The County of Bigorre was a small feudatory of the Duchy of Aquitaine in the ninth through fifteenth centuries. Its capital was Tarbes

Tarbes

Tarbes is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in south-western France.It is part of the historical region of Gascony. It is the second largest metropolitan area of Midi-Pyrénées, with 110,000 inhabitants....

.

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

Gascony

Gascony is an area of southwest France that was part of the "Province of Guyenne and Gascony" prior to the French Revolution. The region is vaguely defined and the distinction between Guyenne and Gascony is unclear; sometimes they are considered to overlap, and sometimes Gascony is considered a...

 traditions, gave out portions as appanage

Appanage

An apanage or appanage or is the grant of an estate, titles, offices, or other things of value to the younger male children of a sovereign, who would otherwise have no inheritance under the system of primogeniture...

s to younger sons. The county lost Lavedan, Aster

Aster

Aster may refer to:* Aster , a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae* Callistephus, another genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, commonly called Aster or Chinese Aster...

, Aure

Aure, Ardennes

Aure is a commune in the Ardennes department in France....

, and Montaner

Montaner

Montaner is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France.-References:*...

 in the first two generations.

The original Gascon dynasty, probably descended from Lupus II of Gascony, died out in Bigorre in the eleventh century, the county passing to the House of Foix and then that of Béarn

Béarn

Béarn is one of the traditional provinces of France, located in the Pyrenees mountains and in the plain at their feet, in southwest France. Along with the three Basque provinces of Soule, Lower Navarre, and Labourd, the principality of Bidache, as well as small parts of Gascony, it forms in the...

. In the twelfth century, it went to the house of Marsan

Marsan

Marsan is a commune in the Gers department in southwestern France.-Population:...

 and then of Comminges

Comminges

The Comminges is an ancient region of southern France in the foothills of the Pyrenees, corresponding closely to the arrondissement of Saint-Gaudens in the department of Haute-Garonne...

 and in the thirteenth to that of . It was briefly in the hands of the Armagnacs and passed between English and French suzerainty during the Hundred Years' War

Hundred Years' War

The Hundred Years' War was a series of separate wars waged from 1337 to 1453 by the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet, also known as the House of Anjou, for the French throne, which had become vacant upon the extinction of the senior Capetian line of French kings...

 before finally being recovered by the French. In the fifteenth century, it fell to the House of Foix again and thence to the crown in an exchange of properties.

House of Bigorre

• 840
  840
  Year 840 was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar.-Europe:* After the death of Louis the Pious, his sons Lothar, Charles the Bald and Louis the German fight over the division of the Holy Roman Empire, with Lothar succeeding as Emperor.-Asia:* Tang Wu Zong succeeds Tang Wen Zong...
  
   – ??? Donatus Lupus I
• ??? – 910
  910
  Year 910 was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar.- Europe :* August 5 – The allied forces of Mercia and Wessex defeat an army of Northumbrian Vikings in the Battle of Tettenhall...
  
   Lupus I
• 910
  910
  Year 910 was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar.- Europe :* August 5 – The allied forces of Mercia and Wessex defeat an army of Northumbrian Vikings in the Battle of Tettenhall...
  
   – 930
  930
  Year 930 was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar.- Europe :* With the establishment of the Althing, now one of the world's oldest parliaments, the Icelandic Commonwealth is founded....
  
   Donatus Lupus I
• 930
  930
  Year 930 was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar.- Europe :* With the establishment of the Althing, now one of the world's oldest parliaments, the Icelandic Commonwealth is founded....
  
   – ??? Raymond I Donatus
• ??? – 980
  980
  Year 980 was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar.- Europe :* Otto II renounces his claim to Lorraine.* The Viking ring castle of Trelleborg is constructed in Denmark....
  
   Arnold
• 980
  980
  Year 980 was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar.- Europe :* Otto II renounces his claim to Lorraine.* The Viking ring castle of Trelleborg is constructed in Denmark....
  
   – 1030 García Lupus
• 1030 – ???? Gersenda
  • 1030-1037 Bernard I Roger

House of Foix

• ???? – 1077 Bernard II
• 1077 – 1080 Raymond II
• 1080 – 1095 Beatrice I
  • 1080 – 1095 Centule I
• 1095 – 1113 Bernard III
• 1113 Beatrice II
• 1113 – 1130 Centule II
  Centule II of Bigorre
  Centule II was the Count of Bigorre from 1114 to his death. He broke Bigorre's feudal connection with France and established bonds across the Pyrenees with Aragon. He was also a major participant in the Crusades and the Reconquista.He was the second son of Centule V of Béarn by his second wife,...
  
  
• 1130 – 1156 Beatrice III
  • 1130 – 1156 Peter
• 1156 – 1178 Centule III
  Centule III of Bigorre
  Centule III was the Count of Bigorre from 1163 until his death. He was the eldest son of Beatrice III and Peter I and succeeded his mother in Bigorre on her death....
  
  
• 1178 – ???? Stephanie
  • ???? – ???? Bernard IV
• ???? – 1251 Petronilla
  • 1216 – 1220 Guy
    Guy of Bigorre
    Guy de Montfort was the Count of Bigorre from 6 November 1216 to 1220 in right of his wife, Petronilla. He was a son of Simon IV de Montfort and Alice of Montmorency.Guy joined his father on the Albigensian Crusade while still quite young...
    
    
  • ???? – ???? Boso
• 1251 – 1256 Alice
  • ???? – ???? Jordan
• 1256 – ???? Laura
  • ???? – ???? Raymond III

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

Treaty of Brétigny

The Treaty of Brétigny was a treaty signed on May 9, 1360, between King Edward III of England and King John II of France. In retrospect it is seen as having marked the end of the first phase of the Hundred Years' War —as well as the height of English hegemony on the Continent.It was signed...

 made it decisively French. In 1407, it belonged to Bernard VII of Armagnac, who sold it that year to John I of Foix. From then on it is a subsidiary title of the counts of Foix

Counts of Foix

The counts of Foix ruled the independent County of Foix, in what is now southern France, during the Middle Ages. Later they extended their power to almost the entire Pyrenees mountain range, moving their court to Pau, in Béarn, until eventually the last count of Foix acceded to the French throne as...

.