M. F. Mansfield
Castles and Chateaux of Old Navarre and the Basque Provinces
Published by Good Press, 2019
EAN 4057664561169
Table of Contents
CHAPTER II FEUDAL FRANCE—ITS PEOPLE AND ITS CHÂTEAUX
CHAPTER III THE PYRENEES—THEIR GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY
CHAPTER IV THE PYRENEES—THEIR HISTORY AND PEOPLES
CHAPTER V ROUSSILLON AND THE CATALANS
CHAPTER VI FROM PERPIGNAN TO THE SPANISH FRONTIER
CHAPTER VII THE CANIGOU AND ANDORRA
CHAPTER VIII THE HIGH VALLEY OF THE AUDE
CHAPTER IX THE WALLS OF CARCASSONNE
CHAPTER XI FOIX AND ITS CHÂTEAU
CHAPTER XII THE VALLEY OF THE ARIÈGE
CHAPTER XIII ST. LIZIER AND THE COUSERANS
CHAPTER XIV THE PAYS DE COMMINGES
CHAPTER XV BÉARN AND THE BÉARNAIS
CHAPTER XVI OF THE HISTORY AND TOPOGRAPHY OF BÉARN
CHAPTER XVII PAU AND ITS CHÂTEAU
CHAPTER XVIII LESCAR, THE SEPULCHRE OF THE BÉARNAIS
CHAPTER XX TARBES, BIGORRE AND LUCHON
CHAPTER XXI BY THE BLUE GAVE DE PAU
CHAPTER XXII OLORON AND THE VAL D’ASPE
CHAPTER XXIII ORTHEZ AND THE GAVE D’OLORON
CHAPTER XXIV THE BIRTH OF FRENCH NAVARRE
A Brief Chronology of French and Spanish Navarre
CHAPTER XXVI SAINT-JEAN-PIED-DE-PORT AND THE COL DE RONÇEVAUX
CHAPTER XXVII THE VALLEY OF THE NIVE
CHAPTER XXVIII BAYONNE: ITS PORT AND ITS WALLS
CHAPTER XXIX BIARRITZ AND SAINT-JEAN-DE-LUZ
CHAPTER XXX THE BIDASSOA AND THE FRONTIER
CHAPTER I
A GENERAL SURVEY
THIS book is no record of exploitation or discovery; it is simply a review of many things seen and heard anent that marvellous and comparatively little known region vaguely described as “the Pyrenees,” of which the old French provinces (and before them the independent kingdoms, countships and dukedoms) of Béarn, Navarre, Foix and Roussillon are the chief and most familiar.
The region has been known as a touring ground for long years, and mountain climbers who have tired of the monotony of the Alps have found much here to quicken their jaded appetites. Besides this, there is a wealth of historic fact and a quaintness of men and manners throughout all this wonderful country of infinite variety, which has been little worked, as yet, by any but the guide-book makers, who deal with only the dryest of details and with little approach to completeness.
The monuments of the region, the historic and ecclesiastical shrines, are numerous enough to warrant a very extended review, but they have only been hinted at once and again by travellers who have usually made the round of the resorts like Biarritz, Pau, Luchon and Lourdes their chief reason for coming here at all.
Delightful as are these places, and a half a dozen others whose names are less familiar, the little known townlets with their historic sites—such as Mazères, with its Château de Henri Quatre, Navarreux, Mauléon, Morlaas, Nay, and Bruges (peopled originally by Flamands)—make up an itinerary quite as important as one composed of the names of places writ large in the guide-books and in black type on the railway-maps.
The region of the Pyrenees is most accessible, granted it is off the regular beaten travel track. The tide of Mediterranean travel is breaking hard upon its shores to-day; but few who are washed ashore by it go inland from Barcelona and Perpignan, and so on to the old-time little kingdoms of the Pyrenees. Fewer still among those who go to southern France, via Marseilles, ever think of turning westward instead of eastward—the attraction of Monte Carlo and its satellite resorts is too great. The same is true of those about to “do” the Spanish tour, which usually means Holy Week at Seville, a day in the Prado and another at the Alhambra and Grenada, Toledo of course, and back again north to Paris, or to take ship at Gibraltar. En route they may have stopped at Biarritz, in France, or San Sebastian, in Spain, because it is the vogue just at present, but that is all.
It