[4] Lastly, the House of Foix-Béarn ruled a province known as the Nébouzan, which was small and isolated yet strategically located between the western holdings around Orthez and the eastern lands surrounding Foix.

Gaston II immediately sided with the French House of Valois,[7] but many Béarn knights were then in the opposing camp, and the Béarnaise nobility could not be cut off from the English-held ports of Bordeaux and Bayonne.

[17] Aged 16,[j] the count thus played a decisive role in the birth of the sovereignty of Béarn [fr][15] The events of 1347 illustrate the line of conduct followed by Gaston III throughout his political career: always leaving a way out for his adversary to avoid overly violent reactions.

[19] Philip VI, in a very delicate situation after Crécy, did not take offense at this declaration of independence and continued his rapprochement with Gaston III, for fear of seeing him switch definitively to the English camp.

[20] On 26 December 1348 at Pamiers, Gaston III paid homage to the king of France for his lands in the seneschalses of Agen, Toulouse and Carcassonne, but not Béarn, implicitly confirming his sovereignty.

[21] The devastation of the Black Death led to repeated renewals of the 1347-55 Truce of Calais, giving Gaston III the opportunity to arrange a royal marriage:[21] on 4 August 1349, he married Agnes of Navarre at the Temple Church in Paris,[19] with the acquiescence of the French king.

After Arnaud-Guilhem restored order, Gaston III punished the culprits with heavy fines, thus respecting the spirit of the Fors of Béarn by balancing firmness with flexibility in his management of the crisis.

[33] Faced with the imminence of a new chevauchée by the Black Prince from Bordeaux to Calais, and unwilling to see him defect, John released Gaston without exacting an oath of homage for Béarn.

[59] The expedition of the Black Prince began with success on 3 April 1367 at the Battle of Nájera, but would later turn to grief as Peter of Castile's conduct caused infighting among his supporters[r] while disease would decimate the remaining army.

The routed army finally crossed Béarn in the summer of 1367, with the Black Prince seeking prior authorization from Fébus and agreeing to pay for his supplies up to "the least hen.

[t] In January 1369, the Armagnacs and Albrets lodged a formal complaint against the Black Prince in the Parlement of Paris, allowing Charles V to resume military operations in the South, with the right for him.

Despite Louis of Anjou's efforts to spare Fébus, Charles V persisted in his desire to regain control of Bigorre by relying on the Armagnacs, at the risk of rekindling tensions between the two enemies.

John of Gaunt's actions provoke numerous military operations in the Pays de l'Adour [fr], leading to the request of the Soule citizens for the protection of Fébus,[u] a pact concluded on 4 September 1375.

Between late July and early August 1380, the plot was discovered before Gaston could administer the poison[82] and he was imprisoned in the Château Moncade in Orthez, while Odon de Mendousse and the Baron d'Andoins were exiled to the court of Charles II.

[95] Fébus returned to Orthez on 5 April 1383, the first time since the tragedy of 1380, to organize the passage of Louis II, Duke of Bourbon's army in 1385 to take part in the conflict for the throne of Portugal.

[107] The treaty was particularly favorable to the French camp because it incorporated the most important feudal inheritance of the South into France in exchange for gold payment and the temporary cession of Bigorre.

[as][122] In a tense context in Brittany for the Marmousets and the opening of peace negotiations between France and England, caution was required to preserve the stability of the entire Pyrenean region.

[123] In this context, and in exchange for 250,000 francs, Charles VI annulled the Treaty of Toulouse and recognized Matthew as Fébus' sole heir by letters patent dated 20 December 1391.

For example, Fébus would hear legal cases in the open air, on the banks of the Gave de Pau in imitation of Saint Louis, who famously rendered justice beneath an oak tree.

[88] Bertrand, Baron de L'Isle-Jourdain and uncle to Eleanor of Comminges, tutored Gaston II and was instrumental in marrying his niece to the Count in 1325, despite the age difference.

[151] Fébus' repudiation of Agnes would have drastic consequences, as it created an enemy out of the dangerous King of Navarre, indirectly provoked the 1380 Orthez plot and, by preventing him from siring more legitimate children, ultimately spelled the end for his line.

Fébus' assiduity at work is one of his main behavioral traits, himself specifying in the prologue to his Livre de chasse that despite his passion for this entertainment, it never led him to "neglect the service of his own affairs who must import more.

[176][180] In 1387, when he wrote the prologue to his Livre de chasse, he specified the elements constituting his identity: "I, Gaston by the grace of God, nicknamed Fébus, count of Foix, lord of Béarn.

Several reasons are put forward to explain this choice made by Gaston; his blond hair recalls the god of light, while Phoibos, brother of Artemis, is a great hunter just like him.

[203] The use of brick instead of the traditional cut stone is the most characteristic element of Febusian constructions, it was inspired by the Palace of the Kings of Majorca in Perpignan and the Bellver Castle in the Balearic Islands, where its architect, Sicard de Lordat, was trained.

[259] The Chantilly Codex brings together a few motets composed to the glory of Fébus[ca] and sometimes of Béarn,[cb] they take up the codes of ars nova with strong symbolism, often heraldry, comparisons to mythology and references to contemporary facts.

Froissart stages Fébus several times in pastourelles, as well as in the Dit du Florin,[264] he also appears in Le Vesio by Bernat de So [fr] as well as in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer.

[267] In the 20th century, Raymond Ritter [fr] revealed new aspects of the personality of Fébus thanks to his work on medieval fortresses, while canon Jean-Baptiste Laborde gave new elements in his Précis d'histoire du Béarn in 1943.

[272][ce] Also in the 19th century, the painter Claudius Jacquand was inspired by Froissart's account of the Drama at Orthez to create his canvas Le Jeune Gaston, dit l'Ange de Foix [fr]; Gustave Doré did the same in a vignette for Voyage aux Pyrénées by Hippolyte Taine.

[275] Pierre Tucoo-Chala teamed up with cartoonist José de Huéscar in 1985 to publish the comic Gaston Fébus et le Prince Noir, then with Patrick Amblevert for two new volumes in 1996 and 2004.