze,
The old Village
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| The Moorish Gate |
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According to the
oral tradition, the Moors would have invaded Eze village in passing by
a small door located below the castle. The origin of their arrival on
our coasts started during theVIII th century, and is probably accidental.
The Liutprand bishop explains the circumstances in his chronicle entitled
"Antapodosis" dating from the XIth century: "Twenty Saracens
who left from Spain on a small boat were thrown by the wind on the shore
in spite of them.
They went out at the night got into the closest village where they massacred the inhabitants. Then plunged into the Maures mountains which dominate the unloading bay and fortified themselves there ". Then they sent messengers to their compatriots who remainded in Spain to encourage them to join them. |
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But in 813, they
are enough large to devastate Nice. A few years later, the Moors are firmly
installed in Fraxinet (today the Garde-Freinet), Djabal Al-Kilal on the
Saracens map of the time.
Documents of Arab geographers do not leave any doubt about the sedentary character of the occupation. The wrecks discovered in Marseille, Agay and Cannes attest it. The Moors worked also many mines: lead in Tende, Isola and Saint Martin of Vésubie, copper and iron in Valdeblore for example. |
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Initially the
local lords did not oppose to their arrival. On the contrary, they use
them as allies to regulate their internal quarrels. Moreover, the Franks
whose troops had looted Avignon in 737 imposed a heavy taxation to local
inhabitants. But with the passing of years, looting and massacres multiply.
"the most distant countries began feel insecure", has written
Liutprand.
From their hide-out, the Moorish organized some raids more and more far. In 939, they attacked the abbey of Saint-Gall in Switzerland. |
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The campaigns
were depopulated. At that time, the inhabitants of Eze withdrawn towards
the old castellaras of Mount Bastide at 567m. above sea level, easier
to defend than the village.
Towards 973, the count William of Provence allied with his Italian neighbour the marquis Turin Ardouin the Glabre to besiege the Fraxinet and to put an end to these extortion. After the destruction of Fraxinet, life took again little by little its course. The toponymy of the places, in Eze in particular, still reminds us this period of the history. |
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