PAU AND ITS CHÂTEAU
[Illustration: _Pau and the Surrounding Country_]
[Illustration: _Arms of the City of Pau_]
Pau, _ville d'hiver mondaine et cosmopolite_, is the way the
railway-guides describe the ancient capital of Béarn, and it takes no
profound knowledge of the subtleties of the French language to grasp
the significance of the phrase. If Pau was not all this it would be
delightful, but what with big hotels, golf and tennis clubs, and a pack
of fox-hounds, there is little of the sanctity of romance hanging over
it to-day, in spite of the existence of the old château of Henri IV's
Bourbon ancestors.
The life of Pau, in every phase, is to-day ardent and strenuous, with
the going and coming of automobile tourists and fox hunters,
semi-invalids and what not. In the gallant days of old, when princes and
their followers held sway in the ancient Béarnaise capital, it was
different, quite different, and the paternal château of the D'Albrets
was a great deal more a typical château of its time than it has since
become.
If the observation is worth anything to the reader "_Pau est la petite
Nice des Pyrénées_." This is complimentary, or the reverse, as one
happens to think. Pau's attractions are many, in spite of the fact that
it has become a typical tourist resort.
The château itself, even as it stands in its reconstructed form, is a
pleasing enough structure, as imposingly grand as many in Touraine. This
palace of kings and queens, which saw the birth of the Béarnais prince
who was to reign at Paris, has been remodelled and restored, but, in
spite of this, it still remains the key-note of the whole gamut of the
charms of Pau, and indeed of all Béarn.
The Revolution and Louis Philippe are jointly responsible for much of
the garish crudity of the present arrangement of the Château de Pau. The
mere fact that the edifice was a prison and a barracks from 1793 to 1808
accounts for much of the indignity thrust upon it, and of the present
furnishings--always excepting that exceedingly popular tortoise-shell
cradle--only the wall tapestries may be considered truly great. In spite
of this, the memories of the D'Albrets, of Henri IV, of Gaston, and of
the "Marguerite des Marguerites" still hang about its apartments and
corridors.
The Vicomte de Béarn who had the idea of transferring his capital from
Morlaas to Pau was a man of taste. At the borders of his newly acquired
territory he planted three _pieux_ or _pau_, and this gave the name to
the new city, which possessed then, as now, one of the most admirable
scenic situations of France, a terrace a hundred feet or more above the
Gave, with a mountain background, and a low-lying valley before.
The English discovered Pau as early as 1785, fifty years before Lord
Brougham discovered Cannes. It was Arthur Young, that indefatigable
traveller and agriculturalist, who stood as godfather to Pau as a
tourist resort, though truth to tell he was more interested in industry
and turnip-growing than in the butterfly doings of "_les éléments
étrangers_" in French watering places of to-day.
Throngs of strangers come to Pau to-day, and its thirty-five thousand
souls make a living from the visitors, instead of the ten thousand of a
century and a quarter ago.
The people of Pau, its business men at any rate, think their city is the
chief in rank of the Basses-Pyrénées. Figures do not lie, however, and
the local branch of the Banque de France ranks as number sixty-five in
volume of business done on a list of a hundred and twenty-six, while
Bayonne, the real centre of commercialism south of Bordeaux, is numbered
fifteen. In population the two cities rank about the same.
The real transformation of Pau into a city of pleasure is a work,
however, of our own time. It was in the mid-nineteenth century that the
capital of Béarn came to be widely known as a resort for semi-invalids.
Just what degree of curative excellencies Pau possesses it is not for
the author of this book to attempt to state, but probably it is its
freedom from cold north and east winds. Otherwise the winter climate is
wintry to a certain degree, and frequently damp, but an appreciable
mildness is often to be noted here when the Riviera is found in the icy
grip of the Rhône valley _mistral_.
The contrast of the new and the old at Pau is greatly to be remarked.
There are streets which the French describe as _neuves et coquettes_,
and there are others grim, mossy and as dead as Pompeii, as far as
present-day life and surroundings are concerned.
Formerly the river Hédas, or more properly a rivulet, filled the moat of
the château of the kings of Navarre, but now this is lacking.
The château has long been despoiled of its furnishings of the time of
Henri IV and his immediate successors. Nothing but the mere walls remain
as a souvenir of those royal days.
The palatial apartments have been in part destroyed, and in part
restored or remodelled, and not until Napoleon III were steps taken to
keep alive such of the mediæval aspect as still remained.
Pau, with all its charm and attraction for lovers of history and
romance, has become sadly over-run of late with diversions which
comport little enough with the spirit of other days. Fox-hunting, golf
tournaments and all the Anglo-Saxon importations of a colony of
indulgent visitors from England and America are a poor substitute for
the jousting tournaments, the _jeux de paume_ and the pageants of the
days of the brave king of Navarre. Still Pau, its site and its
situation, is wonderfully fine.
Pau is the veritable queen of the Pyrenean cities and towns, and mingles
all the elements of the super-civilization of the twentieth century with
the sanctity of memories of feudal times. The Palais d'Hiver shares the
architectural dignity of the city with the château, but a comparison
always redounds to the credit of the latter.
Below the terrace flows the Gave de Pau, and separates the verdant
faubourg of Jurançon from the parent city. The sunlight is brilliant
here, and the very atmosphere, whether it be winter or summer, is, as
Jean Rameau puts it, like the laughter of the Béarnais, scintillating
and sympathetic.
The memories of the past which come from the contemplation of the really
charming historical monuments of Pau and its neighbourhood are
admirable, we all admit, but it is disconcerting all the same to read in
the local paper, in the café, as you are taking your appetizer before
dinner, that "the day was characterized with fine weather and the Pau
fox-hounds met this morning at the Poteau d'Escoubes, some twenty
kilometres away to the north. A short run uncovered a fox in a spinny,
and in time he was 'earthed' near Lascaveries!"
This is not what one comes to the south of France to find, and the
writer is uncompromisingly against it, not because it is fox-hunting,
but because it is so entirely out of place.
The early history of the city of Pau is enveloped in obscurity. Some
sort of a fortified residence took shape here under Centulle IV in the
ninth century, and this noble vicomte was the first to be freed of all
vassalage to the Duc d'Aquitaine, and allowed the dignity of independent
sovereignty. On the occasion when the Bishop Amatus of Oloron, the
legate of the Pope Gregory VII, came to confer upon Centulle the title
of comte, in place of that of vicomte which he had inherited from his
fathers, a ceremony took place which was the forerunner of the brilliant
gatherings of later days. Says the chronicler: "The drawbridge of the
château lowered before the Papal Legate, and as quickly as possible he
delivered himself of the _mandement_ of the Pope, a document which meant
much to the future history of Béarn."
Pau owes its fame and prosperity to the building of a château here by
the Béarnais princes. To shelter and protect themselves from the
incursions of the Saracens a fortress-château was first built high on a
plateau overlooking the valley of the Ossau. Possession was taken of the
ground necessary for the site by a bargain made with the inhabitants,
whereby a certain area of paced-off ground was to be given, by the
original dwellers here, in return for the privilege of always being
present (they and their descendants) at the sittings of the court.
Just who built or planned the present Château de Pau appears to be
doubtful. Of course it is not a thoroughly consistent or homogeneous
work; few mediæval châteaux are. That master-builder Gaston certainly
had something to do with its erection, as Froissart recounts that when
this prince came to visit the Comte d'Armagnac at Tarbes he told his
host that "_il y a faisait édifier un moult bel chastel en la ville de
Pau, au dehors la ville sur la rivière du Gave_." The great tower is,
as usual, credited to Gaston, and it is assuredly after his manner.
Old authors nodded, and sometimes got their facts mixed, so one is not
surprised to read on the authority of another chronicler of the time,
the Abbé d'Expilly, that "the Château de Pau was built by Alain d'Albret
during the regency of Henri II, towards 1518." Favyn, in his "Histoire
de Navarre," says, "_Henri II fit bastir à Pau une maison assez belle et
assez forte selon l'assiette du pays_." These conflicting statements
quite prepare one to learn that Michaud in his "Marguerite de Valois"
says that that "friend of the arts and humanity" built the "Palais de
Pau." These quotations are given as showing the futility of any
historian of to-day being able to give unassailable facts, even if he
goes to that shelter under which so many take refuge--"original
sources."
One learns from observation that Pau's château, like most others of
mediæval times, is made up of non-contemporaneous parts. It is probable
that the original edifice served for hardly more than a country
residence, and that another, built by the Vicomtes de Béarn, replaced
it. This last was grand and magnificent, and with various additions is
the same foundation that one sees to-day. It was in the fifteenth
century that the present structure was completed, and the gathering and
grouping of houses without the walls, all closely hugging the foot of
the cliff upon which stood the château, constituted the beginnings of
the present city.
It was in 1464 that Gaston IV, Comte de Foix, and usurper of the throne
of Navarre, established his residence at Pau, and accorded his
followers, and the inhabitants of the immediate neighbourhood, such
privileges and concessions as had never been granted by a feudal lord
before. A parlément came in time, a university, an academy of letters
and a mint, and Pau became the accredited capital of Béarn.
[Illustration: Château de Pau]
The development of Pau's château is most interesting. It was the family
residence of the reigning house of Béarn and Navarre, and the same in
which Henri IV first saw light. In general outline it is simple and
elegant, but a ruggedness and strength is added by the massive donjon of
Gaston Phoebus, a veritable feudal pile, whereas the rest of the
establishment is built on residential lines, although well fortified.
Other towers also give strength and firmness to the château, and indeed
do much to set off the luxurious grace of the details of the main
building. On the northeast is the Tour de Montauset of the fourteenth
century, and also two other mediæval towers, one at the westerly and the
other at the easterly end. The Tour Neuve, by which one enters, does not
belie its name. It is a completely modern work. Numerous alterations and
repairs have been undertaken from time to time, but nothing drastic in a
constructive sense has been attempted, and so the _cour d'honneur_, by
which one gains access to the various apartments, remains as it always
was.
Within, the effect is not so happy. There are many admirable fittings
and furnishings, but they have been put into place and arranged often
with little regard for contemporary appropriateness. This is a pity; it
shows a lack of what may be called a sense of fitness. You do not see
such blunders made at Langeais on the Loire, for instance, where the
owner of the splendid feudal masterpiece which saw the marriage of Anne
de Bretagne with Charles VIII has caused it to be wholly furnished with
_contemporary_ pieces and decorations, _or excellent copies of the
period_. Better good copies than bad originals!
The châteaux of France, as distinct from fortified castles merely, are
what the French classify as "_gloires domestiques_," and certainly when
one looks them over, centuries after they were built, they
unquestionably do outclass our ostentatious dwellings of to-day.
There are some excellent Gobelin and Flemish tapestries in the Château
de Pau, but they are exposed as if in a museum. Still no study of the
work of the tapestry weavers would be complete without an inspection and
consideration of these examples at Pau.
The chief "curiosity" of the Château de Pau is the tortoise-shell cradle
of Henri of Béarn. It is a curio of value if one likes to think it so,
but it must have made an uncomfortable sort of a cradle, and the legend
connected with the birth of this prince is surprising enough to hold
one's interest of itself without the introduction of this doubtful
accessory. However, the recorded historic account of the birth of Henri
IV is so fantastic and quaint that even the tortoise-shell cradle may
well be authentic for all we can prove to the contrary.
There is a legend to the effect that Henri d'Albret, the grandfather of
Henri IV, had told his daughter to sing immediately an heir was born:
"_pour ne pas faire un enfant pleureux et rechigné_." The devoted and
faithful Jeanne chanted as she was bid, and the grandfather, taking the
child in his arms and holding it aloft before the people, cried: "_Ma
brebis a enfanté un lion._" The child was then immediately given a few
drops of the wine of Jurançon, grown on the hill opposite the château,
to assure a temperament robust and vigorous.
As every characteristic of the infant prince's after life comported well
with these legendary prophecies, perhaps there is more truth in the
anecdote than is usually found in mediæval traditions.
Another account has it that the first nourishment the infant prince took
was a "goutte" (_gousse_) of garlic. This was certainly strong
nourishment for an infant! The wine story is easier to believe.
The "Chanson Béarnais" sung by Queen Jeanne on the birth of the infant
prince has become a classic in the land. As recalled the Béarnais
_patois_ opened thus:--
"Nostre dame deou cap deou poun, ajouda me a d'aqueste hore."
In French it will be better understood:--
"Notre Dame du bout du pont,
Venez à mon aide en cette heure!
Priez le Dieu du ciel
Qu'il me délivre vite;
Qu'il me donne un garçon.
Tout, jusqu'au haut des monts, vous implore.
Notre Dame du bout du pont,
Venez à mon aide en cette heure."
It was in the little village of Billère, on the Lescar road, just
outside the gates of Pau, that the infant Henri was put _en nourrice_.
The little Prince de Viane, the name given the eldest son of the house
of Navarre, was later confided to a relative, Suzanne de Bourbon,
Baronne de Miossens, who lived in the mountain château of Coarraze. The
education of the young prince was always an object of great solicitude
to the mother, Jeanne d'Albret. For instructor he had one La Gaucherie,
a man of austere manners, but of a vast erudition, profoundly religious,
but doubtful in his devotion to the Pope and church of Rome.
The child Henri continued his precocious career from the day when he
first became a _bon vivant_ and a connoisseur of wine. By the age of
eleven he had translated the first five books of Cæsar's Commentary, and
to the very end kept his literary tastes. He planned to write his
mémoires to place beside those of his minister, Sully, and the work was
actually begun, but his untimely death lost it to the world.
Another dramatic scene of history identified with the Pau château of the
D'Albrets was when Henri IV took his first armour. As he was
out-growing the early years of his youth, the queen of Navarre commanded
the appearance at the palace of all the governors of the allied
provinces.
The investiture was a romantic and imposing ceremony. The boy prince was
given a suit of coat armour, a shield and a sword. A day on horseback,
clad in full warrior fashion, was to be the beginning of his military
education.
All the world made holiday on this occasion; for three days little was
done by the retainers save to sing praises and shout huzzas for their
king to be. For the seigneurs and their ladies there were comedies and
dances, and for all the people of Gascogne who chose to come there were
great fêtes, cavalcades and open-air amusements on the plain of Pau
below the castle.
The culmination of the fête was on the evening of the third day. The
young prince of Navarre, dressed as a simple Béarnais, with only a gold
fleur-de-lis on his _béret_, as a mark of distinction, came out and
mingled with his people. As a finishing ceremony the prince took again
his sword, and, amid the shouts and acclamations of the populace,
plunged it to the hilt in a tall _broc_, or jug, of wine, and raised
it--as if in benediction--first towards the people, then towards the
army, then towards the ladies of the court--as a sign of an unwritten
pact that he would ever be devoted to them all.
The sun fell behind the crests of the Pyrenees just as this ceremony was
finished, and the youth, saluting the smiling king and queen,--his
father and mother--left with his "_gens d'armes pour faire le tour de sa
Gascogne_."
The memory of Henri Quatre remains wondrous vivid in the minds of all
the Béarnais, even those of the present day, and peasant and bourgeois
alike still talk of "_notre Henri_," when recounting an anecdote or
explaining the significance of some historic spot.
Well, why not! Henri lived in a day when men made their mark with a
firmer, surer hand, than in these days of high politics and
socialistics. The Béarnais never forget that Henri, Prince de Béarn--the
rough mountaineer, as he was called at Paris--was a joyous compatriot, a
lover and a poet, and that he knew the joys of passion and the sorrows
of suffering as well as any man of his time. The following old chanson,
sung to-day in many a peasant farmhouse of Béarn proves this:--
"Le coeur blessé, les yeux en larmes,
Ce coeur ne songe qu'à vos charmes,
Vous êtes mon unique amour;
Près de vous je soupire,
Si vous m'aimez à votre tour,
J'aurai tout ce que je désire...."
Under the reign of Louis XIV the inhabitants of Pau would have erected a
statue in honour of the memory of the greatest of all the Béarnais--of
course Henri IV--but the insistent Louis would have none of it, and told
them to erect a statue to the reigning monarch or none at all.
Nothing daunted the Béarnais set to work at once and an effigy of Louis
XIV rose in place of Henri the mountaineer, but on the pedestal was
graven these words: "_A ciou qu'ils l'arrahil de nouste grand Enric._"
"To him who is the grandson of our great Henri."
One of the great names of Pau is that of Jean de Gassion, Maréchal de
France. He was born at Pau in 1609. At Rocroi the Grand Condé embraced
him after the true French fashion, and vowed that it was to him that
victory was due. He was full of wise saws and convictions, and proved
himself one of France's great warriors. The following epigrams are
worthy of ranking as high as any ever uttered:--
"In war not any obstacle is insurmountable."
"I have in my head and by my side all that is necessary to lead to
victory."
"I have much respect, but little love for the fair sex." (He died a
_célibataire_.) "My destiny is to die a soldier."
"I get not enough out of life to divide with any one."
This last expression was gallant or ungallant, selfish or unselfish,
according as one is able to fathom it.
At any rate de Gassion was a great soldier and served in the Calvinist
army of the Duc de Rohan. The following "_mot_" describes his character:
"Will you be able to follow us?" asked de Rohan at the Battle of the
Pont de Camerety in Gascogne. "What is to hinder?" demanded the future
Maréchal of France, "you never go too fast for us, except in retreat."
He recruited a company of French for the aid of Gustavus Adolphus in his
campaign in Upper Saxony, and presented himself before that monarch on
the battle field with the following words: "Sire, I come with my
Frenchmen; the mention of your name has induced them to leave their
homes in the Pyrenees and offer you their services...." At the battle
of Leipzig (1631) Gassion and his men charged three times and covered
themselves with glory.
The "Histoire de Maréchal de Gassion," by the Abbé de Pure, and another
by his almoner Duprat, an "Eloge de Gassion" (appearing in the
eighteenth century), are most interesting reading. De Gassion it would
seem was one of the chief anecdotal characters of French history.
Another of the shining lights of Pau (though he was born at Gan in the
suburbs) was Pierre de Marca, an antiquarian whose researches on the
treasures of Béarn have made possible the writings of hundreds of his
followers. He was born in Pau a few years before Henri IV, and died an
Archbishop of Paris in 1689.
His epitaph is a literary curiosity.
"Ci-git Monseigneur de Marca,
Que le Roi sagement marqua
Pour le Prelate de son Eglise,
Mais la mort qui le remarqua
Et qui se plait à la surprise
Tout aussitôt le demarqua."