Gaston III ‘Fébus’, count of Foix (d. 1391)

Gaston III, count of Foix, known as Fébus (1331 - 1391), son of Gaston II of Foix and Aliénor de Comminges, whose court the chronicler visited in 1388. Gaston was born in 1331 and succeeded his father in 1343. On 4th August 1348 he married Agnès de Navarre, the daughter of Philippe, count of Évreux and of Jeanne, queen of Navarre, who herself was the daughter of Louis X of France known as the Quarreller, the Headstrong or the Stubborn. Gaston died in 1391. He was the author of a celebrated treatise on hunting entitled Livre de chasse, or the Book of the hunt.

Gracien and Yvain of Foix

Refers to the two illegitimate sons of count Gaston Fébus, Gracien and Yvain.

Espan de Lion

Espan de Lion, Froissart's travelling companion, was in the service and household of the count of Foix.

Castilians

King Enrique II of Castile (d. 1379)

Enrique de Trastámara (1334 - 1379), king Enrique II of Castile, the illegitimate son of Alfonso XI of Castile and Eleanor of Guzman, half-brother to Pedro I of Castile. He proclaimed himself king of this realm in 1369 until 1379, taking the title Enrique II.

King Enrique II of Castile (d. 1379)

Enrique de Trastámara (1334 - 1379), king Enrique II of Castile, the illegitimate son of Alfonso XI of Castile and Eleanor of Guzman, half-brother to Pedro I of Castile. He proclaimed himself king of this realm in 1369 until 1379, taking the title Enrique II.

Portuguese

William the Conqueror, duke of Normandy, king of England (d. 1087)

William the Conqueror, bastard of Normandy, who became king of England between 1066 and 1087, after victory at the battle of Hastings. He married Mathilda, daughter of the count of Flanders.

Robert I, duke of Normandy (d. 1035)

England

Island kingdom bounded to the west by the Marcher lordships and the (still contested) principality of Wales conquered by Edward I; English lordships included parts of modern south Wales (from southern Pembrokeshire through Swansea, Cardiff and on towards Gloucester in England); bounded to the north by the kingdom of Scotland, to the east by the North Sea and to the south by the Channel; included Somerset, Devon and Cornwall to the south-west. Population up to the Black Death of 1348-9 approximately 4 million souls.

Matilda of Flanders, queen of England (d. 1083)

King of England

King of England

Espan de Lion

Espan de Lion, Froissart's travelling companion, was in the service and household of the count of Foix.

Armagnacs

Espan de Lion

Espan de Lion, Froissart's travelling companion, was in the service and household of the count of Foix.

Houses of Foix and Armagnac

Espan de Lion

Espan de Lion, Froissart's travelling companion, was in the service and household of the count of Foix.

Gaston VII of Béarn

Franciscan monastery at Orthez

Gaston VII of Béarn

Daughters of Gaston VII of Béarn

The daughters of Gaston VII of Béarn; Margaret of Béarn married Roger-Bernard III de Foix in 1252 and Mathe of Béarn married Géraud VI of Armagnac in 1260.

Mathe of Béarn

(?second surviving) daughter of count Gaston VII; married Géraud VI of Armagnac in 1260.

Géraud VI, count of Armagnac (d. 1285)

Margaret of Béarn

(?eldest surviving) daughter of count Gaston VII; married Roger-Bernard III of Foix in 1252.

Roger-Bernard III of Foix

Gaston III ‘Fébus’, count of Foix (d. 1391)

Gaston III, count of Foix, known as Fébus (1331 - 1391), son of Gaston II of Foix and Aliénor de Comminges, whose court the chronicler visited in 1388. Gaston was born in 1331 and succeeded his father in 1343. On 4th August 1348 he married Agnès de Navarre, the daughter of Philippe, count of Évreux and of Jeanne, queen of Navarre, who herself was the daughter of Louis X of France known as the Quarreller, the Headstrong or the Stubborn. Gaston died in 1391. He was the author of a celebrated treatise on hunting entitled Livre de chasse, or the Book of the hunt.

Aragon

Gaston VII of Béarn

King Sancho IV of Castile

Sancho IV, king of Castile, León and Galicia from 1284 (d. 1295).

King Sancho IV of Castile

Sancho IV, king of Castile, León and Galicia from 1284 (d. 1295).

Vizcaya

The county of Vizcaya or Biscay, one of the Basque provinces of Spain.

Béarn

France, south-west, modern Pyrénées-Atlantiques; from the ninth century a vicomté held of the duchy of Gascony (later Guyenne) and in theory therefore subject to the authority of the kings of England. Largely independent of English influence, even from Edward, prince of Wales and Aquitaine (from 1362), under Gaston III ‘Fébus’, count of Foix and viscount of Béarn (d. 1391).

Gaston VII of Béarn

Counts of Armagnac and Foix

Refers to Géraud VI of Armagnac and Roger-Bernard III de Foix.

Roger-Bernard III of Foix

Béarn

France, south-west, modern Pyrénées-Atlantiques; from the ninth century a vicomté held of the duchy of Gascony (later Guyenne) and in theory therefore subject to the authority of the kings of England. Largely independent of English influence, even from Edward, prince of Wales and Aquitaine (from 1362), under Gaston III ‘Fébus’, count of Foix and viscount of Béarn (d. 1391).

Gaston VII of Béarn

Bridge at Orthez

River Gave de Pau

Sauveterre-de-Béarn

Sauveterre-de-Béarn, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, to the south-west of l'Hôpital-d'Orion.

L'Hôpital-d'Orion

L'Hôpital-d'Orion, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, to the south-west of Orthez.

King Sancho IV of Castile

Sancho IV, king of Castile, León and Galicia from 1284 (d. 1295).

Gaston VII of Béarn

Roger-Bernard III of Foix

Géraud VI, count of Armagnac (d. 1285)

Géraud VI, count of Armagnac (d. 1285)

Gaston VII of Béarn

Béarn

France, south-west, modern Pyrénées-Atlantiques; from the ninth century a vicomté held of the duchy of Gascony (later Guyenne) and in theory therefore subject to the authority of the kings of England. Largely independent of English influence, even from Edward, prince of Wales and Aquitaine (from 1362), under Gaston III ‘Fébus’, count of Foix and viscount of Béarn (d. 1391).

Gaston VII of Béarn

Géraud VI, count of Armagnac (d. 1285)

Roger-Bernard III of Foix

Barons of Béarn

The requirement of legitimacy of birth, for every genuine heir worthy of the name and therefore entitled to inherit, appears to have been a constant preoccupation for the chronicler from 1388-89 and well beyond, and for good reason: Froissart is aware that the status and fortunes of illegitimate sons born into royal and comital families is evolving rapidly. The issue is at the very heart of the ‘drama of Orthez’ that we are about to have recounted to us.

Plausibly a reference to a recumbent funeral effigy of Gaston VII.

In fact Gaston had two other daughters. One of them — Mathe — married Géraud V, count of Armagnac in 1260. In 1285, the other — Marguerite — married Roger-Bernard III, count of Foix, whose sister, Esclarmonde, would become the wife of Jaime I, king of Aragon.

Paillés, that is to say ‘paly’, a term in heraldry describing the division of the shield of arms vertically into equal parts and in a number of pairs of alternating tinctures (typically a colour and a metal); in this particular case, vertical bands of gules (red) and or (gold).

Manuscript reading: Gascon

Emended reading: Gaston

Manuscript reading: par un chevalier herault

Emended reading: par II chevaliers et un herault