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COPY Stone sculpture of the coat
of arms of the Lords
of Baux-de-Provence

with its motto "To chance, Balthazar,"
written Bautezar in Provençal
(France, 20th c.)
Magos Foundation Collection

THE LORDS OF BAUX DE PROVENCE (12th/15th c.)

“The Three Kings distributed all their possessions. They declared the lineage of the princes of Vaulx to be the greatest and most noble, in front of the city of Acon where many miracles were performed. They sent an embassy to Avignon,” writes John of Hildesheim (14th century). So the Magi now had an embassy in Avignon with a well-identified line of Princes, that of the Vaulx or the Lords of Baux-de-Provence, self-proclaimed descendants of Balthazar. Raymond de Baux, a descendant of this lineage, stayed in Avignon in 1352, where he had several audiences with the Pope. The star of the Magi is the main element of the coat of arms of the Lords of Baux-de-Provence. This exceptional lineage is claimed from the 12th century without any real historical proof. The extravagant ancestry of this family allowed their political influence to extend from southern Italy to the Holy Land, where the Lords of Baux maintained relations with the Templars in Jerusalem.