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. 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
House of Bigorre
- 840 – ??? Donatus Lupus I
- ??? – 910 Lupus I
- 910 – 930 Donatus Lupus II
- 930 – ??? Raymond I Donatus
- ??? – 980 Arnold
- 980 – 1030 García Lupus
- 1030 – 1038 Gersenda with her husband
- 1030-1037 Bernard I Roger of Béarn
House of Foix
- 1038 – 1077 Bernard II
- 1077 – 1080 Raymond II
- 1080 – 1095 Beatrice I with her husband
- 1080-1090 Centule V of Béarn (Centule I)
House of Béarn
- 1095 – 1113 Bernard III
- 1113 – 1114 Beatrice II
- 1114 – 1130 Centule II
- 1130 – 1156 Beatrice III with her husband
- 1130-1156 Peter of Marsan (d. 1163)
House of Marsan
- 1156 – 1178 Centule III
- 1178 – 1194 Stephanie (Beatrice IV) with her husband
- 1180-1192 Bernard IV of Comminges (divorced, d. 1225)
House of Comminges
- 1194 – 1251 Petronilla with her husbands:
- 1196-1214 Gaston VI, Viscount of Béarn
- 1215-1216 Nuño Sánchez of Aragon
- 1216-1220 Guy of Montfort
- 1221-1224 Aimeric of Racon
- 1224-1247 Boso of Matha (Mastas)
House of Montfort
- 1251 – 1256 Alice with her second husband
- 1251-1256 Raoul of Courtenay
House of Chabanais
- 1256 – 1283 Esquivat
- 1283 – 1302 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.