Forcalquier experienced its golden era between the 11th and 13th centuries, a period when the town dominated the vastest area of its history from Mont Genèvre to the Monts de Vaucluse and from the Durance to the Col de Cabre. In a political context of struggles between the counts of Toulouse and Provence but also the Republic of Genoa and the Holy Roman Empire to dominate the Occitan area between the Alps and the Pyrenees, the Counts of Forcalquier made their city the capital of an independent state with its own sovereigns, laws, and currency. The county houses of Forcalquier and Provence finally allied and reunited the two states in 1209.