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Séguret (Municipality, Vaucluse, France)

Flag of Séguret - Image by Arnaud Leroy, 31 May 2004

Presentation of Séguret
Flag of Séguret

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Presentation of Séguret

The municipality of Séguret (912 inhabitants, 2,104 hectares; municipal website) is a typical Provencal village, one of the 140 members of the associations of Plus Beaux Villages de France (Most Beautiful Villages in France).
The village is built in steps on a limestone hillside dominating the valley of the river Ouvèze, 7 km from Vaison-la-Romaine and 45 km from Avignon.

The name of Séguret comes from Provencal segur, "safe", probably refering to the isolated location of the village. Séguret belonged to the Principality of Orange, created in 1178 by Emperor Frederic Barbarossa for princeps Bertrand des Baux. A belfry and town walls were built in the 14th century, with two gates, the Porte de la Bise and the Portail Neuf in the south. Séguret is also known for its 15th century fountain decorated with mascarons, this kind of decoration being common in Comtat Venaissin.

A winegrowers' brotherhood already existed in Séguret in 1685, then ruled by a woman, called the bailleresse; the brotherhood was re-created in 1985. The vinyards of Séguret stretch over 111 ha. In 1966, the wine produced in Séguret was granted the name Côtes du Rhône Village - Séguret. A few other villages were allowed to add their name to the generic Côtes du Rhône Village name, for instance Roaix, Saint-Pantaléon-les-Vignes and Rousset-les-Vignes. Séguret and Roaix are neighbours and have set up a common cellar (Cave cooperative de Roaix-Séguret).
Since 1928, Séguret has been known known as the "Provencal Bethlehem". Every 24 December, pilgrims climb through the village up to the St. Denis church (12th century), where the midnight mass is celebrated in Provencal. The inhabitants of the village also set up every year a living creche.

Ivan Sache, 31 May 2004

Flag of Séguret

The flag of Séguret, as shown in a booklet published by the General Council of Vaucluse, is red with a white trapeze in the bottom of the flag. A yellow tower with black masonry and openings (one door and two windows) stands on the trapeze. Two yellow keys are crossed in saltire behind the tower.
This flag seems to be a banner of the municipal arms, which are, according to the Provence des Papes website:
De gueules à une enceinte crenelée posée au sommet de trois coupeaux, au centre de laquelle est une tour à trois créneaux, brochant sur deux clefs en sautoir d'or.

The flag matches nearly exactly the blason, except that the tower is isolated and not part of a wall (enceinte) and stands on a trapeze and not three mounts (trois coupeaux).
However, Brian Timms gives a different coat of arms:
D'azur à la montagne à trois coupeaux d'argent chargée d'une tour d'or maçonnee de sable, au chef cousu de gueules à la clef d'or et à la clef d'argent posées en sautoir (Azure a tower or pierced and masoned sable on a mount of three peaks argent a chief gules two keys in saltire the wards upwards and ourtwars the upper or the other argent).
The main difference is therefore the field blue instead of red and the keys of two colours instead of being both yellow. On the municipal website of Séguret a small picture shows the coat of arms similar to the one shown on the flag.
We can conclude that the current flag is the banner of the current arms. The coat of arms reported elsewhere might be older or simply erroneous.

Michel Lupant, Pascal Vagnat, Ivan Sache & Dominique Cureau, 31 May 2004