Gaston de Bearn

Gaston de Béarn (* around 1365, † 1381 ), also called Gaston de Foix , was the only legitimate child of Count Gaston Fébus and his wife Agnes of Navarre. He was heir to an important country conglomerate on the northern slopes of the Pyrenees , which included the county of Foix , the vice-counties of Béarn , Marsan and Lautrec and the co-rulership of Andorra . In the late medieval period, this was one of the last great feudal principalities in France.

Gaston was never to inherit this because he died before his father. The reason for this is said to have been the sometimes violent temperament of the father, who was held responsible for the death of his son. The only contemporary source reporting this is the Chronicles of Jean Froissart . He reported in detail about life at the court of the Count of Foix zu Orthez and also about the circumstances surrounding the death of the count's heir. Froissart, in turn, drew his information from the stories of the knight Espaing du Lion, who belonged to the count's entourage.

prehistory

Froissart cites a financial dispute between Count Fébus and his brother-in-law King Charles II of Navarre as the cause of this family tragedy , which had flared up over the release of Sire d'Albret , who had been imprisoned by the counts since the Battle of Launac (1362) . Count Fébus was not ready to release the Sire from his captivity because he was unable to raise the ransom of 50,000 livres demanded. But then the Count's wife Agnes of Navarre stood up for the Sire, who was on friendly terms with her family. She agreed to ask her brother King Charles of Navarre for the requested money, which the Sire d'Albret should repay the king in due course. King Charles agreed to pay the ransom and, in good faith, Count Fébus released the Sire.

But the money was never supposed to arrive in the count's treasury, instead King Karl kept postponing payment. In order to avoid a conflict between the two brothers-in-law, Agnes traveled to her brother in Pamplona in Navarre , in order to persuade him to make the agreed payment, but King Charles did not let his sister's words soften him. Agnes then refused to return to her husband because she knew her husband's temperament and feared for her life if she came under his eyes with bad news.

conspiracy

A few years later, the young Gaston decided to move to his uncle's court in Navarre to persuade his mother to return to Orthez, but he, too, could not take away his mother's fear of her husband, his father. He spent some time in Navarre, where he took part in his uncle's festivals and hunting parties. King Karl is said to have asked his nephew for a confidential talk before his departure and given him a bag of fine powder. He should mix some powder into his father's food unnoticed. With this powder, the angry count was to arouse new love for his wife and wish her immediate return to his side. Gaston, hoping to reunite his parents in this way, took the powder and returned to Orthez.

attack

Once there, Gaston waited for an opportunity to give his father some powder. But his plan should not go unnoticed. One day when his younger brother Ivain was putting on Gaston's doublet, he found the sachet of powder in a pocket on the garment. When he wanted to know what it was all about, Gaston refused to answer. The brothers later got into an argument during a ball game in which Gaston beat his younger brother. Yvain then told the father of Gaston's powder and his predictions that his wife would soon be in his favor again. Count Fébus became suspicious.

One day when Gaston was the father's cupbearer , Count Fébus noticed the pouch on his son's doublet. He asked him to come closer and cut off the bag. Then he sprinkled some powder on a piece of bread. He threw it to his dog, which devoured the bread and died instantly.

Gaston's death

Still at the table, the count wanted to stab his son with a knife, but his knights prevented him. He had his son imprisoned in a tower and cruelly executed several of Gaston's friends because they were allegedly privy to his son's murder. Then the count summoned all his vassals to judge his son with them. The people asked the count to spare the son since he was his only heir and his death would bring disaster to the county. The count gave them the promise to let Gaston live and determined that the son should remain in dungeon for some time and then embark on a journey of several years, during which he should come to a better understanding.

Gaston hardly ate any food in the dungeon, especially no meat, as he feared being poisoned by his father. The guard informed the count about the steadily deteriorating health of the son. The father, furious, stormed into the dungeon, beat the son and cut his neck with a knife without realizing the injury. Shortly after the father left the cell, the son died.

With Gaston's death, Count Fébus lost his only legitimate heir. He is said to have withdrawn to Pau Castle out of mourning . There he wrote the Livre des Oraisons (Book of Prayers), a collection of prayers with which Count Fébus asked God for forgiveness for the killing of his son. He made the French crown his heir, but King Charles VI. of France was to pass on the inheritance to Fébus' cousin Mathieu in 1391 .

swell

• Jean Froissart : Chroniques de France, d'Angleterre, d'Ecosse, de Bretagne, de Gascogne, de Flandre et lieux circonvoisins

Web links

• Jean Froissart : About the life and death of Count Gaston Phöbus von Foix and the sad death of his child Gaston in the Gutenberg-DE project . Translation: Clemens Brentano .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ According to other sources, the dispute was actually about Agnes dowry of 20,000 livres. She never received this from her brother.