Barras (; ) is a commune in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of south-eastern France.
The inhabitants of the commune are known as Barrasiens or Barrasiennes.
Geography
Barras is located some 6 km west of Digne-les-Bains and 14 km south-east of Sisteron. The highest point in the commune is the summit of Ruth (1298m). The sole access to the commune is the D17 road which branches from Route nationale N85 at Mallemoisson and goes north through the commune and the village and continues north to join the D3 near Thoard. Apart from the village there are the hamlets of Les Bourguignons and Les Beauduns. The commune is mostly farmland on a fairly rugged landscape.
Les Duyes stream forms the eastern border of the commune as it flows south to join the Bléone west of Les Grillons. The Ravin de Vaunaves forms most of the north-eastern border as it flows south-east to join Les Duyes. The Ravin de Fulgon and the Ravin de Rostan rise in the west of the commune and flow east joining before flowing into Les Duyes. The Ravin de Barbarine forms part of the western border of the commune as it flows south to join Les Duyes in the south-eastern corner of the commune.
Natural and technological risks
None of the 200 communes in the department is in a no seismic risk zone. The Canton of Digne-les-Bains-2 to which Barras belongs is in area 1b (low risk) according to the deterministic classification of 1991 and based on its seismic history and in zone 4 (medium risk) according to the probabilistic classification EC8 of 2011. Barras also faces three other natural hazards: Forest fire, Flooding (in the Duyes valley) Landslide: the commune's main concern with an average to high hazard
Barras is not exposed to any risk of technological origin identified by the prefecture.
There is no plan for prevention of foreseeable natural risks (PPR) for the commune and there is no DICRIM.
The commune was the subject of two natural disaster orders in 1994 for floods and mudslides (one order for the winter 1993-1994 and one for autumn).
Toponymy
The locality appears for the first time in texts in 1202 (Barracio). According to Charles Rostaing it is from an oronymic (meaning mountain) root *BAR. According to Ernest Negro it comes from the Gallic barro with the augmentative suffix -as.
The toponym La Garde, above Tournefort, may refer to a fortified settlement of the 9th - 10th century and the name Bourguignons refers to the name of the people (Burgundians).
History
In Ancient times, the Bodiontici populated the Bléone valley and its tributaries as well as the Gauls who lived in the current commune of Barras. The Bodiontici were defeated by Augustus at the same time as the other peoples present on the Tropaeum Alpium (before 14 BC.). Barras was attached to the province of Alpes-Maritimes at the time of its creation. An ancient settlement has been found at Saint-Pierre and Chapelier south of the village. The priory of Ganagobie Abbey existed in the 11th century.
In 1070 a person named Féraud donated the fiefdom of Beaucouse (now in the commune of Thoard) to the Abbey of Saint-Victor of Marseille. Most of the territory of Barras was part of this fief so Barras had the Abbey Saint-Victor as lord. At that time there was a large estate (villa) in Saint Domnin where the abbey installed a priory which passed to the Bishop of Gap in the 14th century.
The medieval community in Barras was characterized by scattered settlements. It had 37 fires in 1315. It was heavily depopulated by the crises of the 14th century (the Black Death and the Hundred Years War) and the population was completely eliminated in 1471. The smaller fief of Barras belonged to the counts of Provence until 1297 when Charles II of Naples gave it to a noble family which took the name of the fief (the Barras family). This family lasted until the 19th century and provided many officers such as Jean-Antoine Barras de la Penne (1650-1730) and Jacques Melchior Barras de Saint-Laurent (1719 to 1793).
The community of Tournefort was larger than that of Barras in the Middle Ages: it had 48 fires in 1315 but it was also heavily depopulated by the crises of the 14th century and declared uninhabited in 1400 then annexed by Barras in the 15th century. At the same time soldiers seized the castle of Tournefort and threatened the region through their raids and looting. After the successful siege of the castle of Briançonnet (during the same uprising), the army from Sisteron laid siege to Tournefort castle in 1393 and expelled the brigands.