Bigorre

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Provinces of France (1477)
Pic de Néouvieille and Lac d'Aumar

The Bigorre is a former county (comté) and a historical province of France , which today makes up about three quarters of the Hautes-Pyrénées department . The local language (bigourdan) is a sub-dialect of Occitan .

geography

The historic province of Bigorre was bordered by the Vice- County of Béarn to the west, the County of Armagnac to the north, the County of Astarac to the northeast, the County of Comminges to the east and the Kingdom of Aragón to the south.

The location of the Bigorre is striking, with the Pyrenean gifles, some of which are over 3000 m high, in the south and the only slightly undulating pastures and fields in the north, which only reach heights of around 300 m. The highest mountains are the Pic du Midi de Bigorre ( 2872  m ) and Pic de Néouvieille ( 3091  m ), located in front of the main ridge of the Pyrenees, and the Vignemale ( 3298  m ) on the main ridge . A tourist experience on nice days is the mountain basin of the Cirque de Gavarnie, which is surrounded by steep rock faces . Numerous rivers have their source in the mountains, including the Gave de Pau , the Adour and the Gers . The thermal springs of Cauterets and Bagnères-de-Bigorre and some ski areas are important for the tourist development of the region .

The most important cities and municipalities of Bigorre are: Tarbes (approx. 40,000), Lourdes (approx. 14,000), Bagnères-de-Bigorre (approx. 7,500), Vic-en-Bigorre (approx. 5,000), Maubourguet (approx. 2,500 ) and Rabastens-de-Bigorre (approx. 1,500).

The Bigorre area also includes the two exclaves located about 20 to 30 km west and north-west of Tarbes with the municipalities of Gardères and Luquet on the one hand and Escaunets , Séron and Villenave-près-Béarn on the other.

economy

The Bigorre area is predominantly agricultural , with cattle breeding dominating in the higher regions. Only in the vicinity of Tarbes and Lourdes are small and medium-sized industrial settlements that are connected to the French transport network via railway lines, the Tarbes-Lourdes-Pyrénées airport and the A 64 autoroute .

history

The name of the landscape comes from the ancient Bigerrions or Bigerriones , probably from the Basque ibai-gorri ( river-red , so " red river " or "Rotbach"), whose main town at the time of the Roman conquest of Gaul not far from today's city of Tarbes , perhaps Cieutat , lay.

At the beginning of the 9th century, Loup Centulle , Duke of Gascon, created the county of Bigorre for his son Donat Loup († around 820), who was married to the Aquitaine princess Faquilène, where she undoubtedly contributed most of the property from her dowry .

The property, the capital of which was Tarbes, was reduced by the generosity of the two Counts Loup Donat († around 910), who gave his younger son the vice-county of Lavedan , and Donat Loup II († around 930), his son, who for one his sons established the county of Aure , for another the vice-county of Aster and for a third the dominion of Montaner . The part of the county of Bigorre that remained to the eldest son, Ramon Donat († around 947), passed by marriage to the Counts of Foix in the 11th century , then to the vice counts of Béarn , and in the 12th century to the vice counts of Marsan , then to the Lords of Comminges and finally in the 13th century to the House of Montfort-l'Amaury .

The Bigorre now became the object of a follow-up dispute: Pétronille de Comminges, heiress of Bigorre through her mother, married Guido von Montfort, the third son of Simon IV. De Montfort , the leader of the Albigensian Crusade , and brother of Simon V. de Montfort , who did the Heir Guidos claimed, and the Pétronille entrusted the supervision of the Bigorre during the minority of their grandson Esquivaut. When Pétronille died, the House of Montfort was divided into two parties: the supporters of Esquivaut and the supporters of King Theobald II of Navarre .

Bigorre County (light blue) and areas annexed around 1800
Hautes-Pyrénées department

Esquivaut was able to prevail, but after his death (1283) the King of England took over the Bigorre. Esquivaut's sister Loré, who with Raymond VI. de Turenne went to court, with the result that the King of France, Philip IV , confiscated the county and handed it over to his wife, Queen Joan I of Navarre and heiress of Theobald II. Johanna passed the Bigorre on to her third son, the future King Charles IV of France, who added the county to the crown domain ( Domaine royal ) when he ascended the throne in 1322 .

Given for a time to Count Jean I of Armagnac , the French king ceded the land to the English king Edward III in the Peace of Brétigny (1360) . from.

In the years between 1360 and 1373, the Bigorre was recaptured by Charles V of France. Subsequently, both the Counts of Foix and the Counts of Armagnac claimed the Bigorre until it was finally awarded to Foix in 1425, while Jean II of Armagnac was resigned in his claims to the Rouergue . From now until the end of the 18th century, the Bigorre shared the fate of County Foix.

When the departments were created during the French Revolution , Bertrand Barère , MP for Tarbes, campaigned heavily to make the Bigorre the "Hautes-Pyrenées" department:

“ Si ce pays, le Bigorre, est trop petit pour former un département, il convient de l'agrandir. Mais il serait très inique de n'en faire que des districts dépendant d'une ville étrangère; ce serait un meurtre politique que de faire de Tarbes le misérable chef-lieu d'un district. "

“If this country, the Bigorre, is too small to form a department, it is appropriate to enlarge it. But it would be very unjust to make districts out of it, dependent on a foreign city; it would be political murder to make Tarbes the poor capital of a district. "

This effort meant that the territory in the north and east was enlarged. A legacy of the old county, however, are the two small exclaves that Hautes-Pyrenées has in the neighboring department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques ( Béarn ).

Counts of Bigorre

The descent of the Counts of Bigorre in male line from the Merovingians over a line of lineages of Dukes of Aquitaine is a fiction that was brought up in the 17th century through the forged Charter of Alaon :

Coat of arms of the County of Bigorre and the Hautes-Pyrénées department
  • Arnaud , his son, Count of Bigorre (around 945 – after 980)
  • Garcia Loup , his son, Count of Bigorre (around 965 – after 1030) ∞ Richarde d'Astarac (around 970–)
  • Gersende , his daughter, Countess von Bigorre (990–1003) ∞ Bernard Roger Graf von Foix (990–1037)
  • Béatrix I , her daughter, Countess of Bigorre (1055–1095) ∞ Gaston Centulle V. Count of Béarn
  • Centulle II., Count of Bigorre (1080–1130), whose son ∞ Aimée de Trencavel
  • Béatrix II, Countess of Bigorre (1104–1156), her daughter, ∞ Pierre de Marsan, Vice Count of Marsan
  • Centulle III. , Count of Bigorre, Vice Count of Marsan (1130–1178), whose son ∞ Matelle des Baux
  • Stéphanie, Countess of Bigorre, his daughter, ∞ Bernard IV. Count of Comminges
  • Pétronille , Countess of Comminges, Countess of Bigorre, Vice Countess of Marsan (1186–1251), her daughter ∞ Guy de Montfort
  • Alix de Montfort, Countess of Bigorre (1216–1255), her daughter, ∞ Jourdain de Chabanais
  • Eschivat de Chabanais, Count of Bigorre (1255–1283), their son
  • Laure de Chabanais († 1316), Countess of Bigorre (1283–1302), his sister ∞ Raymond de Turenne
    • Constance de Montcade († 1310), Countess of Bigorre (1283–1302), Countess of Marsan, granddaughter of Pétronille
    • French crown domain (1302–1425)
  • Jean I , Count of Foix-Grailly, Count of Bigorre (1425–1436)
  • Gaston IV , his son, Count of Foix and Bigorre, Vice-Count of Béarn , Nébouzan, Villemur and Lautrec , Peer of France , (1436–1472) ∞ Eleonore Queen of Navarre
  • François-Febus , his son, King of Navarre, Duke of Nemours , Count of Foix and Bigorre, Vice-Count of Béarn, Peer of France (1472–1482) - without descendants
  • Katharina , whose sister, Queen of Navarre, Duchess of Nemours, Countess of Foix and Bigorre, Vice Countess of Béarn (1470–1517) ∞ Jean III. d'Albret (1483-1516)
  • Henry II , their son, King of Navarre, Duke of Nemours and Albret, Count of Foix, Bigorre, Armagnac and Périgord, Vice-Count of Béarn and Limoges (1516–1555) ∞ Marguerite d'Orléans, sister of the French King Francis I
  • Jeanne d'Albret , his daughter, Queen of Navarre, Duchess of Nemours and Albret, Countess of Foix, Bigorre, Armagnac and Périgord, Vice Countess of Béarn and Limoges (1555–1572), ∞ Anton , Duke of Bourbon and Vendôme
  • Henry III. , their son, King of Navarre, Duke of Bourbon, Vendôme, Nemours and Albret, Count of Foix, Bigorre, Armagnac and Périgord, Vice-Count of Béarn and Limoges (1572–1610), King Henry IV of France ∞ Margaret of Valois , Daughter of King Henry II

Others

In the years after 1980, the wild and almost extinct Bigorre pig (also known as the “black-footed pig ”) returned to the focus of culinary interest.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bigorre pig - photos + information