Gaston VI of Béarn

Gaston VI (1173 – 1214), called the Good, was the Viscount of Béarn, Gabardan, and Brulhois from 1173. He was also Count of Bigorre and Viscount of Marsan through his marriage to the heiress Petronilla in 1196.

Gaston was the son of Mary and William I of Béarn. He was the elder of twins, his younger brother being the later viscount William Raymond. After their birth, in light of the conflict in Béarn over the succession, Mary fled with them to the monastery of Santa Cruz de Volvestre. A Bearnese delegation reached the monastery in 1173 seeking one of the boys to be their viscount. Mary gave them Gaston, who was taken back to Béarn to rule.

During his minority, a council of regents from Aragon governed on his behalf. The council was led by Pelegrino de Castellarzuelo, lord of Barbastro. The period of the regency, however, is poorly documented. In 1187, when fourteen years old, Gaston was declared of age and made homage to Alfonso II of Aragon at Huesca. This homage pertained only to Béarn, as Alfonso still recognised the ancient vassalage of Gabardan and Brulhois to the Duchy of Aquitaine.

Like most of the baronage of southern France, Gaston did not participate in the Third Crusade, because of the grand conflict between the crown of Aragon on the one hand and the county of Toulouse on the other. Gaston was firmly in the Aragonese camp.

In 1194, a territorial dispute with the viscounty of Dax was resolved with the exchange of Mixe and Ostabarret in return for the city of Orthez from Dax. In 1196, peace was also made with Soule. In that same year, he married Petronilla of Bigorre and thus made peace with all his neighbours.

In 1208, Pope Innocent III ordered the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars in southern France. A crusading army from northern France invaded the south. Innocent ordered Gaston not to interevene against the crusaders, but Gaston took part in the relief of Toulouse from Simon IV de Montfort's besieging army in 1211. He also took part in the disastrous attack on Castelnaudary. However, neither of these acts were religiously based, as neither Béarn nor Bigorre had many Cathars, but grounded rather in his fidelity to Peter II of Aragon, who was forced to come to the protection of his other vassals attacked by the crusaders. However, he was attacked by the crusade nevertheless. He lost Brulhois and was excommunicated by the Council of Lavaur and his territories declared forfeit by the pope.

On 15 January 1213, Gaston did homage to Peter II of Aragon along with Bernard IV of Comminges, Raimond-Roger of Foix, and Raymond VI of Toulouse. Peter II thus intended to create a vast transpyrenean empire, however it was all undone at the Battle of Muret on 12 September. There Peter died in a losing cause because he had overconfidently neglected to summon his vassals with enough time for them all to arrive. Gaston was one of those which did not participate. Soon after the battle, however, Innocent III publicly pardoned the lords of Béarn and Comminges. The only penance imposed upon Gaston was to give to the bishop two of the districts of the city of Oloron. In return, he also received back Brulhois.

His fidelity to the king of Aragon, however, remained clearly expressed in the "Llibre dels fets" (chapt. 37). There he appears along with his brother at the side of the young king James I at the siege of Tamarite de Litera.

Gaston died without descendants in 1214 and was succeeded by his brother William Raymond. Bigorre remained with his wife, who married again.

ources

*Tucoo-Chala, Pierre. "Quand l'Islam était aux portes des Pyrénées". J&D Editions: Biarritz, 1994. ISBN 2-84127-022-X