Orange

Orange stands in the Rhône valley beneath the great wall of its Roman theatre. The town gave its name to a small principality within the Holy Roman Empire, surrounded by the lands of France. In 1544 William of Nassau inherited the title of Prince of Orange, linking the Provençal town to a dynasty prominent in the Netherlands. The principality was ceded to France under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, though the title endured in the house of Orange-Nassau.