County of Bigorre
The County of Bigorre was a small feudatory of the Duchy of Aquitaine in the ninth through 15th centuries. Its capital was Tarbes.
The county was constituted out of the dowry of a Faquilène, an Aquitainian princess, for her husband Donatus Lupus I, the son of Lupus III of Gascony. The original Bigorre was considerable in size, but successive generations, following on Gascon traditions, gave out portions as appanages to younger sons. The county lost Lavedan, Aster, Aure, and Montaner in the first two generations.
The original Gascon dynasty, probably descended from Lupus II of Gascony, died out in Bigorre in the 11th century, the county passing to the House of Foix and then that of Béarn. In the 12th century, it went to the house of Marsan and then of Comminges and in the thirteenth to that of Montfort [disambiguation needed]. It was briefly in the hands of the Armagnacs and passed between English and French suzerainty during the Hundred Years' War before finally being recovered by the French. In the 15th century, it fell to the House of Foix again and thence to the crown in an exchange of properties.
List of counts of Bigorre [edit]
House of Bigorre [edit]
- 840 – ??? Donatus Lupus I
- ??? – 910 Lupus I
- 910 – 930 Donatus Lupus I
- 930 – ??? Raymond I Donatus
- ??? – 980 Arnold
- 980 – 1030 García Lupus
- 1030 – 1038 Gersenda
- 1030-1037 Bernard I Roger
House of Foix [edit]
- 1038 – 1077 Bernard II
- 1077 – 1080 Raymond II
- 1080 – 1095 Beatrice I
- 1080 – 1095 Centule I
- 1095 – 1113 Bernard III
- 1113 Beatrice II
- 1113 – 1130 Centule II
- 1130 – 1156 Beatrice III
- 1130 – 1156 Peter
- 1156 – 1178 Centule III
- 1178 – 1190 Stephanie
- 1190 – 1225 Bernard IV
- 1190 – 1251 Petronilla
- 1251 – 1256 Alice
- 1256 – 1283 Esquivat
- 1283 – 1307 Laura
After this point the succession become disputed and whether the county owes allegiance to England or France is also fought over. In 1360, the Treaty of Brétigny made it decisively French. In 1407, it belonged to Bernard VII of Armagnac, who sold it that year to John I, Count of Foix. From then on it is a subsidiary title of the counts of Foix.
