He had six captains with him, each commanding fifty lance or more. First of all was his brother,
Jean de Béarn, a dauntless and agile squire,
Pierre d'Antin of Bigorre, the brother of the
lord of Antin, who would never turn French,
Arnauton de Sainte-Coulombe,
Ramon-Arnaud de Rostan, the
Mongat de Sainte-Bazeille and the
Bourc de Cardeilhac. These captains had made many forays into
Bigorre, the
Toulousain, the
Carcassonais and the
Albigeois, for as soon as they were outside
Lourdes they found themselves in enemy territory. They rode through the land, sometimes perhaps as far as thirty leagues from their fortress. On the way in they took nothing, but on their return nothing escaped them; sometimes they brought back with them so many prisoners and livestock that they did not know where to put them. They held the whole country to ransom except for the lands of the
count of Foix where they would neither dare to take a chicken without paying, nor hurt any of the
count of Foix's men or anyone who was guaranteed safe conduct, for if they had angered him, they would not have survived.
The companions of
Lourdes rode wherever they pleased. Quite near there, as I have said, is the town of
Tarbes which they terrorised so that it was obliged to enter a protection agreement with them. Returning from
Tarbes to their
fortress there is a large village with a fine abbey called
Saint-Pé-de-Geyres where they caused much trouble, but they also entered a protection agreement.
Elsewhere on the
river Adour is a large walled town called
Bagnères whose inhabitants had a very hard time of it, for they were harried and harassed by the men from
Lourdes, and by men from
Mauvezin who were closer still.
The
castle of Mauvezin is situated on a mountain with the
river Adour flowing beneath towards a fine walled town nearby called
Tournay. The people of
Tournay controlled the route taken by the men from
Lourdes and
Mauvezin. As a result no harm was done to the town of
Tournay, for that was their way back and the townspeople found good bargains in their plunder. They knew very well how to turn a blind eye, and indeed they needed to if they wished to stay alive, for they did not receive aid or support from anyone.
The captain of
Mauvezin was a Gascon named
Raymonnet de Lespés, an expert man-at-arms. I can tell you that the men of
Lourdes and
Mauvezin were just as happy to hold the merchants of the kingdoms of
Aragon and
Catalonia to ransom as they did the
French, unless they were paying them protection money.
At the time I embarked on my journey to visit the
count of Foix, I considered the diversity of these countries I had never seen. Having set off from
Carcassonne, I left the
Toulouse road on my right hand and took the left-hand path. This brought me first to
Montréal, then to
Fanjeaux, then
Belpech, the first fortified town in the
county of Foix, from there to
Mazères, and then to the
castle of Saverdun.
pb 206 r