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The County of Bigorre was a small feudatory of the Duchy of Gascony in the ninth through 15th centuries.[1] Its capital was Tarbes.[2]
The county was constituted out of the dowry of Faquilène, an Aquitainian princess, for her husband Donatus Lupus I, the son of Lupus III of Gascony.[citation needed] 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 dynasty 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. 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.
- ^ Colomez, Abbé (1886). Histoire de la province et Comte de Bigorre [History of the province and Count of Bigorre] (in French). Tarbes: J-P Larrieu.
- ^ Zink, Anne (2000). Pays ou circonscriptions: Les collectivités territoriales de la France du Sud-Ouest sous l'Ancien Régime [Countries or constituencies: The local authorities of South-West France under the Ancien Régime] (in French). Publications de la Sorbonne. p. 109. ISBN 978-2-85944-849-3. Retrieved 16 April 2023.