The Hôtel de Bausset, also known as the Maison du Complot, is a small building in street Laget where a discussion took place that can be described as decisive in French history.
The plot...
"In 1596, Marseille was one of the few cities still refusing to recognize Henri IV as King of France. Aubagne, on the other hand, was loyal to the King. At the beginning of the year, the lawyer Geoffroy Dupré, the captain of the Porte Réale Pierre Libertat, and Nicolas de Bausset, met in the latter's house in Aubagne. They agreed that Pierre Libertat would assassinate Charles Casaulx, thus opening the gates of Marseille to Henri IV's troops led by the Duke of Guise. This happened on February 17, 1596. The royalist army quickly took the city, which fell into the king's hands.
To thank Aubagne for its loyalty, Henri IV gave it the two fleurs-de-lis that appear on the town's coat of arms.
The Hôtel de Bausset... its history
Situated in one of the main streets of the medieval town, the Hôtel de Bausset boasts an undeniable architectural feature: two sculpted 16th-century windows.
Built in the 15th century, the building is situated on a medieval plot combining two original houses served by a single spiral staircase. Between 1510 and 1597, it belonged to the wealthy de Bausset family, who also owned the La Demande estate in the 16th century. After the French Revolution, tanner Félix Aufren bought the building, which passed to the Monier family, owners of several mills, through a series of alliances. Since 1986, it has been owned by a social landlord.
Its Renaissance windows...
This house is the only example of Renaissance architecture in Aubagne. The decoration of the windows reflects the "Italianate" taste that emerged with the arrival of Italian artists at the court of King René, who influenced local artists. Each bay is marked on both sides by a historiated pilaster, topped by a capital supporting an entablature and a scalloped pediment, in a vocabulary still reminiscent of the Antiquity.
The second floor (the "noble" floor) boasts the richest ornamentation. The carved pilasters feature scrolls, flowers, rosettes, cherubs' heads, pearls, stretched or drop-shaped lozenges...
Note the difference in ornamentation at each level and on each side of the windows. The capitals are highly stylized, and the foliage is represented in a very cut, almost metallic manner. The Renaissance influence is blended with the Gothic tradition of colonnettes set into the jambs that form the interior frame of the mullioned windows.
Hôtel de Bausset
3, Rue Laget
13400 Aubagne
https://www.aubagne.fr/patrimoine/patrimoine-architectural/la-maison-du-complot-785.html
