Gaston III, Count of Foix

Gaston III, known as Gaston Phoebus or Fébus (30 April 1331 – 1 August 1391), was the eleventh Count of Foix (as Gaston III) and twenty-fourth Viscount of Béarn (as Gaston X) from 1343 until his death.

Gaston III
Count of Foix Viscount of Béarn Viscount of Marsan Prince of Andorra
Fébus hunting the hare, miniature by the Bedford Master, taken from the Livre de chasse, circa 1407, Paris, BnF, Fr.616, f° 89 v°.
Predecessor	Gaston II, Count of Foix
Successor	Matthew, Count of Foix
Known for	Livre de chasse (Book of the Hunt)
Born	30 April 1331 Orthez, France
Died	1 August 1391 (1391-09) (aged 60) L'Hôpital-d'Orion
Spouse(s)	Agnes of Navarre ​ ​ (m. 1349; sep. 1362)​
Issue	Legitimate: Gaston, Prince and Heir of Foix-Béarn Illegitimate: Bernal de Foix, 1st Count of Medinaceli Yvain de Foix Gratien de Foix
Father	Gaston II, Count of Foix
Mother	Eleanor of Comminges
Signature

Due to his ancestral inheritance, Gaston III was overlord of about ten territories located between the Pays de Gascogne and Languedoc. He took advantage of the Hundred Years' War to establish his domination over the northern Pyrenean foothills, playing on the conflicts between French and English monarchies. He authored the Livre de chasse, a famous illustrated manuscript on hunting.

The only legitimate child of Gaston II, Count of Foix and Eleanor of Comminges, Gaston inherited a fragmented territory that partly depended on the kings of France and the kings of England. Playing on the Franco-English conflict, he claimed sovereignty over Béarn on 25 September 1347. He won decisive victories against the House of Armagnac (the ancestral enemies of his house), thus ensuring the union between Béarn and Foix. Gaston's nickname Fébus refers to the solar myth associated with the Greco-Roman god Apollo (also named Phoibos). Gaston left no legitimate issue, as he had likely killed his only son in 1380 for plotting his downfall.

Gaston constructed and strengthened several fortresses during his long career. Endowed with immense wealth, Gaston III notably built the Château de Montaner to symbolize the union between Béarn and Foix. Known as the Prince of the Pyrenees, Gaston ruled as an enlightened despot, playing the role of lord protector for his people. Gaston III occupies a special place in Pyrenean history due to his political and military activities, but also from the impact of the stories of several chroniclers and contemporaries, including Jean Froissart in his Chronicles.

Life

Heritage and early years

Inheritance

In 1343, Gaston III of Foix-Béarn inherited a fragmented territory between Béarn and Foix.

As the son of Gaston II of Foix-Béarn and Eleanor of Comminges, the future Gaston III was heir to the Foix-Béarn dynasty. This house was established through the 1252 marriage of Margaret of Béarn (the daughter and heiress of Gaston VII, Viscount of Béarn) to Roger-Bernard III, Count of Foix. With the death of Gaston VII in 1290, the new dynasty occupied a fragmented territory along the chain of the Pyrenees. To the west, the countries of Béarn, Marsan, Gabardan and Captieux are part of the Duchy of Aquitaine, whose ruling dukes were also the kings of England. These western territories are geographically diverse, consisting of high mountain valleys in the south and marshy moors in the north. Despite the geographic differences, the western holdings were economically cohesive, linked by continuous boundaries and regular economic exchanges. The other part of the domain lay further east, in territory directly under the King of France. The County of Foix was the major part of this territory and contains Donezan, while in the south the counts of Foix were co-princes of Andorra jointly with the Bishops of Urgell. This eastern territory was accompanied, since Gaston II, by the Viscounty of Lautrec and the lowlands of Albigeois. Lastly, the House of Foix-Béarn ruled a province known as the Nébouzan, which was small and isolated yet strategically located between the western holdings around Orthez and the eastern lands surrounding Foix.

Childhood and youth

Gaston III of Foix-Béarn was probably born at the Château de Moncade in Orthez.

Gaston III (pronounced [gastu] in Occitan) was born on 30 April 1331, most likely at Orthez in the Château Moncade. The Viscounty of Béarn in the west and the County of Foix in the east represent the two strong points of his heritage, but maintaining cohesion between these two distant territories was a major challenge, as was managing the conflict with the House of Armagnac over the County of Bigorre, all this in the context of the Hundred Years' War between the English House of Plantagenet and the French House of Valois. With territory falling partly under the kings of England (as Duke of Aquitaine ) and partly under the kings of France, the Foix-Béarn dynasty found themselves in a delicate situation when this conflict broke out. Gaston II immediately sided with the French House of Valois, but many Béarn knights were then in the opposing camp, and the Béarnaise nobility could not be cut off from the English-held ports of Bordeaux and Bayonne. About the childhood of Gaston III were few traces, apart from the count's later description of himself as an "ungrateful child, an adolescent tormented by the desire for the flesh and not very good at weapons". Gaston came into his inheritance upon the death of his father, on 26 September 1343 during a crusade in Andalusia. Gaston was twelve years old when his father died, and his mother, Eleanor, ruled as regent until he was fourteen.

Fébus refuses to pay homage to King Philip VI of France for Béarn on 25 September 1347. Notes du procès de Robert d'Artois (circa 1336), BnF, Fr.18437, f° 2.

In December 1343, Eleanor took her son Gaston on a tour of homage of all the family territories. The tour began in Béarn, where the young count remained until April 1344; in total, Gaston completed 126 stages. There he met lords, peasants, and bourgeois of the localities, promising at every opportunity to respect the freedoms and customs embodied by the Fors of Béarn. Gaston's tour lasted more than a year, until January 1345. After reaching his legal majority on 30 April 1345, Gaston took the reins of government into his own hands. The beginning of his reign is marked, from June 1345, by the resumption of clashes between English and French, after a truce of five years. The House of Foix-Béarn's joint dependency on France and England became the first issue in the reign of Gaston III, who initially sought to continue his father's pro-French policy. In deeds, however, the young count was restrained in his support. On 26 August 1346, the crushing English victory at Crécy, caused Gaston to reevaluate his support for Philip VI (such as it was). On 3 June 1347, Gaston failed to respond when Philip summoned his vassals to Amiens. On 25 September 1347, a representative of Philip VI met with Gaston III at Orthez, and while Gaston confirmed his allegiance to the king for his territories in Foix, he asserted the neutrality of Béarn, a land he held "from God and from no man in the world". Aged 16, the count thus played a decisive role in the birth of the sovereignty of Béarn

The events of 1347 illustrate the line of conduct followed by Gaston III throughout his political career: always leaving a way out for his adversary to avoid overly violent reactions. Philip VI, in a very delicate situation after Crécy, did not take offense at this declaration of independence and continued his rapprochement with Gaston III, for fear of seeing him switch definitively to the English camp. On 26 December 1348 at Pamiers, Gaston III paid homage to the king of France for his lands in the seneschalses of Agen, Toulouse and Carcassonne, but not Béarn, implicitly confirming his sovereignty. The devastation of the Black Death led to repeated renewals of the 1347-55 Truce of Calais, giving Gaston III the opportunity to arrange a royal marriage: on 4 August 1349, he married Agnes of Navarre at the Temple Church in Paris, with the acquiescence of the French king.

Early Career

Conflicts with John II

Fébus was made a knight of the Teutonic Order at Malbork Castle in 1358.

Fébus subdued the Jacquerie of Meaux when he returned from crusade in 1358, he launched his war cry Febus aban for the first time. Miniature by Loyset Liédet, taken from the Chronicles of Jean Froissart, BnF, Fr.2643, f°226 v°.

Philip VI of France died on 22 August 1350 and was succeeded by his son John II, who would prove an impulsive yet indecisive monarch. Anglo-French hostilities resumed in April 1351, once again destabilizing the region north of the Pyrenees. In October 1352, the capitouls of Toulouse asked Gaston III to protect Toulouse against the English troops posted at the gates of Lafrançaise. Gaston accepted because it allowed him to maintain his neutrality, demonstrate his power, and fill his coffers with the profits of war. During Gaston's many absences, Béarn was governed by his half-brother Arnaud-Guilhem. The latter faced a revolt of the peasantry of Orthez in October 1353, which gave Gaston III an opportunity to assert his authority within his domains. After Arnaud-Guilhem restored order, Gaston III punished the culprits with heavy fines, thus respecting the spirit of the Fors of Béarn by balancing firmness with flexibility in his management of the crisis.

Following the orders of his father King Edward III of England (who wanted him to conduct his policy on the continent), Edward the Black Prince landed in Bordeaux in 1355. Upon arrival, the Black Prince led a terrible chevauchée (mounted raid) through Armagnac and Toulouse. Gaston did not oppose the Black Prince's army, buying him off with food and supplies. These actions, along with Gaston's refusal to pay homage for Béarn, and his involvement in the intrigues of Charles II of Navarre against the throne, led John II to imprison the Count for several months at Petit Châtelet. Faced with the imminence of a new chevauchée by the Black Prince from Bordeaux to Calais, and unwilling to see him defect, John released Gaston without exacting an oath of homage for Béarn.

On Crusade

On 19 September 1356, the French suffered a new debacle at the Battle of Poitiers, which resulted in the imprisonment of John II and another truce between the French and the English. This more stable period allowed Gaston to engage in a crusade in Prussia. Alongside the State of the Teutonic Order, he embarked in Bruges, made stops in Norway and Sweden, and arrived in Königsberg on 9 February 1358. The crusaders carried out several assaults in the tradition of the Teutonic Order, before being knighted at Malbork Castle. It was during this crusade that Gaston III acquired his nickname Fébus, his battle cry Febus aban and his motto Toquey si gauses. When the Crusaders returned on horseback in the spring of 1358, France was embroiled in the peasant revolt known as the Jacquerie. Gaston and his companions made good use of their martial experience and aided the Dauphine of France Joanna of Bourbon and her infant daughter during the siege of Meaux. It is here that Gaston III would have uttered his war cry Febus aban for the first time.

The Prince of the Pyrenees

The Battle of Launac

Back in his country, Gaston Fébus was made aware of the negotiations between the French and the English, with a view to signing a peace treaty. Holding John II in captivity, the English were in a position of strength and demanded an enormous ransom and major territorial concessions from the French. The Dauphin Charles (the future Charles V of France) opposed such unequal terms and attempted to consolidate his power in the France. In particular, the Dauphin sought to expand his influence in the South by marrying his brother John, Duke of Berry to a daughter of John I, Count of Armagnac. However, by allying himself with the House of Armagnac, the Duke of Berry awakened the old rivalry between the Houses of Foix-Béarn and Armagnac. Fébus immediately launched hostilities with a series of attacks in March 1359 all while offering assurances to the Dauphin of his loyalty. Ultimately, the signing of the Treaty of Brétigny on 8 May 1360 removed John of Berry from the scene, and compensated Fébus for the loss of Bigorre with a cash payout of 200,000 guilders.

However, the Treaty of Brétigny failed to resolve the rivalry between the two families over Bigorre. The two parties took advantage of the delayed arrival of the English (who were tasked with enforcing the treaty) to settle their quarrel. The two families brought together their allies: the House of Albret took the Armagnac side, while the Viscount of Couserans and the Count of Astarac sided with Fébus. It was in Launac on 5 December 1362 that the decisive battle took place. Although outnumbered, Fébus emerged victorious and captured much of the southern nobility, including Armagnac. The ransom of 500,000 florins that Fébus extracted from his captives laid the foundations of his financial hegemony over the whole Southern France. Fébus stored this money in the Château Moncade, where he also created a gallery of portraits and military trophies to commemorate the event. Around the same time, Fébus' wife Agnes gave birth to his son and heir, Gaston. Despite this, Fébus unceremoniously repudiated Agnes because her brother Charles II of Navarre had failed to pay her dowry. While Fébus had defeated his primary rivals and now had an heir, he could not rest on his laurels.

Fébus facing the Black Prince

The Black Prince. Miniature from the Livre de l'ordre de la jarretière de Bruges, circa 1445, BL, Stowe 594.

The Black Prince arrived in Bordeaux on 29 June 1363 to administer the new Principality of Aquitaine, and take possession of the territories ceded to the English by the Treaty of Brétigny. The question of Béarn sovereignty soon became the main issue for Fébus, who deployed his usual strategy of delaying and not provoking his opponent, while remaining firm in the background. Fébus used this tactic for the first time in March 1363 against an English emissary; he avoided the Black Prince's tribute tour throughout 1363, but finally went to Agen on 14 January 1364 to meet the prince there.

Fébus paid homage for all his lands "inside the Principality of Aquitaine" in front of the Black Prince. Chandos, a servant of King Edward III, then asked Fébus if he had just paid homage for the land of Béarn, to which Fébus replied that his homage only concerned Marsan and Gabardan, because "it did not hold (the Béarn) from anyone". In accordance with his habits, Fébus left his adversary a way out, specifying that he would pay homage for Béarn if proof of this were provided by a study of the archives. Although initially inclined to have this proud lord arrested, the Black Prince allowed Fébus to leave while his archivists searched for evidence of past homage. The English archivists subsequently found traces of a homage made by Margaret of Béarn in 1290 for Béarn, which was enough to convince the Black Prince of his right to claim tribute from Fébus. This game of hide and seek continued throughout 1364 and 1365 on the part of Fébus, who sought to wear down his opponent. The Black Prince eventually was forced to request the intervention of the new King Charles V of France by a letter from 6 December 1365, informing the King that he would use force if necessary.

Fébus once again took advantage of the circumstances as French-English hostilities resumed, this time in Castile. Charles V wished to replace the English-backed King Peter with his own candidate, Henry of Trastámara, Peter's illegitimate half-brother. Like Charles, Fébus supported Henry of Trastámara, to whom he entrusted his illegitimate son Bernard of Béarn. Fébus' maneuver eventually paid off as Henry of Trastámara seized the throne in 1366. The partisans of King Peter nevertheless mounted a counter-offensive was nevertheless in the winter of 1366, with the Black Prince, the Albrets, the Armagnacs and Peter himself all taking part. However, their needed to cross the bridges of Orthez and Sauveterre-de-Béarn to reach the Roncevaux Pass and then Navarre. Fébus enforced the neutrality of Béarn but feared what would happen when the army would eventually return. The expedition of the Black Prince began with success on 3 April 1367 at the Battle of Nájera, but would later turn to grief as Peter of Castile's conduct caused infighting among his supporters while disease would decimate the remaining army. The Black Prince was himself infected by this disease, and he returned from the ruined expedition "all broken." Since 8 May 1366, Fébus had been preparing Béarn for a general mobilization pending the return of the expedition; he published an ordinance to the same effect on 27 July 1367. The routed army finally crossed Béarn in the summer of 1367, with the Black Prince seeking prior authorization from Fébus and agreeing to pay for his supplies up to "the least hen." This episode amounted, for the Black Prince, to a de facto recognition of Béarn's full sovereignty.

Union of Béarn and Foix

Fébus defeated the Armagnacs in the War of Comminges in 1376. Miniature by the Master of Boèce, taken from the Chronicles of Froissart, Bibliothèque municipale de Besançon, Ms. 865, f° 207 v°.

Freed from the threat of the Black Prince, Fébus turned to face a resurgent France under the assertive leadership of Charles V. Louis I of Anjou, Charles V's brother and Lieutenant-general of Toulouse, maneuvered with the House of Armagnac to revive hostilities against the English. Charles V eventually annulled the Treaty of Brétigny, arguing that a (largely perfunctory) clause had not been respected. In January 1369, the Armagnacs and Albrets lodged a formal complaint against the Black Prince in the Parlement of Paris, allowing Charles V to resume military operations in the South, with the right for him. A coalition of Louis of Anjou, the Armagnacs, and Albrets assembled to take back the lands of the South from the English. Despite Louis of Anjou's efforts to spare Fébus, Charles V persisted in his desire to regain control of Bigorre by relying on the Armagnacs, at the risk of rekindling tensions between the two enemies. In June 1373, the allied troops gathered at Montauban and obtained the capitulation of the garrisons of Tuzaguet and Mauvezin without difficulty. The castle of Lourdes, however, was the castle was held by the Compagnons de Lourdes, formidable warriors led by two bastard cousins of Fébus. Louis of Anjou had no other solution than to go through a negotiation to obtain the rallying of the Compagnons, thing done on 5 July 1373. With Bigorre back, theoretically, under French control, the coalition continued its mission in Agenais and Périgord. His mission accomplished, Louis of Anjou handed the lieutenancy-general of Languedoc over to John II, Count of Armagnac on 30 August 1373.

As usual, Fébus took advantage of his neutrality to switch to the camp favoring his interests. Faced with French intransigence in favoring the Armagnacs, Fébus provoked a reversal of the alliance in favor of the English camp. He met John of Gaunt, brother of the Black Prince, on 19 and 20 March 1374 in Dax to conclude an alliance. The agreement first related to the loan of 12,000 florins from Fébus to John of Gaunt, in exchange for the Château de Lourdes as a mortgage pledge. Fébus also proposed a marriage between his son Gaston and Philippa, daughter of John of Gaunt. John of Gaunt's actions provoke numerous military operations in the Pays de l'Adour, leading to the request of the Soule citizens for the protection of Fébus, a pact concluded on 4 September 1375. The alliance between Fébus and John of Gaunt was, above all, a political maneuver; the Bearnaise lords never sought to help the English war effort. Faced with the troubles, Charles V withdrew the lieutenancy-general of Languedoc from John II of Armagnac, to entrust it again to Louis of Anjou, allowing Fébus to do battle again with the Armagnacs. The death of Pierre-Raymond II, Count of Comminges, on 15 October 1375, presented Fébus with the opportunity he sought. Fébus, through his mother Eleanor of Comminges, claimed the inheritance for himself, while the Armagnacs and Albrets backed the claims of Pierre-Raymond's infant daughter. This new opposition provoked the War of Comminges, with the decisive confrontation at Cazères-sur-l'Adour in November 1376. Fébus carried out a victorious counter-offensive there, once again capturing John II of Armagnac.

Fébus ensures the union of its western and eastern territories, along the chain of the Pyrenees.

Louis of Anjou remained neutral during the conflict and organized the mediation between the two camps after the final battle. He chose Tarbes as a place of negotiation, with the signing of three documents between 1376 and 1377. Louis of Anjou first recognized Fébus as "Count of Foix and Lord of Béarn" in the name of Charles V, the text also gave the title of dominus Bearni for Fébus, and not vicecomes Bearni, a way of implicitly recognizing the full sovereignty of Béarn. Fébus then obtained an indemnity of 100,000 francs. On 3 February 1377, a peace treaty was signed, in which was agreed the marriage between Gaston, son heir to Fébus, and Beatrice, daughter of the Count of Armagnac. After numerous negotiations, a final agreement was signed on 3 April 1379 in Barcelonne-du-Gers, on the border between Marsan and Armagnac. The marriage between Gaston and Beatrice was finally celebrated on 19 April 1379 at Manciet. The agreement signed with Louis of Anjou and the Armagnacs allowed Fébus to achieve his ultimate design: the unification of his possessions in Béarn and Foix. The hereditary acquisition of the castellanies of Mauvezin and Goudon made it possible to expand Nébouzan to the west, joining this territory to Bigorre. To the east of Nébouzan, Fébus could now count on a dozen lords dependent on Comminges and allowed continuity with the county of Foix. The control of Bigorre represented the last piece of this puzzle between Béarn and Foix. With the complicity of the Compagnons de Lourdes, Fébus urged Bigorrian municipalities to seek its protection. During the summer of 1379, 26 conventions were signed between Fébus and Bigorrian communities, and Tarbes was the last to cede on 27 November 1379.

End of rule and succession

Plot and the Drama of Orthez

Emboldened by his successes, Fébus became more imperious as he grew older. He created discontent in Béarn, which eventually resulted in a plot in 1380. The leader of this plot was apparently the Bishop of Lescar, Odon de Mendousse. The clergy did not appreciate the paucity of religious foundations during Fébus' reign and resented its position vis-a-vis the Papacy during the Western Schism. Part of the Bearnaise nobility also turned away from Fébus, notably the Baron d'Andoins, feeling that they were being pushed aside from power in favor of "technocrats" of humble origins. Additionally, Fébus' repudiation of Agnes in 1362, created an enemy out of Charles II of Navarre. The conjunction of all these malcontents led to the formation of a plot against Fébus, the first traces of which date back to the summer of 1378.

The Drama of Orthez according to Chronicles of Froissart, Brussels, KBR, ms. II 88, fil. 16, circa 1410.

The last piece of the plot was represented by Gaston, Fébus' only legitimate son and heir: he was greatly dissatisfied with his condition, playing no political role, serving as a pawn for his father, and having a lifestyle deemed too modest for his rank. Aged 18, the prince was the central piece of the plot; he was tasked with administering the poison that would kill his father. It was not to be. Between late July and early August 1380, the plot was discovered before Gaston could administer the poison and he was imprisoned in the Château Moncade in Orthez, while Odon de Mendousse and the Baron d'Andoins were exiled to the court of Charles II. The sequence of events cannot be told with certainty, but Gaston probably died in mid-August 1380 under the hand of his own father. The tragedy overwhelmed Fébus who said: "Never will I have joy as perfect as before". He writes his Livre des oraisons, accrediting the thesis of the involuntary crime, and leaves Orthez for Pau, not returning to the Château Moncade until four years later.

Alliance with Charles VI

Fébus began his longest stay in the Pays de Foix on 18 January 1381. At the Château de Mazères, he ruled Foix-Béarn until the middle of August 1382, holding a geographical position that had become essential in the face of the new French policy. On 18 September 1380, Charles V died and was succeeded by his son Charles VI. The new king was too young to govern, and a regency composed of his four uncles was formed, with the Duke of Berry serving as lieutenant-general of Languedoc. Fébus had much to fear from Berry's appointment as his peace agreement with the House of Armagnac had automatically broken down following the Drama of Orthez. Wishing to mark his territory vis-à-vis the Duke of Berry, in the event of a possible rapprochement with the Armagnacs, Fébus launched an attack on 21 July 1381 against a troop of about 2,500 mercenaries brandishing the standard of the Duke of Berry. The army of Fébus routed it and caused a great stir in the region. This success allowed Fébus to open negotiations from a position of strength with the French camp. The Duke of Berry came to Mazères on 9 September 1381, and negotiations opened on 28 December 1381 at Capestang. In this agreement, Fébus recognized the Duke of Berry's authority in Languedoc in exchange for the Duke's commitment not to support the Armagnacs along with an annual annuity. The agreement freed the Duke of Berry to quash the Tuchins and allowed Fébus to attack the Armagnacs with total impunity. He left the County of Foix on 4 August 1382, returned to Béarn from October 1382, and began his longest stay at the Château de Pau until March 1383. Fébus returned to Orthez on 5 April 1383, the first time since the tragedy of 1380, to organize the passage of Louis II, Duke of Bourbon's army in 1385 to take part in the conflict for the throne of Portugal.

Fébus meets Charles VI in Toulouse in 1390. Miniature attributed to Philippe de Mazerolles, Chronicles of Froissart, London, BL, Harley 4379, f° 29 v°.

Aged 20 in 1388, Charles VI decided to get rid of the tutelage of his uncles to govern by himself. The decision was made to begin a long journey in the South, a territory that had not received a visit from a sovereign for almost a century. The purpose of this journey was then to put an end to the multiple abuses that had taken place in these countries during the successive governments of the Dukes of Anjou and Berry. Beforehand, a representative of the king was sent to Orthez to discuss a marriage proposal, but above all to carry out an overview of the main subjects concerning the Midi Pyrenees with the host. Louis de Sancerre and Fébus discussed several topics at length: the succession of Foix-Béarn, relations with the House of Armagnac, and the status of Bigorre. Following these discussions, the first result was quickly obtained with the convention of a 26 July 1389 meeting between the Bearnaises and Armagnacs to lay the foundations for a peace agreement. On 2 September 1389, Charles VI began his journey to the South by descending the Vallée du Rhône and meeting Antipope Clement VII in Avignon. A meeting between the king and Fébus was set to take place in Toulouse, though the Count of Foix demanded that this interview not call into question the status of the sovereignty of Béarn. Louis de Sancerre asked Fébus to choose clearly between the French and English camp in case hostilities resumed; Fébus then replied: "I hold my country of Béarn from God, from my sword, and from my lineage; I have no need to put myself in servitude."

Fébus made a striking entry into Toulouse and stayed there from 4 to 6 January 1390. The first meeting between Charles VI and Fébus took place on 5 January 1390 at Château Narbonnais, the Bearnaise lord was then treated like a prince. Afterwards, Fébus organized a sumptuous meal for 200 people to which he invited the Dukes of Touraine and Bourbon. The king made an appearance at the end of this dinner. Then invited to Mazères by Fébus, the king was received with the greatest care. Knowing that it was impossible to compete with the royal festivities of Saint-Denis, Fébus organized an unusual party without trying to dazzle the king. It was during these meetings that the Treaty of Toulouse was carried out secretly by Fébus and the French camp. On 5 January 1390, Fébus made Charles VI his universal legatee and received a life annuity for Bigorre and 100,000 francs, Fébus gave his seal to the treaty, but did not sign it. The treaty was particularly favorable to the French camp because it incorporated the most important feudal inheritance of the South into France in exchange for gold payment and the temporary cession of Bigorre. For Fébus, this treaty allowed him to reign as a sovereign prince during his life, though his work would die out completely with him. No longer having any legitimate descendants, perhaps he wanted to deprive the Foix-Castelbon branch of any inheritance. The life of Fébus was marked by many unrespected treaties, so it is difficult to know what his real intentions were. The commitments he subsequently made would contradict those agreed at Toulouse. In two agreements signed on 15 May and 10 June 1390 in Pamiers and Girona, Fébus joined a league against the House of Armagnac with King John I of Aragon. The agreements specifying that this alliance would also be valid for their heirs, it is difficult to imagine Fébus engaging the King of France in a conflict with a vassal like the Armagnacs.

Death and succession

The death of Fébus. Chronicles of Froissart, London, BL, Harley 4379, f° 126.

Febus died on 1 August 1391 at L'Hôpital-d'Orion, on the road between Sauveterre-de-Béarn and Orthez. After a hunt in the region of Sauveterre, Fébus, and his retinue dined at L'Hôpital-d'Orion, where he fell victim to a fatal stroke. The story of his death comes from Jean Froissart, who collected the testimony of Espan du Lion, who was present that day. Froissart writes:

«He (Fébus) got up from the seat and stretched out his hands to wash them. As soon as the cold water ran down his fingers [...], his face turned pale, his heart quivered, his feet gave way under him, he fell on the seat, upside down, saying: "I am dead. Lord true God, forgive me". He never spoke again.»

Jean Froissart's account specified that Fébus went bear hunting that day, an unlikely story in the Sauveterre region in August, deer hunting being more logical. Fébus' illegitimate son Yvain was present when his father died and made a brief attempt to succeed him. Yvain and some conspirators of L'Hôpital-d'Orion attempted to seize the treasury of Orthez before the news of Fébus' death spread. His attempt failed, and he was forced to let the jurats of Orthez take control. Once Fébus' death became common knowledge, his remains were first transported to the Château de Sauveterre and then to Orthez at the end of the morning of 2 August 1391. Fébus' funeral took place on 2 October 1391, probably in the convent of the Order of Preachers (also called the Jacobins convent). The coffin was buried in the church, without any recumbent statue, mausoleum, or tombstone.

Without a legitimate heir and after Yvain's aborted attempt to seize power, succession became an urgent issue in the Foix-Béarn territory. The question was particularly central in Béarn, which was anxious to defend its independence. On 8 August 1391, the Estates of Béarn met for the first time in Orthez; this assembly brought together the Cour majour and the Cour des Communautés. The treasure of Orthez was inventoried and its contents distributed, with a portion going to the illegitimate sons of Fébus. In the absence of a will, the Estates used the will of Gaston II as a precedent and designated Matthew of Foix-Castelbon as the legitimate heir, provided that several prerequisites are met, including the maintenance of Béarn's sovereignty. The Estates also demanded a greater role in government, putting an end to Fébus' practice of enlightened despotism. However, the continued sovereignty and neutrality of Béarn was the main priority of the Estates, as they "had nothing to do with the King of France", unlike the County of Foix. The cancellation of the Treaty of Toulouse, concluded in 1390, was therefore the challenge of this succession, at the risk of seeing Béarn regain its autonomy from Foix.

Matthew of Foix-Castelbon was barely of legal age (14 years old), when he received the homage of the main nobles of the country of Foix on 17 August 1391. Consequently, his mother, Géraude de Navailles, and advisers, Espan du Lion and Roger d'Espagne, led the negotiation of the Treaty of Toulouse. It was necessary for them to act quickly because the Marmousets of Charles VI's administration seemed determined to enforce the Treaty of Toulouse. Espan du Lion and Roger d'Espagne traveled to Tours at the end of 1391 to negotiate with the French king. With Bureau de La Rivière and Philippe de Moulins, Bishop of Noyon, Roger d'Espagne developed the following argument: the Treaty of Toulouse was not honorable for the King of France, the populations of Foix and especially of Béarn would be hostile to a seizure of the king, and it would be dangerous to oppose the heir supported by the Kingdom of Aragon. In a tense context in Brittany for the Marmousets and the opening of peace negotiations between France and England, caution was required to preserve the stability of the entire Pyrenean region. In this context, and in exchange for 250,000 francs, Charles VI annulled the Treaty of Toulouse and recognized Matthew as Fébus' sole heir by letters patent dated 20 December 1391. The Foix-Béarn unit was preserved, as was the sovereignty of Béarn, though the consolidated authority of Fébus gave way to co-governance between the lord and assemblies of representatives.

Exercise of power

An enlightened despotism

Fébus teaching his huntsmen to corner and hoot. Livre de chasse, Paris, BnF, Fr.616, f° 54 r°.

Fébus ruled as an enlightened despot, especially in Béarn. He dismissed the nobility and the traditional assemblies and imposed a personalist regime. Fébus established a privy council without a fixed composition while appointing lieutenant generals who could replace it at any time. This function was reserved for members of his family, including Arnaud-Guilhem, before the abolition of this role in 1365. Fébus made all major policy decisions and exercised control over appointments, favoring family members and lawyers but usually excluding the nobility.

However, Fébus did not rule Foix as he ruled Béarn. Fébus monopolized the administration of Béarn, notably in judicial matters, where previous Viscounts had played a more limited role. The traditional courts of Béarn (Cour Majour and Cour des Communautés), as well as the Seneschal, were marginalized in favor of the "audience deu senhor," which was entirely under Fébus' control. Fébus' stranglehold over power was just as strong in Foix, though less personalist. Fébus preferred to delegate his authority to the Seneschal, as Foix was not his primary residence, though he maintained a firm grip over fiscal and military matters.

Fébus was considered a strict but fair ruler. He tolerated neither failure nor opposition and was rigorous when collecting payments he felt he was due. As he grew older, Fébus became more and more authoritarian and inflexible. However, his actions were considered just and reasonable. He did not take social classes into account when making legal decisions and would condemn a baron against a simple peasant. Additionally, Fébus usually extracted fines as punishment, only rarely resorting to imprisonment and never execution. Fébus also had the common touch and made himself visible to his subjects. For example, Fébus would hear legal cases in the open air, on the banks of the Gave de Pau in imitation of Saint Louis, who famously rendered justice beneath an oak tree.

Residences and court life

Froissart kneeling before Fébus at the court of Orthez. Miniature attributed to Philippe de Mazerolles, Chronicles of Froissart, London, BL, Royal 14 D V, f° 8.

Like all his ancestors since Gaston VII of Béarn, Fébus held court at the Château Moncade in Orthez. He only occasionally visited his other Béarn castles, except in that of Pau from 1375. When in Foix, Fébus sometimes resided at the Château de Pamiers or the of Foix, but from 1375 stayed exclusively at the Château de Mazères. During his reign, Fébus welcomed notable figures in his residences: the Black Prince in Mazères in 1355, King Peter I of Cyprus in 1363–1364 in Orthez, the Duke of Bourbon in 1388 (also at Orthez), and Charles VI at Mazères in 1390. Archaeological studies show, as at Montaner or Orthez, that the "Febusian" residences were composed of a seigniorial main building with two levels. The ground floor was used by his servants and the top floor was the habitat of the lord and his entourage.

The great hall was the main place of public and courtly life. At the Château Moncade the great hall was possibly decorated with hunting scenes and tapestries illustrating the Battle of Launac. Froissart's long visit to Orthez, between 1388 and 1389, allows us to describe court life under Fébus. The large hall, or tinel, was the occasion for meals, shows, music, minstrel songs, literary evenings, and other various celebrations. The most original characteristic of the courtly life at Orthez was the appreciation of troubadours, but the relative absence of tournaments, contrary to the medieval fashion. Froissart also noted that the court of Orthez was well informed of the latest events, thanks to Fébus' remarkable intelligence network.

Fébus installed a treasure room and a prison on the vast ground floor of the tower of the Château Moncade. The first floor retained a defensive role with its loopholes and niches, while the upper levels were devoted to living quarters. Equipped with four large windows with cushions and a chimney per level, they probably resulted from work commissioned by Fébus in 1374, concomitant with those of the Montaner tower. The adjoining main building, accessible by the monumental staircase opening onto the courtyard, contained the ceremonial room. Located on the first floor, it was caught between the servile spaces on the ground floor and the apartments of Fébus on the second floor. According to the chronicles of Froissart, the gallery had such a large fireplace that one of Fébus' companions, Arnauton d'Espagne, could hold all the logs carried by Fébus' largest donkey.

Morlàas was another important city and was the capital of Béarn until Gaston VII moved his court to Orthez. Morlàas was home to the Béarn monetary minting workshop, where Fébus had gold coins minted alongside the Aragonese florin. Fébus set up a residence there, now destroyed, to replace the old count's castle. As early as 1373, he acquired a series of plots and houses from villagers. The following year, he annexed the masonry of a tower and the timber of a resident who was indebted to him. As a text from 1375 indicates, this residence was built in the typical Febusian mold, with a curtain wall, a gate tower, and a drawbridge spanning a ditch. Inside, the building possessed a large hall, a kitchen, and three superimposed bedrooms.

Family

Ancestry

The seal of Gaston II of Foix-Béarn, father of Fébus.

Fébus was the only legitimate child of Gaston II of Foix-Béarn and Eleanor of Comminges. His father was a scion of the house of Foix-Béarn, founded by the marriage of his grandparents Roger-Bernard III, Count of Foix and Margaret of Béarn. The Foix-Béarn family was linked to all the southern families: Majorca, Narbonne, Armagnac and even Aragon. Gaston II's mother, Joan of Artois, was the great-granddaughter of Robert I, Count of Artois, brother of Saint Louis. This French princess brought the prestige of the royal house to Foix-Béarn but also many worries. She was accused of licentiousness, leading her husband Gaston I and then her son Gaston II to banish her from court. Before his death, Gaston I divided his domains between his sons Gaston II and Roger-Bernard III, who received the Viscounty of Castelbon and the other Catalan possessions inherited from the Foix and the Moncade; his grandson, Matthew, eventually became in the successor of Fébus. Despite the close kinship, Fébus despised the Foix-Castelbon branch because he suspected that Matthew's father, Roger-Bernard IV, was involved in the 1380 plot against him. Bertrand, Baron de L'Isle-Jourdain and uncle to Eleanor of Comminges, tutored Gaston II and was instrumental in marrying his niece to the Count in 1325, despite the age difference.

Fébus' family tree, startin from the marriage of Roger-Bernard III of Foix to Margaret of Béarn.

Eleanor was the youngest child of Bernard VII, Count of Comminges and was either dedicated to celibacy or the convent until her uncle's intervention. After several children who died in infancy, Eleanor was approaching her forties when she gave birth to Fébus. Though the marriage between Gaston II and Eleanor was not particularly warm, Gaston II still regarded his wife with respect and esteem. Gaston II spent most of his life fighting for the French king, and it was during a truce between the French and the English that he left for Andalusia at the call of King Alfonso XI of Castile. Gaston would not return, dying on 26 September 1343 during the Siege of Algeciras. During her husband's many absences, Eleanor played an essential role in educating Fébus. Thanks to the will left by Gaston II before his departure for Andalusia, Eleanor served as tutor and regent of the heir until his legal majority (14 years). Fébus' mother would continue to manage his property as curator until he was 21 years old. The homage tour that Eleanor organized for Fébus was a major achievement and proved fundamental for her son's career and demonstrated her considerable administrative skills. Eleanor died around 1369, near Le Mas-d'Azil in the County of Foix.

Siblings

Fébus was the sole legitimate heir of Gaston II, though he had several illegitimate half-siblings. Fébus had two half-sisters, Béarnèse (wife of Raymond Bernard II of Castelnau-Tursan) and Marguerite (wife of John of Châteauverdun, Lord of Caumont), and two half-brothers, Arnaud-Guilhem (who married Jeanne, heiress of the Lordship of Morlanne) and Pierre (who married Florencia of Aragon). The children grew up together, and Fébus' brothers would remain faithful companions throughout his life. The two illegitimate sons seem to have benefited from the same physical and military education as Fébus, the intellectual and artistic education being surely reserved for the heir. Arnaud-Guilhem was considered to be the "main collaborator" of Fébus, the latter not hesitating to entrust him with the fate of Béarn during some of his trips outside. Thanks to his marriage, Arnaud-Guilhem became the heir to the domain of Morlanne, and he participated in the construction of the Château de Morlanne, desired by his brother to strengthen the defense system of Béarn. Arnaud-Guilhem seemingly died just before his brother in 1391.

Wife and mistresses

Agnes of Navarre was a granddaughter of King Louis X of France. Miniature dedication of a Vie de saint Louis, BNF, Fr.13568, f° 1.

Aged 9, Fébus was the subject of a marriage project between his father and King James III of Majorca. On 10 February 1340 in Perpignan, Gaston II signed a marriage contract for his son and the daughter of James III, infanta Isabella of Majorca. But the death of Gaston II in 1343, as well as the capture of Perpignan by King Peter IV of Aragon, caused the project to be abandoned. Having become regent, Eleanor turned to the royal family of Navarre for a potential bride. She and Queen Joan II of Navarre began negotiations in 1345 in order to marry Fébus to one of the Queen's daughters, infanta Agnes of Navarre. This alliance was particularly prestigious for the House of Foix-Béarn, as Joan II was the only legitimate child of King Louis X of France to survive infancy but was excluded from the French throne in favor of her uncle, Philip V of France. The marriage was postponed until 1349, due to Agnes' young age. During a long stay in Île-de-France to settle Navarrese affairs in their Norman domain, Eleanor and Fébus were invited by Joan II to celebrate the wedding. The marriage contract was signed on 5 May 1349, with a promised dowry of 20,000 livres from the Queen of Navarre, with an initial payment of 1,000 livres. The wedding was finally celebrated with a grand ceremony on 4 August 1349 in the Temple Church in Paris. Through his marriage, Fébus became brother-in-law to both the King of Navarre and the King of France.

The life of Agnes is poorly documented, but her marriage to Fébus was likely an unhappy one. In September 1362, she gave birth to the male heir, Gaston, only for Fébus to repudiate her a few months later, apparently because her brother had failed to pay her dowry. Fébus sent her to Pamplona without her belongings, and the two would never meet again. The interventions of Pope Urban V in 1364 and Pope Gregory XI in 1373 changed nothing. Fébus' repudiation of Agnes would have drastic consequences, as it created an enemy out of the dangerous King of Navarre, indirectly provoked the 1380 Orthez plot and, by preventing him from siring more legitimate children, ultimately spelled the end for his line.

Fébus fathered at least three illegitimate children; the names and social conditions of his mistresses are unknown. Only Froissart's story allows us to know the daily life of Fébus, but despite the physical and intellectual form of the prince, no woman is present in the court of Orthez. Far from having a physical detestation of them, Fébus seems to have had a psychological rejection towards women, which could explain the repudiation of Agnes as well as the absence of women throughout her life, with the exception of her mother Eleanor.

Issue

Legitimate issue

Illustration of the Drama of Orthez according to Froissart's account, Le Jeune Gaston, dit l'Ange de Foix, by Claudius Jacquand, 1838, currently at the Louvre.

After 10 years of marriage, Agnes finally gave birth to a first son to Febus in 1359, but the child died almost immediately. Three years later, in September 1362, a second son, Gaston, was born in Béarn, whose godfather was the King of Navarre. After the almost immediate repudiation of Agnes, Gaston is raised at the court of Orthez. His life is little known until the drama of Orthez in 1380. Gaston, Prince and heir of Foix-Béarn, appears several times in the chronicles; in March 1374, a marriage was planned for him and the daughter of the Duke of Lancaster; in 1376 Gaston appeared in the army that Fébus mounts. But his place appears to be very limited, especially in comparison with his two illegitimate half-brothers Bernard and Yvain, enough to validate the tradition that Fébus did not like Gaston, preferring his bastard sons. Gaston reappears during his 1379 marriage to Beatrice of Armagnac to seal the peace between the two enemy families. The marriage was celebrated on 19 April 1379, in the absence of Fébus and under particularly modest conditions for a prince of his rank.

Gaston grew up without knowing his mother, though he maintained links to her family by visiting the court of Navarre several times on his father's authorization. Fébus' lenience towards his son would ultimately backfire, as Gaston would scheme against him while in the company of Charles II of Navarre. The circumstances of the Drama of Orthez are not precisely known; Froissart and Juvénal des Ursins give two different versions which each include improbabilities. All the versions agree that, following a failed poisoning attempt against his father, Gaston died, probably by the hand of Fébus, in August 1380. Gaston's participation in the plot was likely the result of resentment towards his father, who only uses him as a pawn in his political ambitions without giving him the slightest responsibility, unlike his half-brothers. Gaston's death deprived Fébus of a legitimate heir, leading to the ascension of the Foix-Castelbon branch of his dynasty.

Illegitimate issue

Yvain, Fébus' favorite son, died in 1393 following the notorious Bal des Ardents incident. Chronicles of Froissart. BL, Harley 4380, f° 1.

Fébus had at least three illegitimate children from his various mistresses. The first one was Bernard, born around 1350; Yvain was born a little before the heir Gaston around 1360-1361, while Gratien was born later. The life of this last son is very poorly known; he is reported for the first time by Froissart at the 1388 Christmas banquet before reappearing at the time of his father's death. Gratien could have taken part in the Berber crusade organized by Louis II, Duke of Bourbon in Tunisia, before dying in 1394 in Sicily. Bernard was brilliantly established in Castile; thanks to the protection of King Henry II of Castile, and he became the first Count of Medinaceli. Bernard appears alongside his father during the War of Comminges in 1376. By his marriage to Isabel de la Cerda (granddaughter of Alfonso de la Cerda, in turn, grandson of King Alfonso X of Castile), Bernard was the only one of his children to give direct descendants to Fébus, a line which continues today.

Tradition designates Yvain as the favorite child of Fébus. Their ties were very close; he was already in his father's personal guard in 1376, and he led the Béarn troops in 1381 during the victory at Rabastens. Froissart also describes Fébus and Yvain as inseparable. On the death of his father and on the advice of his intimates, Yvain made an attempt to take possession of the Orthez treasury, and thus succeed Fébus. His attempt failed, but he recovered 100,000 florins in the company of his brother Gratien, as well as furniture, during the division of property. Yvain then moved to the court of France with the support of Joan II, Countess of Auvergne, entering the immediate entourage of King Charles VI. Yvain was one of the organizers of the parties given at the Hôtel Saint-Pol. He participated on 28 January 1393 at a costume ball that would become the famous Bal des Ardents. Yvain is one of the six nobles burned during the fire caused by the torch of Louis I, Duke of Orléans. He died childless on 30 January 1393 as a result of his wounds "with great pain and martyrdom."

Personality

Physical appearance

Fébus has blond hair.

The physical appearance of Fébus is not precisely known, it is only possible to sketch a silhouette. A motet announces his "flaming hair". Froissart brings some additional elements throughout his chronicles:

«And I tell you that in my time I have seen many knights, kings, princes and others, but that I never saw who had such beautiful limbs, such a beautiful look, such a beautiful figure, the beautiful face, sanguine and laughing and the green eyes, in love where it pleased him to cast his gaze», «The Count of Foix who was a handsome prince, of beautiful form, of beautiful height, bare-headed with disheveled hair because he never wore a hood».

Many are the illuminated manuscripts representing his features and his presence, but they depict an imagined and fictitious Fébus. The most famous version of the Livre de chasse is Fr. 616 dated 1407. This version is commissioned by John the Fearless; it is based on another manuscript, now in the Hermitage Museum, commissioned by Fébus and possibly dedicated to the Duke of Burgundy. Fébus' hair is still blonde in this version, despite some inconsistencies.

All these elements make it possible to imagine a handsome man, with lively eyes and blond hair. Fébus had to wear clothes as sumptuous as those worn in the manuscript Fr. 616 of the Livre de chasse, with decorations symbolizing his power. The impression that the prince gave to his contemporaries can be completed with the words of Geoffrey Chaucer:

«He was the most beautiful man in the world who was or had been since the beginning of the world. What need is there to describe his features. Because in this world there was no one alive who was so beautiful».

Behavior

Fébus in prayer. Livre des oraisons, Paris, BnF, Fr.616, f° 122.

Some character traits and life habits of Fébus are clearly identifiable. Apart from his predilection for war or hunting, he worked at night and slept for a good part of the day, not getting up until around noon. A rhythm of life close to that adopted in Madrid, but far from the habits of the court of France. Fébus' assiduity at work is one of his main behavioral traits, himself specifying in the prologue to his Livre de chasse that despite his passion for this entertainment, it never led him to "neglect the service of his own affairs who must import more." The registers of his notary also prove his total availability to his princely duties, exerting permanent administrative pressure. Fébus commanded his men with brief orders, applying the same method as his dogs, for which he devoted a real passion and accompanied him in all his movements. Fébus writes: "The dog is faithful to his master and of good and true love."

Fébus was just as capable of charming his audience as he is of showing cruelty towards others. He did not hesitate to repudiate Agnes bluntly or to keep his first cousin, the Viscount of Castelbon, at the bottom of a pit for eight months. On the other hand, he always rendered justice in a non-arbitrary way, and apart from the Drama of Orthez, no chronicler accuses him of bodily harm or summary executions. In the context of the 14th century, Fébus was neither worse nor better than the kings and princes of his time, his actions being able to be judged as less cruel than many others. This sentence from Juvénal des Ursins can sum up the complexity of the character, adored as much as hated:

«He had been a valiant prince in his time, and subjugated his neighbors and he was well loved, honored and prized, feared and dreaded.»

The communicator

Choosing a nickname

The inscription Febus me fe at Château de Montaner.

A unique case for his time, Gaston III of Foix-Béarn chose his nickname and gradually replaced his birth name with this creation. The nickname Fébus, his battle cry Febus aban and his motto Toquey si gauses, made their appearance during the ride of the prince in Prussia in 1358. The battle cry Febus aban was the first element unveiled by Gaston III during the siege of Meaux on his return from the crusade. In the middle of the 14th century, he was one of the first European princes to write a handwritten signature. But, uniquely, Gaston III chose to sign by his new nickname: the oldest document featuring the Fébus signature dates from 16 April 1360; the general look of this signature does not change until 1390 when Gaston III chose a clearly visible and detached signature to make it more striking. He also extended the scope of his nickname, by minting his coins with the inscription Febus comes and by placing on his fortresses that of Febus me fe. In 1387, when he wrote the prologue to his Livre de chasse, he specified the elements constituting his identity: "I, Gaston by the grace of God, nicknamed Fébus, count of Foix, lord of Béarn."

The choice of the nickname Fébus was a gesture of pride to be linked to the crusade in Prussia, a triumphal ride worthy of a chivalric novel. His adoubement during the crusade surely explains this desire to change his name. The choice of Febus clearly refers to the ancient god Phoibos, or Apollo. Several reasons are put forward to explain this choice made by Gaston; his blond hair recalls the god of light, while Phoibos, brother of Artemis, is a great hunter just like him. Nevertheless, this nickname mainly refers to the solar myth associated with Phoibos. Since Roman times, Apollo was the god most intimately linked to the exercise of power. Gaston had several compilations of the Facts of the Romans in his library. Additionally, he had a version translated around 1350 in langue d'oc from the encyclopedia of Bartholomaeus Anglicus. This one described the virtues of the zodiac sign of the Sun: "In the constellation of the sun men are beautiful and light, and for this reason in painting they make him wings and the face of a child and is called Phoebus that is to say beautiful." The translation into langue d'oc is "[...] apelaven Febus que vol dire bel." The end of this paragraph completes the qualities attributed to the Sun: "Beneath the sun is contained beauty, victory, fortune, and legacies. The sun means spirit and soul."

Gaston always spelled his nickname using the langue d'oc Fébus, and never Phébus or Phœbus as it is sometimes written. He also never combined "Gaston Fébus" as has been done since the 19th century, so he always separated his Christian name and his nickname. The nickname Fébus was, after his death, borne by other members of the family, including Francis Fébus, King of Navarre from 1479 to 1483. Several nicknames were given to him thereafter, including "Comte soleil", "Prince des Pyrénées" or "Lion des Pyrénées."

Motto and other symbols

Fébus chooses a Béarnaise cattle's head to top his helm. Elucidari de las proprietatz, BSG, ms. 1029, f° 10 r°, detail.

In addition to the nickname Fébus, Gaston chose a set of other emblems to symbolize his action and mark the spirits. During the Prussian crusade, he chose his motto Toquey si gauses ("Touch it if you dare") to illustrate his enthusiasm for arms. This phrase is still the motto of Orthez. Fébus used two types of seal during his rule. The first appeared in 1341, and was used at least until 1361. This seal is marked by its great sobriety, taking only the arms of Foix-Béarn. At least from 1377 and until the end of his life, Fébus used another more worked seal. This presents the quartered shield of Foix-Béarn abeam, surmounted by a crest combining a bassinet and a cow's head with its bell in a dominant position. The bovine figure represents the Béarnaise cattle, also present on the coat of arms of Béarn. According to a hypothesis supported by several historians, the dominant position of the head of the cow indicates Béarn's sovereignty. Fébus retained his father's coat of arms, despite his marriage to Agnes, he also retained the Béarn register for his seal and crest.

Military career

Military strategies

Fébus reigned during an era marked by permanent conflicts, so it was important for him to have an army that could be quickly mobilized and in numbers. Fébus could muster a force of around 4,000 men and more than 1,000 horses, divided equally between Béarn and Foix. As a last resort, he could raise a massive levy to defend the interior of the country, transforming each inhabitant into a soldier. This army of 4,000 men exceeded all that the other princes of the South could raise but did not reach the 7,000 to 10,000 men mobilized by the kings of France and England during the battles of Poitiers or Crécy.

Fébus skillfully combined both strategy and diplomacy as a commander. He used military force only as a last resort, preferring intimidation to open engagement. After ruling for nearly 50 years, Fébus fought only two major battles at Launac in 1362 and Cazères in 1376 to establish his domination over the House of Armagnac. He only led at the head of his army four times over his career. His motto Toquey si gauses illustrates his military strategy of using intimidation to avoid confrontation.

Military constructions

The defensive system of Fébus in Béarn.

Fébus build a vast network of fortifications during his reign. At the end of his life, the prince controlled some forty fortresses along the Pyrénées, from Soule to Foix. A passage from a motet describes: "This country is surrounded by towers that rise high in the sky [...] Admirable domain of the bull. The mother cow protects this garden with her horns. May the hand of the reckless man, O mother, wounded by your horns, turn away from the right place to enter it". This network was heterogeneous because Fébus inherited most of the constructions. He had this endowment reorganized and consolidated, particularly between 1372 and 1378 with the Château de Pau, which for Fébus represented the center of his defensive system to the east of Béarn. Among the constructions carried out under his supervision, Morlanne and Montaner are the two most complete examples. The use of brick instead of the traditional cut stone is the most characteristic element of Febusian constructions, it was inspired by the Palace of the Kings of Majorca in Perpignan and the Bellver Castle in the Balearic Islands, where its architect, Sicard de Lordat, was trained.

The Febusian fortresses all used a polygonal plan enclosing an inner courtyard and a well and sat at the top of a hillock and an artificial motte. The other main characteristic was the presence of an enormous donjon, with those of Pau and Montaner rising to 40 meters in height. The fortress of Montaner represented the centerpiece of Fébus' defensive plan. It was vast, spanning a total of 5-6 hectares and using approximately 1,700,000 bricks for its buttresses alone. At the junction of Béarn, Bigorre and Armagnac, Fébus used Montaner as a palace-fortress, serving both a military and courtly function. Additionally, the fortress served as a symbol of the united and sovereign principality that he longed to establish between Foix and Béarn.

• Febusian constructions
• 
  Château de Montaner
• 
  The tower of Château Moncade
• 
  Château de Mauvezin
• 
  Château de Morlanne
• 
  The Fébus' tower (Château du Pau)
• 
  Château Moncade

The administrator

Fébus had several works translated into the langue d'oc, including the Livre des propriétés des choses by Bartholomaeus Anglicus. BSG, ms. 1029, f° 10 r°.

Ambitious in war as in politics, Fébus needed the funds to carry out his designs. In addition to the income generated from his military victories through ransoms, Fébus developed a system of taxation throughout his territories. From 1365, the prince had a "reform" carried out to investigate, place by place, all the royalties collected, in kind or in money. In Béarn, Fébus revamped the state administration, particularly with regard to forests and mountains, he also instituted tolls, as on the Orthez bridge. In Foix, he was particularly interested in industrial income. Fébus also had gold florins struck at the Morlaàs workshops to open up Béarn more widely to Aquitaine and Iberian trade. These important revenues were nevertheless insufficient for the scale of Fébus' ambitions, especially after his refusal to pay homage to the Black Prince in 1364. From 1367, the Fouage was levied: it was a flat-rate direct tax of 2 francs that each head of the family paid annually. The Fouage is based on the Feu fiscal ("forces"); the Febusian administration thus needed to conduct a regular census. A few of these surveys survive, in particular one of Béarn in 1385 and Foix, the Albigensian and the Lautrécois in 1390. The fogadger was responsible for collecting this tax, which was then centralized with all the other taxes at the Château Moncade.

Fébus was extremely rigorous in collecting Fouage payments, not hesitating to imprison jurats and prosecutors at the slightest delay. In addition to the Fouage, he found creative ways of squeezing revenue out of his estates. For example, he issued a capital gains tax in 1380 (named Creix), and also made various arrangements with the Cagots. Court fines were another important source of revenue and Fébus preferred this sentence to any other because each execution cost him a potential taxpayer. In his chronicles, Froissart was amazed by the willingness of Fébus' subjects to pay taxes and the exceptional peace enjoyed by the territory of Fébus at that time was not unrelated to this observation. The prince also increased his fortune through multiple loans he granted to other lords, which allowed him to expand his political influence. While Fébus was a virtuoso at generating income, he was also described as "close to his pennies." Froissart writes about the prince and his avarice: "Never have (never) mad outrage or mad generosity loved; and he wanted to know every month what his was becoming". Fébus was frugal in his private habits, though he spent lavishly when doing so would win his political influence.

The hunter

Main article: Livre de chasse

Febus hunting wild boar. Livre de chasse, circa 1390, Paris, BnF, Fr.619, f° 83 v°19.

Apart from his assiduous princely work, Fébus had a passion for hunting and the dogs that accompanied him. Fébus was considered one of the greatest hunters of his time. The Chronicle of Moissac mentioned: "He had a passion for hunting and owned a thousand hunting dogs". Hunting is omnipresent in Fébus' daily world, the Château Moncade is surrounded by a stag and fallow deer park, while the large hall is decorated with animal paintings, and probably hunting trophies. As early as 1344, when he was 13 years old, the archives indicate that Eleanor alone received the homage of the delegates of Josbaig for the young Gaston III, who was out hunting. Hunting and dogs were part of the exchange of good relations between Fébus and his neighbours. King John I of Aragon and the Black Prince, for example, sought Fébus' advice on hunting. From 1387, Fébus devoted all his free time to hunting. At the same time, he dictated his Livre de chasse to his secretaries, devoting a good part of his nights in Orthez to it until 1390. The work, dedicated to Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy and written in French, occupies a special place in hunting medieval literature. The book's clarity and detail made it an immediate success, and the naturalist Buffon was still using it at the end of the 18th century. In his book, Fébus puts forward several arguments to explain his passion for hunting: it prepares for war, ensures better health, allows one to commune with nature, and opens the doors to paradise.

The writer

The canso written by Fébus which enabled him to win the Consistoire de la gaie science, ancestor of the Académie des Jeux Floraux.Traduction

Fébus was also a man of letters, capable of composing poetry (cansos), religious literature (the Livre des oraisons), a scientific work (the Livre de chasse), writing in langue d'oc, Latin and French. Born and raised in Orthez, Fébus' mother tongue was Béarnese, but he was also able to speak other Oc dialects such as Gascon Commingeois or Foix Languedocien. Froissart records that he "very willingly spoke to me not in his native Gascon but in proper and elegant French". Béarnese remained his everyday language. Fébus also mastered the langue d'oc written, codified and unified by the troubadours. He wrote his cansos in this language, though only one survives to the present. This canso, probably written by a Fébus in his mid-20s, takes on the classic theme of a burning lover's lament for an unapproachable lady. According to tradition, Fébus would be the author of the song Se Canta, a true Pyrenean hymn and which could therefore be another canso that has survived time.

In addition to his Livre de chasse, he wrote a Livre des oraisons, a collection of 37 prayers, the first three of which are in Latin, and the others in French. Fébus addresses God directly, frightened by his life of sin but showing absolute confidence in divine mercy. The most widespread hypothesis is that the Livre des oraisons follows the Drama of Orthez. Claudine Pailhès in her work Gaston Fébus – Le Prince et le Diable believes rather that this collection would be the fruit of a crisis due to a "sin of the flesh", in the words of Fébus. In addition to his talents as an author, Fébus built up a rich library in Orthez. He collected books with translations into langue d'oc of the Elucidari of Bartholomaeus Anglicus and the Surgery of al-Zahrawi, but also adaptations of Ovid, Pliny, Valerius Maximus, the Speculum Maius by Vincent of Beauvais or even the Book of the Marvels of the World by Marco Polo.

Legacy

Contemporary writings

Chronicles

The statue of Fébus in front of the Château de Pau.

The political, diplomatic and military work of Gaston III occupies a special place in the history of the Pyrenees. But he would not have reached such a level of fame without his qualities as a communicator or without the influence of contemporary writers. The first of these authors is Honoré Bonet whose original chronicle, now lost, informed Michel du Bernis in the 15th century when he wrote his own text. The posthumous glory of Fébus owes much to the Chronicles of Jean Froissart. Entitled Voyage en Béarn and included in Book III of the Chronicles, Froissart's work represents his most brilliant achievement, "one of the heights of medieval literature". He traveled through Europe between 1370 and 1400, investigating, questioning princes, lords and knights. Mainly active in the north of France, Froissard took advantage of a period of peace in Picardy and Flanders to visit Fébus. He stayed at the Hotel de la Lune at Orthez from 22 November 1388 until late March 1389. The chronicler paints a glowing portrait of Fébus, who in his eyes represents the ideal knight prince. His story is strewn with dramatic, humorous, brilliant or fantastic scenes, transforming in the following centuries into popular and legendary tales, allowing the image of Fébus to be kept alive.

«I have seen many knights, kings, princes. But I never saw one who was of such magnificent stature and of such marvelous bearing. Her face was very beautiful, colorful and laughing. His eyes were green and in love. In all things he was perfect. He loved what he should love, hated what he should hate. He was kind and approachable to all people and spoke to them gently and lovingly. But in his wrath no one had forgiveness.»

— Jean Froissart.

Juvénal des Ursins and Jean Cabaret d'Orville also write chronicles on the life of Fébus, using eyewitness accounts of several contemporaries. Each paints a glowing portrait of the prince, describing him as a welcoming, powerful, and well-informed lord with unusual physical vigor and whose advice was worth taking. Only Aymeric de Peyrac, Abbot of Moissac, brings a discordant note in his Chronicle. It presents Fébus as a brutal warmonger, who uses his wealth to further glorify himself. While Aymeric de Peyrac uses first-hand testimonies, he was a partisan of the Armagnacs. Additionally, Fébus' closefisted approach towards the church can explain the hostility of the Abbot of Moissac.

Poems and music

The troubadours occupy a special place at the court of Orthez. Cantigas de Santa María, circa 1280, Escorial Library, Ms.T.I.1, f° 5 r°.

The court of Fébus was among the highest rank of the Western cultural elite, alongside the courts of Avignon and Aragon. Fébus was fond of music and his court was one of the crucibles of musical research in the 14th century. The musicians Fébus maintained and welcomed wrote a number of pieces in his honor, participating in the propagation of his glory. Langue d'oc troubadours, minstrels and cantor-composers were welcomed, particularly troubadours, as in all the southern courts of the period. The troubadours Peyre de Rius, Arnaud d'Antiis and Andreu Gasco, the minstrels Johan Parenti, Johan de Sent Diger and Fehez de Balba were some of the artists Fébus welcomed to his court.

The Chantilly Codex brings together a few motets composed to the glory of Fébus and sometimes of Béarn, they take up the codes of ars nova with strong symbolism, often heraldry, comparisons to mythology and references to contemporary facts. The medieval musician Trebor writes for example: "If Julius Caesar, Roland and King Arthur were renowned for their conquests in the world, and Ywain, Lancelot, Tristan and Darius had for their names praise, esteem and eloquence, today shines and armed with it all hearts he who for renown and noble destiny Febus avant in his sign bears". Other poetic forms, dissociated from music, existed in the 14th century, such as the dits, the pastourelles and the cansos of the troubadours. Froissart stages Fébus several times in pastourelles, as well as in the Dit du Florin, he also appears in Le Vesio by Bernat de So as well as in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer.

Aftermath

Historical studies

Fébus is enthroned “in majesty” surrounded by his huntsmen, miniature by the Master of the Adelphes, circa 1407, Livre de chasse, BnF, Fr.616, f° 13 r°.

From the end of the 14th century to the beginning of the 17th century, Fébus remained present in the chronicles retracing southern history, but he was completely forgotten elsewhere. He was present in aristocratic circles thanks to his Livre de chasse. The glory of Fébus tends to become confidential, the figure of Henry IV taking part in this eclipse. It was not until the middle of the 19th century that the decisive change occurred, with the increasing rehabilitation of the Middle Ages, previously seen as a barbaric time. This period then takes on the virtues of romanticism, and the account made in particular by Froissart gave Fébus a wider audience. This renewed interest concerned men of letters, scholars, or promoters of the Béarnese language. Historians also seized on the subject, Hippolyte Gaucheraud had the Histoire des comtes de Foix de la première race, Gaston III dit Phœbus printed in 1834, the archivist Paul Raymond identified and published documents linked to Fébus in the archives of the department of Basses-Pyrénées. In the 20th century, Raymond Ritter revealed new aspects of the personality of Fébus thanks to his work on medieval fortresses, while canon Jean-Baptiste Laborde gave new elements in his Précis d'histoire du Béarn in 1943.

Pierre Tucoo-Chala wrote several works on Fébus, including his thesis Gaston Fébus et la Vicomté de Béarn (1343-1391) in 1959, his work Gaston Fébus, un grand prince d'Occident au XIVe siècle in 1976, then Gaston Fébus, prince des Pyrénées (1331-1391) in 1991. His research spread over half a century and played a major role in the dissemination of this character to the general public. Claudine Pailhès, Director of the Departmental Archives of Ariège, continued the biographical work around Fébus, publishing Gaston Fébus : Le Prince et le Diable in 2007.

In popular culture

Fébus attempting to assassinate his son. Gustave Doré from Froissart's account, Voyage aux Pyrénées, Hippolyte Taine, 1860.

The figure of Fébus is also illustrated in popular culture, and this from the middle of the 19th century with the publication of several literary stories. In 1839, Alexandre Dumas published a long story taking Fébus as the central character, following his novel Acté. This text is called Monseigneur Phœbus, chronique dans laquelle est racontée l'histoire du démon familier du sire de Corase, it depicts some events linked to the life of the count, including the Drama of Orthez, the story of the Demon Familiar of the Lord of Coarraze, the Battle of Aljubarrota, and a fantastique version of the death of Fébus. Dumas was mainly inspired by the Chronicles of Froissart, but also by the works of Fébus, his Pastourelles and his Livre de chasse. Monseigneur Gaston-Phœbus goes unnoticed for a long time, it is never the subject of an independent edition with a cover bearing his title, while most editions of the complete works of Dumas completely ignore it. It was not until 2000 that Pierre Tucoo-Chala rescued the work from oblivion by publishing a first independent edition with Éditions Atlantica. Also in the 19th century, the painter Claudius Jacquand was inspired by Froissart's account of the Drama at Orthez to create his canvas Le Jeune Gaston, dit l'Ange de Foix; Gustave Doré did the same in a vignette for Voyage aux Pyrénées by Hippolyte Taine. At the end of the 19th century, Fébus was chosen by the Béarn and Bigourdan félibres during the constitution of the Escòla Gaston Fèbus association, in order to defend the Gascon language.

In the 20th century, the novel by Myriam and Gaston de Béarn, La Vie fabuleuse de Gaston Phœbus (1959), enjoyed great success. This romantic trilogy is adapted for television in 1978 in Gaston Phébus: Le Lion des Pyrénées; the role of Fébus is interpreted by Jean-Claude Drouot. Also on television, an episode of the series Thierry la Fronde (1963-1966) features Gaston, while Maurice Druon recounted Fébus' homage to John II of France for the county of Foix in his work Quand un roi perd la France (1977), seventh volume of the historical novel Les Rois maudits. The Drama of Orthez inspired several plays by Jean-Claude Lalanne-Cassou or Henri Dupuch. Pierre Tucoo-Chala teamed up with cartoonist José de Huéscar in 1985 to publish the comic Gaston Fébus et le Prince Noir, then with Patrick Amblevert for two new volumes in 1996 and 2004. A new trilogy of comics on Fébus, using the American format, was published in 2017 by Catmalou and Joseph Lacroix. The name of Fébus is included in multiple local odonyms, such as the Gaston Fébus school city of Orthez or the BRT line Fébus in the Communauté d'agglomération Pau Béarn Pyrénées. If the original spelling, Febus or Fébus, chosen by Gaston III himself is often respected, the erroneous spellings Phébus or Phœbus continue to appear.

See also

• Castle of Foix
• Château de Mauvezin

Writings

• Gaston Fébus (2002). Le Livre de chasse – introd. et notices de Claude d'Anthenaise; avant-propos de Christian de Longevialle (in French). Paris: Maison de la chasse et de la nature. p. 94. BnF 38857330
• Gaston Fébus (1974). Le Livre des oraisons – édition critique avec traduction par G. Tilander et P. Tucoo-Chala. Pau: Marrimpouey. p. 137.

Bibliography

Chronicles

• Michel du Bernis (1839). J.A.C. Buchon (ed.). Chroniques des comtes de Foix (in French). Paris: Desrez.
• Jean Froissart (1987). Geneviève Brunel-Lobrichon (ed.). Voyage en Béarn (in French). Paris: Olivier Orban. p. 227.
• Juvénal des Ursins (1839). Jean Alexandre Buchon (ed.). Histoire de Charles VI, roi de France (in French). Paris: Desrez.
• Pierre Olhagaray (1609). Histoire de Foix, Béarn et Navarre (in French). Paris: Douceur. p. 797.

Sources

• Bouillet, Marie-Nicholas; Chassang, Alexis (1878). Gaston III de Foix-Béarn. Hachette. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help) Wikisource link
• Cummins, John (18 January 2001) The Hound and the Hawk: The Art of Medieval Hunting. Publ. Weidenfeld & Nicolson; New paperback edition ISBN 978-1842120972
• Gaucheraud, Hippolyte (1834). Histoire des comtes de Foix de la première race: Gaston III dit Phœbus. Paris: Levavasseur.
• Lagabrielle, Sophie (2011). Gaston Fėbus : Prince Soleil (1331–1391) (in French). Paris: Ėditions de la Rmn – Grand Palais. ISBN 978-2-7118-5877-4.
• Nabonne, Bernard (1936). Gaston Phébus, seigneur du Béarn, 1331-1391 (in French). Paris: R.-A. Corrêa. BnF 32477397
• Lamazou-Duplan, Véronique (2014). Signé Fébus, comte de Foix, prince de Béarn: Signatures, écritures et pouvoirs autour de Gaston III, comte de Foix (in French). Somogy et Université de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour. ISBN 978-2-7572-0864-9.
• Pailhès, Claudine (2007). Gaston Fébus – Le Prince et le Diable (in French). Ėditions Perrin. ISBN 978-2-262-02355-3..
• Tuchman, Barbara W. (2007) [1978]. A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century. Random House Publishing. ISBN 978-0-3452-8930-8.
• Tucoo-Chala, Pierre (1976). Gaston Fébus, un grand prince d'Occident au XIVe siècle (in French). Pau: Marrimpouey jeune. ASIN B01N1X5E7Q. BnF 34576149
• Tucoo-Chala, Pierre (1991). Gaston Fébus, prince des Pyrénées (in French). Ėditions Deucalion. ISBN 2-906483-43-5.
• Tucoo-Chala, Pierre (2009). Gaston Fébus, grand prince médiéval (in French). Ėditions Atlantica. ISBN 978-2-7588-0228-0.
• Febus Avant! Music at the Court of Gaston Febus, Count of Foix and Bearn (1331-1391); Huelgas Ensemble, Paul Van Nevel; Sony, 1992.

Articles

• Gales, Françoise (April 2020). "Des châteaux signés Fébus". Le Festin (in French) (113): 98–105. ISBN 978-2-36062-252-8. ISSN 1143-676X.

Novels

• Dumas, Alexandre (2000) [1839]. Monseigneur Gaston Phœbus: Chronique dans laquelle est racontée l'histoire du démon familier du sire de Corasse (in French). Atlantica. BnF 37191239
• Myriam and Gaston de Béarn, novel trilogy La Vie fabuleuse de Gaston Phébus :
  • Gaston Phébus: Le Lion des Pyrénées (in French). Paris: Mengès. 1978. BnF 34639089
  • Gaston Phébus: Les Créneaux de feu (in French). Paris: Mengès. 1978. BnF 34639090
  • Gaston Phébus: Landry des Bandouliers (in French). Paris: Mengès. 1979. BnF 34639091
• Jeanroy, B. A. (1905). La Vengeance d'Amaury (in French). Hachette.
• Tucoo-Chala, Pierre; de Huescar, José (1985). Gaston Fébus et le Prince Noir (in French). Portet-sur-Garonne: Loubatières. BnF 34979340

Comics

• Catmalou and Joseph Lacroix, Febus trilogy:
  • Febus: Zénith (in French). Atelier In8. 2017. p. 32.
  • Febus: Soleil noir (in French). Atelier In8. 2017. p. 32.
  • Febus: Éclipse (in French). Atelier In8. 2017. p. 32.
• Pierre Tucoo-Chala and Patrick Amblevert, deux tomes :
  • La Jeunesse de Fébus (in French). Portet-sur-Garonne: Loubatières. 1996. BnF 39211473
  • La Gloire de Fébus (in French). Portet-sur-Garonne: Loubatières. 2004. BnF 39193252

External links

• Works by Gaston III, Count of Foix at Project Gutenberg
• Exposition virtuelle : Le Livre de chasse de Gaston Fébus on the BnF website
• Véronique Rébé, Gaston Fébus et le Château de Pau au XIVe siècle Archived 10 July 2007 at the Wayback Machine, National Museum of the Château de Pau