claim for the cathedrals of Avignon, Embrun, Seine, Senez, and Glandèves. In 1479, when the Chapter of Digne was attempting to persuade Pope Sixtus IV to grant them the Priory of Saint-Pierre d'Albéra, they impressed him by claiming that their church had been founded and endowed by Charlemagne himself. In a bull of 1180 (or 1184), addressed to Ugo the Provost and the Canons of S. Maria Dignensis, in which Pope Alexander III takes the Church of Digne under papal protection, the first notation is Burgum Dinense, in quo ecclesia vestra constitit ('Bourg, in which your church is situated'). Jurisdiction over the Bourg belonged to the Provost from 1280, by way of a grant of Count Raymond Berenguer IV of Provence. On 26 July 1397, during the episcopate of Nicholas de Corbières, the Cathedral of Notre-Dame, which had been rebuilt, and consecrated in 1330, and the church of the convent of the Franciscans were burned. The fires were deliberately set, apparently by bands of Vicomte Raymond de Turenne. Notre-Dame du Bourg was attacked again, sacked, and consigned to the flames in 1560 by the Huguenots. They returned and wreaked more destruction in 1562, 1568, 1574, and 1591. In 1591 the Duc de Lesdiguières, who had just successfully reduced the Dauphiné to obedience to Henri IV and captured Grenoble, was appealed to by the Duc de la Valette, Governor of Provence, to help him against the forces of the League, who were being supported by the Duke of Savoy. In April 1591, Lesdiguières won the Battle of Esperron, and then in October he appeared before Digne. He directed his cannon first against the monastery of Saint-Vincent, which was being fortified and defended by the forces of the League, and then against the Cathedral of Notre-Dame, which received 54 volleys. The Leaguers capitulated and were allowed to withdraw. They left behind a huge cache of gunpowder in the crypt, however, and, in the removal of those supplies in 1593, further damage was done to tombs and burials. Luckily Notre-Dame du Bourg was not put up for sale or destruction in the confiscations of 1793. Later it was classed as an historical monument, second class, and survived. The episcopal palace was not so lucky. The wars of religion had done such damage that the new bishop, Antoine de Bologne, was not able to reside there when he arrived in Digne in March 1602,