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Song from Soule relating to the lord of Ruthie, collected by F. Michel.
Drafting of the Fuero
In the early years of the reign of Francis I, Zuberoa knew nothing but wars. On March 5, 1520, the King of France ordered the drafting of the Codes that governed law throughout his kingdom. On October 7 of the same year, the Estates of Zuberoa, or Court of Order, began deliberations, and after two weeks, the drafting of the Fuero was completed. In the section “Foral Organization,” we have presented the perspective provided by the Fuero of Zuberoa. It describes a society that is essentially pastoral and rural, attached to the land it cultivates, divided into well-structured groups. Its basic unit is the family, in the broad sense of the word, and its key element is the household.
The Reformation
In the 16th century, all of Christendom experienced the need for a moral and spiritual reform of the Church. In France, the Netherlands, and Italy, humanists such as Lefèvre d'Étaples and Erasmus turned to ancient philosophy. Having shed new light on biblical texts through the study of Greek and Hebrew, Christian humanists proclaimed the necessity of returning to the Scriptures. In Germany, Luther rose against the Holy See in 1517. Within the Church, several enlightened spirits sought to reform it, including the Bishop of Meaux, assisted by his disciples, among them Gérard Roussel, future Bishop of Oloron (Bailly, 1960). Francis I, initially sympathetic, became severe after the condemnation of the Reformation by the Sorbonne and the Parliament of Paris, and Protestant leaders were forced to flee. They found refuge around Francis I’s sister, Margaret of Angoulême, Queen of Navarre through her marriage to Henry in 1527. She welcomed them in Nérac or Pau, where the Court of Navarre resided. Nérac thus became a refuge for Christian humanism before becoming a reformist center and one of the notable sites of Protestantism (Laffargue, 1979). It was there that Lefèvre d'Étaples met Calvin in 1534 and where he died two years later.
Gérard Roussel
Zuberoa did not remain untouched by this great religious Reformation sweeping across France, which would unfortunately culminate in the Wars of Religion. It was even the part of Vasconia most penetrated by the new ideas, undoubtedly due to its location Béarn and Lower Navarre, whose sovereigns adopted them, but above all because of its belonging to the Diocese of Oloron. Margaret of Angoulême, Queen of Navarre, whose qualities of heart and soul were universally recognized, knew how to appreciate those of Gérard Roussel. He combined a sincere desire for reform with a firm will not to separate from the Church of Rome—a stance Calvin, moreover, would not forgive. “We must cleanse the house of God without destroying it,” he used to say (Arotçarena, 1965). Even his enemies acknowledged that his conduct was irreproachable, and some went so far as to reproach him for it. Menjoulet (Loc. cit.) wrote of him: “He preached often, attended the offices of his chapter piously, and gave large alms to the poor. Austere in his habits, he possessed an old-fashioned gravity and could inspire both trust and respect, all the more so because in his public speeches he never ceased to condemn Zwingli and Calvin, the two leaders of the Reformation.”
The Maytie Affair
G. Roussel was also accused of exerting influence over his diocesan parishioners. In Zuberoa, some challenged his authority, even taking his desire for reform to the point of breaking with the Church, while others, more conservative, accused him of favoring new ideas. An incident highlighting the heated atmosphere in Mauléon at the time is recounted in the diary of Pierris de Casalivetery (Jaurgain, 1908), royal notary of the town and eyewitness to the event. In 1546, when a Franciscan from Orthez came to preach Lent at the parish church of Saint John of Berraute in Mauléon against the bishop’s wishes, the bishop prohibited him under penalty of excommunication from preaching further without his authorization. Some rough parishioners, expressing their ill temper, removed the pulpit from the church and abandoned it in the cemetery. Those responsible—Arnaud de Gentiu, Bernard de Balester, Jean de Lissabe, and Pierre Arnaud de Maytie, as well as the friar himself—were prosecuted by order of the king’s general prosecutor in Bordeaux. Unfortunately, the witness does not tell us the content of the sermon or the cause of the Mauléon residents’ anger. Was the friar preaching Protestant ideas? If so, G. Roussel’s interdict s that he did not share them. Or was he denouncing the bishop, in which case, was the townspeople’s ire directed at the friar or at the bishop? In any case, Roussel’s enemies later invented a legend claiming that one of the protagonists, Pierre Arnaud de Maytie, had struck down the pulpit with an axe while the bishop himself was on it, causing the bishop to die shortly afterward from the injuries.
Repression
In France, the new ideas steadily gained ground, and repression was the only response from political authorities. In his ordinance of June 6, 1560, Francis I d himself determined to “eradicate the evil errors” and began the hunt for “Lutherans” (as the innovators were called) (Bailly, 1960). It was not only about punishing heretical manifestations; heresy had to be uprooted to be destroyed. Francis I, who had often seemed sympathetic to the new ideas, ordered a war of extermination. He felt his power threatened; those who rose against the Church could also rise against the monarchy. Individual punishments were supplemented by collective utions. In 1546, in Meaux, one of the first centers of humanism, 60 heretics were arrested, and 14 of them were burned alive in the Market Square (Bailly, Loc. cit.).
The Beginnings of the Reformation in Zuberoa
In 1546, several investigations were carried out against Mauléon residents suspected of heresy, and in June, a cleric, Pierris de Rospide, prebendary, was arrested by Jehan de Casalar, deputy of the seneschal of Dax (Jaurgain, 1908). Thus, the Reformation had entered Zuberoa early, even before Jeanne d’Albret professed the Calvinist faith in Béarn. However, little is known about the first Protestant manifestations in Zuberoa. Regarding Béarn, historian Pierre de Salefranche dates them to 1545 in Oloron. On April 14, 1547, Francis I wrote to the First President of the Parliament of Bordeaux to complain about his lack of diligence in eradicating errors and punishing offenders. With the accession of Henry II of France the same year, the fight against the Reformation intensified as the reformist current spread across the kingdom, reaching Béarn and Zuberoa.
Early Trials Against Protestants
While Francis I’s attitude toward the Reformation had been somewhat inconsistent, that of his successor, Henry II, was constant. From the year of his accession (1547) until his death (1559), the struggle against Protestants was relentless. Yet, the harsher the persecution, the more the Reformation advanced across the kingdom. In Zuberoa, from 1549, Jean de Tardets, captain-castellan of Mauléon, initiated trials against Reformation adherents, and on November 27, the Parliament of Bordeaux issued a ruling ordering the submission of “all proceedings against heretics in the land of Zuberoa” (Arch. Dep. Gironde). The high justice of Zuberoa belonged to the Court of Licharre, presided over by the captain-castellan and dependent on the Parliament of Bordeaux. Barcus and Villeneuve de Tardets had a special jurisdiction exercised by royal “jurats,” as did the town of Mauléon, which had six jurats and a mayor, the bailiff (Menjoulet, Loc. cit.). On December 21 of the same year, the Queen of Navarre, Margaret of Angoulême, who had contributed through her adherence to humanism to the emergence of the Reformation in her states and throughout the southwest, died.
First Convictions
On May 7, 1550, the Parliament of Bordeaux issued its first verdict against a Sulet nobleman: Arnaud de Belsunce, lord and lay abbot of Barcus, was condemned in absentia to “publicly retract before the parish church of Mauléon, in a shirt, barefoot and bareheaded, with a burning candle in his hands” (Ritter, 1951). On the same day, Arnaud de Johanne, brother of the king’s civil and criminal lieutenant in Zuberoa, was also condemned in absentia to “a fine of 1,000 livres and to the fire.” The following day, two women were condemned: Jeanne de Hunsmart to abjure heresy before the Mauléon officer and pay a fine of 25 livres, and Guérautine de Pétrops, in absentia, to make a public retraction before the church of Mauléon and to die in the flames (Ritter, Loc. cit.).
New Convictions
Finally, on May 30, a real onslaught struck the Sulet Lutherans. Nine were condemned: Gratian Carriconde and Olivier Oliverry to public abjuration before the church of Mauléon, Pierre de La Salle, a student, and Gratian de Etcheverry, a priest, to the fire and a fine of 1,000 livres, Jean de Aguerreberry to be beaten and flogged by the Mauléon utioner, exiled for life, and fined 500 livres, Me Arnaud de Iriart, notary, fined 500 livres, Bernard Duignet, to be whipped at the usual squares and crossroads of Mauléon and fined 200 livres, Pierre Rospide, who appealed, to public abjuration and a fine of 200 livres, and finally Enecot de Sponde to the whip, perpetual exile, and a fine of 500 livres (Ritter, Loc. cit.). The onslaught was, however, anticipated, as none of the condemned appeared, having fled.
Appeal to the King
The zeal displayed by the Mauléon captain-castellan in persecuting heretics was doubtless not solely motivated by religious orthodoxy; denunciation had become profitable. Upon his death in 1550, his widow, Jeanne de Espès, continued her husband’s work and, driven by the same zeal, petitioned the Parliament of Bordeaux. She stated that her husband and she had actively pursued Protestants, who had been condemned not only to corporal punishment but also to various fines for the king. She ed her due share, namely a quarter of the fines collected, a reward offered to “informers and persecutors” (Etcheverry, 1931). Yet all these convictions had been in absentia. It seems likely that the justice of Mauléon was more favorable to them than that of Bordeaux, as all had managed to escape capture. They appealed to the king against the Parliament’s verdict, adding eight more accused to the thirteen previously mentioned: Jehan de Lavedan, Jehan de Johanne, Fortaner Diorsabel, priest, Arnaud de Jaureguiberry, Pierre de Majoraly, Guicharnaud d’Ohix, Jean de Muret, and Guichamaud de Casa Mayor. Like the first, they all belonged to the nobility, clergy, or Mauléon bourgeoisie. It is probable that, outside urban centers in Zuberoa, peasants who spoke only Basque remained uninfluenced by the new doctrines preached in Gascon or French.
Arbitration by Bishop Roussel
Ultimately, on December 12, 1550, Henry II sent the petitioners before the Bishop of Oloron to reconcile with the Church. Gérard Roussel appointed two Sulet priests, Jehan de Etchebarne and Guicharnaud de Harrielguy, who received the retractations of the accused during a ceremony. The bishop’s delegates sent the certificate of abjuration to the Parliament of Bordeaux on December 4, 1551. The general prosecutor, however, questioned the Church’s leniency and demanded the files of the three accused: Arnaud de Belsunce, Gratian de Carriconde, and Olivier Oliverry. The outcome is unknown (Etcheverry, 1931).
Accession of Jeanne d’Albret
G. Roussel died in 1555 and was succeeded as Bishop of Oloron by Claude Régin, counselor to Henry of Albret. The latter died the same year, and Jeanne d’Albret took the oath before the Estates of Béarn, along with her husband, Antoine of Bourbon. The new sovereigns would soon shift from a welcoming sympathy toward the Reformation to full adherence to Protestantism, which for Jeanne would last her entire life. This had significant consequences for Zuberoa, situated the lands of the Huguenot queen, with Béarn to the east and Lower Navarre to the west. Moreover, while Zuberoa depended temporally on the King of France, spiritually it depended on the Diocese of Oloron in Béarn.
Jean de Belsunce, Governor
In 1560, Bertrand de Haramburu, captain-castellan of Mauléon, fell under suspicion of heresy, against which he strongly protested (Ritter, 1951). He died that same year and was succeeded as captain of Mauléon and governor of Zuberoa by his brother-in-law, Jean IV de Belsunce, Viscount of Macaye. Belonging to one of the most illustrious families of Lower Navarre, he adopted the Reformed religion and became Zuberoa’s staunchest supporter of Jeanne d’Albret and the future Henry IV. That same year, the Queen of Navarre publicly professed the Calvinist faith at Christmas, and after Antoine of Bourbon died at the Siege of Rouen in 1562, Protestantism became the state religion in Béarn and Navarre.
Enecot de Sponde
When Jeanne d’Albret ed Calvin in 1563 to send Protestant ministers to teach the Reformation to her subjects, she entrusted this mission in Geneva to a Mauléon native, Enecot de Sponde. Enecot had been exiled by the Parliament of Guyenne in 1550, entered the service of the Navarre sovereigns, and became a state counselor and secretary to Jeanne d’Albret. He was murdered in 1594 in Saint-Palais by the ligueurs (Etcheverry, 1938). Among the new pastors, Calvin sent several Souletins who had studied theology in Switzerland: Jean de Etchart, Senz de Tartas, Fierre de Landetcheverry, and Jacques de Bustanoby.
Riots in Oloron
In December 1563, Jeanne d’Albret attempted to impose a Protestant minister in the Oloron cathedral and to force the chapter to withdraw. A revolt led by a canon, Guilhem d’Abbadie, ensued. He was a Sulet, priest of Barcus, and allied through his brother to Arnaud de Belsunce, lord of the Abbey of Barcus, who had been condemned for heresy (Jaurgain, 1884–5). When the rebels received no support, they submitted, and their leaders were taken prisoner to Pau but were soon released (Menjoulet, Loc. cit.). In 1566, the Queen of Navarre sent ordinances from Paris, where she was then residing at Catherine de Médicis’s court, limiting the rights of the Catholic Church and favoring Protestants. A major agitation occurred in Béarn, and new incidents broke out in Oloron.
League in Lower Navarre
In France, the hatred Catholics and Protestants deepened, and massacres committed in the name of religion were numerous on both sides. In February 1567, the Queen of Navarre obtained authorization to return to her states after three years of absence. In Lower Navarre, a Catholic league had been formed, whose d aim was to expel the Reformed religion (Menjoulet, Loc. cit.). At its head was Charles, Baron of Luxe and Lord of Tardets, brother-in-law of Belsunce. As Antoine de Gramont led the Protestant party, the old rivalry the houses of Luxe and Gramont resurfaced under the guise of religion. Zuberoa could not remain untouched by the uprisings agitating its neighbors. In Mauléon, numerous notables had embraced the new religion, and as we have seen, the governor himself, Jean de Belsunce, was a Huguenot. In the villages, by contrast, peasants remained faithful to the Catholic religion, which they were ready to defend.
Riots in Saint-Palais and Mauléon
In the same year, 1567, on the eve of Pentecost, Guillaume d’Abbadie, the priest of Barcus previously mentioned, gathered a group of armed men in Zuberoa and marched to Béarn to join the subjects of the Queen of Navarre who had risen in revolt (Jaurgain, 1884-5). Meanwhile, the Navarrese League supporters gathered at the end of the year in Saint-Palais and arrested the Protestant ministers (Menjoulet, Loc. cit.). Jeanne d’Albret sent the Attorney General Jean de Etchart to try to calm tensions and entrusted the custody of Garris, which at that time was the seat of sovereign justice, to Captain La Lanne, another brother-in-law of Belsunce.
On January 18, 1568, the Souletins rose to the alarm bell and marched armed to Lower Navarre, despite the prohibition of the viscount’s governor, to join the Catholic League supporters who had risen against their queen. In Garris, La Lanne surrendered after two days of siege and was taken prisoner to Tardets (Jaurgain, 1884-5). Jeanne d’Albret immediately reacted by sending a troop detachment, with Prince Henry, aged 14, and Antoine de Gramont at the head. The Navarrese rebels fled and took refuge in the mountains of Valcarlos (Menjoulet, Loc. cit.). The Souletins were expelled from Lower Navarre on January 26 and, in revenge for their failure, marched to Montory, which belonged to the Gramonts, looted and plundered the village, taking the flocks with them.
Anarchy persisted for a month in Zuberoa, where the queen could not intervene without risking the displeasure of the King of France. The inhabitants of Montory having taken refuge in Béarn, the raiders took the opportunity to steal livestock there, which they brought to Tardets and divided among themselves. On the way, they killed a “jurat” of Montory who refused to change his religion (Jaurgain, 1884-5). Catherine de Médicis then sent an emissary, M. de la Mothe, to Zuberoa to put an end to the unrest. Upon arriving in Mauléon, the envoy of the Queen Mother summoned the local gentlemen and the queen’s officials, and on March 7, 500 and 600 armed men gathered in Mauléon and demanded that the governor join them. When he refused, several arquebus shots were fired at the castle, and death threats were made against the governor and the lieutenants in short and long robes. The crowd moved into the town, looting several houses, including that of Johanne. La Mothe demanded that the insurgents cease their violence, to which the gentlemen complied (Jaurgain, Loc. cit.).
Arbitration of La Ferrière
In France, a treaty ended the civil war, and on March 23, peace Catholics and Protestants was signed at Longjumeau. On April 23, Jean de Belsunce published the edict of pacification in Mauléon, but the royal sergeant in charge of the publication received threats: he was told that well-armed Catholics had come to the market determined to kill anyone who dared to publish it (Jaurgain, Loc. cit.).
In May, Louis de La Ferrière arrived in Mauléon, sent by M. de La Mothe to enforce the edict, and on June 2, during the States of Zuberoa, he heard the grievances of both sides. The Protestants recounted the previously described events, and the Catholics complained about the judicial officers belonging to the Reformed religion: Belsunce, governor of the territory; Louis de Tardets, lieutenant in short robes; Jean de Johanne, lieutenant in long robes (who presided over the Court of Licharre in the governor’s absence); Enecot de Sponde, Attorney General of the king; and Pierre de Majoraly, his deputy.
To calm tensions, Louis de La Ferrière replaced Johanne with Sanz d’Arraing, bailiff of Mauléon, and Majoraly with Me Jean du Domec, which satisfied the Catholics, without the Huguenots receiving reparations for the damage they suffered or the instigators of the revolt being punished (Jaurgain, 1884-5). Unfortunately, the peace was not to last long, and Zuberoa would again suffer severely from the mad religious war that was soon to reignite.
See Protestantism.
Prelude to War
Although the Peace of Longjumeau had been signed Catholics and Protestants, unrest was continuously growing in both regions. Fearing arrest, Condé and Coligny were imprisoned on August 23, 1568, in the Protestant fortress of Arros. Jeanne d’Albret, not feeling safe in Béarn, joined her children in September and left the barony of Arros to the general representative. On October 18, Charles IX, using as a pretext that his cousin Jeanne d’Albret was in the hands of the Huguenots, ordered the confiscation of her properties in France and instructed Charles de Luxe, in his name, to take possession of Lower Béarn and Soule and to prepare the invasion of Béarn. Meanwhile, d’Arros was expecting a major attack (Laborde, 1941; Menjoulet, loc. cit.).
Luxe Takes Maule
In October 1568, after taking possession of Lower Béarn, Charles de Luxe seized the castle of Maule, “without taking into account his brother-in-law Belsunce who was governor” (Bordenave, 1873), who was then in La Rochelle in the entourage of Prince Henri. The lord of Soule established an advanced post at Ossera, on the border of Lower Béarn and Béarn, and Gramont, Arros’s right-hand man, went to this post in January 1569. That year, 1569, was disastrous for Soule. On March 4, Henri III, Duke of Anjou, ordered the Viscount of Terride to conquer Béarn. Meanwhile, Luxe and his Catholic Navarrese and Souletin troops invaded the region, committing all kinds of violence and looting. The Catholic Béarnais seized Oloron, Luxe de Nay, while Domezaïn took Sauveterre. Facing the invasion of his land, d’Arros had to fortify himself at Navarrenx. Terride quickly occupied all of Béarn, reinstated the Catholic faith, banned the Reformation, and, with the support of Luxe’s troops, began the siege of Navarrenx on May 24 (Laborde, op. cit.).
Montgomméry’s Campaign
Jeanne d’Albret then reacted and entrusted the Count of Montgomméry, on July 10, 1569, with the mission of repelling the invaders and assisting d’Arros. Leading an army, Montgomméry left Castres on July 27, entered the county of Foix, provided soldiers loyal to the queen in the county, and, advancing step by step, entered Béarn on August 6. On the 8th, he marched toward Navarrenx, which Terride abandoned after a three-month siege (Laborde, op. cit.). Terride ordered his artillery to be transported to Orthez, Oloron, and Maule (Bordenave, op. cit.), but Montgomméry gave him no respite and, on August 15, forced the Château Moncade of Orthez to surrender. Finally, on August 23, Montgomméry entered Pau, the capital of Béarn (Menjoulet, loc. cit.). Luxe and Domezain took refuge in Soule, where Montgomméry’s soldiers pursued them, destroyed the region, and burned many churches. Charles de Luxe was driven out of Maule, plundered, and set on fire. The castle’s guard was entrusted to the Huguenot captain Pierre d’Aramits.
Luxe’s New Campaigns
Retreating to the castle of Tardets, Luxe did not give up the fight and prepared a counterattack. He first launched an attack against Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, loyal to the Queen of Navarre, but had to retreat to Soule. He then gathered his troops at Barcus to attack Béarn and captured Sainte-Marie, from where d’Arros was expelled. Once again, Luxe retreated to Lower Béarn, attempting along the way to seize Mauléon, bravely defended by Captain d’Aramits. In these battles, the Béarnais once again set fire to the town. In a letter sent to the Queen of Navarre, Enecot de Sponde wrote:
“Why did they burn the castle and town of Maule, instead of placing a garrison as agreed in council…” (Communay, 1885).
The Cathedral of Maule
In 1570, the Souletins still expected new misfortunes. On January 6, Charles IX appointed Luxe as the king’s chief representative in Soule, and the fighting resumed. The new governor seized the castle of Maule and expelled d’Aramits and his soldiers (Jaurgain, 1884-5). On January 28, Bernard d’Arros issued an ordinance forbidding the practice of the Catholic religion in Béarn. Claude Regin, Bishop of Oloron, and the canons of his chapter sought refuge in the diocese, in Soule. Thus, for about thirty years, the chapter celebrated its offices in the Chapel of Our Lady of the Upper Town, elevated to cathedral status for the occasion (Laborde, loc. cit.). In July, the Béarnais raided Soule. Seeking to seize Uztak, they advanced to Domezain, but armed peasants killed a number of them and forced them to retreat (Menjoulet, op. cit.). Finally, on August 8, 1570, the Peace of Saint-Germain ended the third civil war. Jeanne d’Albret returned to Béarn in the autumn of 1571 and granted amnesty to the Catholic leaders, except Charles de Luxe. In November, she left her kingdom for Paris to formalize the marriage her son Henri and Marguerite de Valois, sister of Charles IX, where she died on June 9, 1572.
After the Death of Jeanne d’Albret
Soule finally experienced a few years of calm, which cannot be said for all of France. On August 24, 1572, the horrific St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre took place in Paris. Henri of Navarre, the king’s cousin, owed his escape only to the protective regard for his French blood and youth and pledged to convert to Catholicism, but many Béarnais nobles accompanying him were killed. It is certain that the province was not spared, but the Protestants in Soule were not disturbed. Charles IX died on May 31, 1574, and his brother, Duke of Anjou, succeeded him as Henri III. These years of peace were nevertheless disturbed in 1583 by a raid on Maule in Béarn. Troops invaded the town at night, entered Bishop Claude Regin’s house, seized his money, plundered his rooms, and returned to Béarn. Claude Regin, having escaped, did not feel safe in Maule and retired to Vendôme, which belonged to the King of Navarre. There he ed, without humor, to be called not “Bishop of Oloron” but “episcopus dolorum” (Bishop of Sorrows). Later, he returned to Maule (Menjoulet, op. cit.), and in 1590 Arnaud de Maytieri was made prior of Ordiarp. He died in 1592 and left his heart in the chapel of Our Lady of Maule, which had been a cathedral for thirty years.
The Huguenots Expelled from the Country
Under pressure from the League and the Guises, Henry III in 1585 revoked all previous edicts of pacification and decreed the annihilation of the Reformed religion. Protestants were ordered to convert or leave the kingdom within six months. Gérard de Béla, who had been granted the office of royal bailiff of Soule by Henry III in 1577, refused to abjure, was forced to leave his post, and, like the other Protestants of Soule, to exile himself in Béarn (Clément-Simon, 1894-5). But the King of Navarre, as lieutenant general of Guyenne, ordered Jean de Belsunce and Gérard de Béla, both dispossessed, one as governor and the other as bailiff, to resume their offices, even by force. Thus, they raised troops and, on February 2, 1587, attacked the town of Mauléon with the help of Jean de La Lanne, expelling Charles de Luxe, who retreated to Ochagabia (Upper Navarre). Menaud d'Arraing, then lieutenant of long robe at the Court of Licharre and a friend of Luxe, shared in his exile and misfortune.
The Government of Jean de Belsunce
Jean IV de Belsunce thus regained his government and appointed Gérard de Béla, then bailiff of Mauléon, as his lieutenant general of long robe in Soule. He had to decree taxes to repair the castle and fortifications of Mauléon, which had been destroyed during the previous wars, and to maintain a strong garrison. This did not win him the friendship of the Souletins, and some accused him of acting as in a conquered country, especially as a Protestant in a predominantly Catholic territory. He was, however, only following the orders of Henry of Navarre, governor of Guyenne and soon King of France. Indeed, after Henry III was assassinated in 1589 by a monk armed by the League, Henry of Navarre succeeded him as Henry IV. Spain under Philip II posed a danger to France, and the borders had to be watched. But the maintenance of the garrisons was charged to the country, which violated the Fueros of Soule, "a country always exempt from any imposition." Unfortunately, Henry IV’s finances did not allow him to respect these rights, which did not prevent him from confirming them by letters patent on December 22, 1593. Hence the difficulties of the governor’s office and the conflicts Belsunce and the Souletins until his death in 1594 (Etcheverry, 1941).
The Last Upheavals
In 1593, Henry IV abjured the Reformed religion and converted to Catholicism, which did not cool religious passions. In Mauléon, Belsunce and his lieutenant Béla expelled the canons from the small cathedral of Our Lady, installing Protestant ministers in their place. Arnaud de Maytie, who had been appointed canon the previous year, brought the governor to court. Condemned by the Court of Licharre, he appealed to the Parliament of Bordeaux, which returned the church of the Upper Town to the chapter (Menjoulet, op. cit.). Meanwhile, the League members did not relent. In 1594, Captain Du Lau attacked Lower Navarre with 500 to 600 cavalrymen. Saint-Palais, the seat of the Chancellery, was sacked, and Enecot de Sponde, former counselor of Jeanne d’Albret, was killed.
The Sponde Family
Two other Mauléon natives of the Sponde family, sons of Enecot, distinguished themselves at that time. Jean de Sponde, born in Mauléon in 1557 (Etcheverry, 1938), studied at the University of Orthez and then in Basel (Switzerland). He was appointed lieutenant general of the seneschalty of La Rochelle by Henry IV and later rapporteur of the King of Navarre. After his conversion in 1593, he wrote numerous works defending the Catholic Church. He died in Bordeaux on March 18, 1595, at the age of 38 (Boase, 1977). His brother, Henry de Sponde, born in Mauléon on January 6, 1568, was baptized in Saint-Palais with Henry of Navarre as his godfather. Like his brother, he studied in Orthez and later in Geneva (Switzerland). Rapporteur of the King of Navarre after his father’s death, he abjured Protestantism, was ordained priest, and in 1626 became bishop of Pamiers. He resigned in 1639 in favor of his nephew Jean de Sponde and died on June 18, 1643. The house where the two famous brothers were born had been built in Licharre in the 15th century by Guicharnaud de Sponde (Lamant and Régnier, 1984), “neighbor of the head of the bridge of Mauléon.” According to the 1516 Censier, it bordered the street and the road to Viodos and, on the façade, the street leading to Saint-Jean de Licharre (Jaurgain, 1910).
The Edict of Nantes and the Death of Henry IV
By letters patent of June 5, 1595, Henry IV had appointed Jean de Belsunce, 5th of his name, successor to his father as governor of Soule and captain-castellan of Mauléon. More diplomatic than his father, the new governor had the fueros of Soule recognized, which henceforth was exempt from all taxation. Jean V de Belsunce retained his office until November 13, 1610, when he resigned in favor of his son, Armand de Belsunce, Viscount of Méharin and Macaye. The task of religious pacification undertaken by Henry IV began to bear fruit, and civil peace was finally imposed in the kingdom of France. The Edict of Nantes, guaranteeing freedom of conscience for all and everywhere, had been promulgated by the king on April 13, 1598. After recognizing the rights of Protestants in France, Henry IV signed, a year later on April 15, 1599, the Edict of Fontainebleau, restoring the freedom of the Catholic cult in Béarn. The new bishop of Oloron, appointed in 1599, was a native of Mauléon, Arnaud de Maytie. The chapter then abandoned Sainte-Marie, and the small cathedral returned to being the modest chapel of the Upper Town. A few years later, on May 14, 1610, a fanatical zealot, Ravaillac, assassinated the king, who after so many fratricidal struggles had finally managed to reconcile the French. Arnaud de Maytie, the principal architect of the Counter-Reformation in the diocese of Oloron, was born in Mauléon in 1550, ordained a priest in 1585, and obtained the priory of Ordiarp five years later. This nomination led to numerous lawsuits with the monastery of Roncesvalles, to which the priory belonged, while the benefice had been granted by the bishop of Oloron (Dubarat, 1887). As canon and later vicar capitular, he succeeded Claude Régin in 1590 in the episcopal see of Oloron, by presentation of Charles de Luxe, governor of Soule at the time. He reclaimed the Cathedral of Saint Mary from the Reformed, returned the chapter to Oloron, and waged relentless war against the Protestants. It is even recorded that they tried to assassinate him, fortunately without success, as he died of natural causes in 1622, at the age of 72.
The Counter-Reformation
Together with the Bishop of Lescar, Maytie obtained from Louis XIII the edict of June 25, 1617, which fully restored Catholic worship in Béarn and lifted all previous ecclesiastical property embargoes. The Sovereign Council of Béarn initially refused to register the edict. Louis XIII then organized a military expedition and entered Pau on October 15, 1620. The next day, the edict lifting the embargo was registered, and on the 20th, a royal edict united Lower Navarre and Béarn with France. According to Jaurgain (1908), it was Arnaud de Maytie who ordered the construction in Licharre of the magnificent Renaissance monument, the Maytie Palace, ennobled in 1778. According to M. Arnaud d’Andurain de Maytie, the small palace was built by Pierre de Maytie, the bishop’s father (D’Andurain de Maytie, 1973). Later, this splendid residence passed by inheritance to the Brosser, Hégoburu, Méharon, and Andurain families. The Bishop of Oloron had his nephew, Arnaud II de Maytie, as coadjutor, who succeeded him in 1623 in the episcopal see.
the Parliaments of Bordeaux and Navarre
In 1620, Louis XIII united Béarn and Lower Navarre to the Crown of France. The Union Edict transformed the Sovereign Council of Béarn into a Parliament, to which the justice of Mauléon was attached. From that moment, the Parliaments of Pau and Bordeaux contested Soule, which, from a judicial point of view, depended on both. Jacques de Béla, bailiff of Mauléon, drafted a memorandum in favor of the previous state of affairs and obtained, on June 30, 1622, a ruling making Soule, as before, dependent on the Parliament of Bordeaux. However, the Parliament of Pau did not give up, and the Souletins suffered severe vexations from the Béarnais. In 1626, the Parliament of Navarre (Pau) even issued various arrest orders against several Souletins, including Arnaud d’Oihenart, general syndic of Soule, and Gabriel d’Etchart, royal prosecutor (Etcheverry, 1934). Finally, in 1628, the Parliament of Pau accepted the separation and ended the abusive procedures.
Jacques de Béla
This minor war Parliaments allows us to recall the names of two Souletins who distinguished themselves in the 17th century in defense of their homeland: Jacques de Béla and Arnaud d’Oihenart. Jacques de Béla, lord of the noble house of Othegain of Moncayolle, jurisdiction of Soule, was born in Mauléon on February 15, 1586. Son of Gérard de Béla, royal bailiff of Mauléon and long-robe lieutenant, a fervent Huguenot and loyal supporter of Henry IV, he was on his mother’s side the grandson of Jean de Johanne, also long-robe lieutenant of Soule and Secretary of State to Jeanne d’Albret (Régnier, 1985). He studied law and earned his doctorate at the University of Toulouse at the age of 20. He joined the Court of Licharre as a lawyer (1614), devoted his life to public affairs and scholarship, and was appointed royal bailiff of Mauléon upon his father’s death in 1633. Passionate about writing, he composed a Basque Dictionary and Grammar, now lost. He is also the author of the Tablettes, an alphabetical encyclopedia of the knowledge of his time—covering theological, moral, medical, and scientific questions—and the Commentaire de la Coutume de Soule. Faithful, like his father, to the Reformed religion, he established the Mauléon temple in the Motines house he had inherited and supported the pastor throughout his life. He died in Mauléon on May 18, 1667.
Arnaud d’Oihénart
Like his contemporary Gérard de Béla, Oihenart, born in Mauléon, studied law, became a lawyer, and devoted himself to scholarship and public affairs. Born on August 7, 1592, in the Pay-Adam house, he was the second son of Arnaud d’Oihenart, royal prosecutor in Soule, and Jeanne d’Etchart (Jaurgain, 1885). He studied law in Bordeaux and obtained his degree in 1612. In April 1623, he was elected syndic of the Third Estate of Soule at the Sylviet assembly.
"Mandated by the Estates, the syndic of Soule was responsible for ensuring the maintenance and observance of the country’s Laws, proper management of public finances, and direction of all matters of general interest. He had to submit the petitions and complaints of the Souletins to the Council of State"
(Jaurgain, Op. cit.)
Arnaud d’Oihenart carried out his duties with great meticulousness and energy. He defended the Souletins against the Parliament of Navarre and its vexations, which earned him arrest in Saint-Palais in 1627, though he was soon released. Oihenart married Jeanne d’Erdoy, daughter of the noble Arnaud, lord of the Salle d’Erdoy of Saint-Palais, widow of Me Jean de Lostal Maucor. This marriage gave him the right to be considered noble, lord of the halls of Erdoy, Gainçury, and Cibits, and the privilege to sit in the Estates of Navarre. He settled in Saint-Palais and became intendant of the Count of Gramont, sovereign of Bidache. Oihenart was thus able to use the Bidache cartulary to pursue his historical research. He corresponded with all the historians of Vasconia of his time, writing in Latin, French, Basque, and Spanish. In 1637, he published the work that made him famous, titled Notitia utriusque Vasconiae, a history of the Basque Country, particularly Navarre. At the same time, he was also the author of Basque poems and proverbs. On October 13, 1641, the Estates of Soule sent him to Paris to obtain from the King’s Council the revocation of the sale of the royal domain made to the Lord of Troisvilles. His mission lasted three years and ended in failure, which must have been a terrible humiliation for him. He made his will on April 8, 1667, and died the same year.
M. de Troisvilles
Another figure who left a strong mark on Soule during the reign of Louis XIII was Arnaud, Count of Troisvilles. Immortalized by A. Dumas in The Three Musketeers, the first Count of Troisvilles (pronounced Tréville in Paris) was born in 1598 as Arnaud de Peyrer, son of a merchant from Oloron. His father, Jean de Peyrer, enriched through the collection of tithes for the Chapter of Oloron in Soule, acquired on September 18, 1607, for 15,000 livres, the domain of Troisvilles, which included the noble houses of Elissabé and Casamayor and their dependencies. According to Souletin customs, the new owner could enjoy the privileges of nobility, including administering justice at the Court of Licharre and attending, alongside other gentlemen, the Estates of Soule (Jaurgain, 1910). Arnaud de Troisvilles joined the Guards Regiment at 17, distinguished himself in many battles, and in 1629 obtained the position of lieutenant of the musketeers’ company created in 1622. In March 1633, Louis XIII granted him high and low justice over the parish of Troisvilles and, the following year, appointed him captain-lieutenant of the musketeers of his guard. Becoming a prominent court figure, he also sought prominence in his homeland. On November 30, 1638, he acquired from Antoine de Gramont, sovereign of Bidache, the baronies of Montory, Haux, Laguinge, Restoue, and Athérey in Soule.
Early Revolts
Under Louis XIII, the tax pressure on the population became intolerable, and popular uprisings were frequent in France. Soule was no exception, and priests were often at the head of these revolts. Without mentioning the priest of Moncayolle who in 1661 would mobilize thousands, thirty years earlier, the priest of Gotein, Arnaud d’Arbide, vicar general of Oloron for Soule, addressed revolutionary words to his brother, priest of Chéraute:
"Here, my brother, take up arms and gather the parishioners of my village. Commissioners will come to decimate them. We must defend ourselves."
"At the entrance of the village of Gotein, many men came out of a house on the right, entering the village, armed with arquebuses... double-handled staffs, iron forks... led and commanded by the rector of said Chéraute"
(Dîmes..., 1902)
These words came from the tax collector Passart, who attempted to collect the tithe but failed. These tithes were imposed on the clergy, disguised under the name of a “free gift.” The Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem, also called Rhodians, who were responsible for Saint-Jean de Berraute, the parish church of Mauléon, and its annex Notre-Dame in the Upper Town, contributed separately and paid a lump-sum contribution on all their properties. Until the annexation of Béarn in 1620, the bishops of Lescar and Oloron paid nothing to the King of France, and the Souletin clergy ignored all s until 1631. That year, the collector in charge faced the resistance of the Souletin priests (Batcave, 1903). In 1646, the clergy of Soule had paid nothing, and in 1670, at the Paris clergy assembly, the rapporteurs emphasized that Soule, like Lower Navarre, had never paid and refused entirely to participate in the levy. Soule remained in the 17th century decisively independent of interference from Paris or Versailles.
Sale of the Souletin Royal Domain
Due to treasury needs, offices and positions began to be sold, with holders chosen not for competence but for financial means. Finally, by an edict in March 1639, the king auctioned off the domains under the jurisdiction of the Parliaments of Bordeaux and Toulouse, a kind of “privatization” of public property. This edict would bring great misfortunes for Soule. To safeguard their freedoms, the Souletins presented themselves as buyers of their viscounty. A ruling on March 8, 1640, by the presidial court of Dax set the sum due by the nobility as a contribution to the deputation expenses related to the purchase of the Soule domain (Etcheverry, 1939). The Souletin nobility, not wealthy, had to borrow the amount of their share from the Viscount of Macaye, Jacques de Castenoles, son-in-law of Armand de Belsunce, the governor.
Purchase of the Viscounty by M. de Troisvilles
Meanwhile, the captain of the musketeers, wishing to be first among all in the country that had granted him nobility, also ed the adjudication of the viscounty of Soule on May 30, 1641, including high and low justice, his castle, mills, fiefs, appointment rights to offices and benefices, remaining rights and dependencies, in exchange for 70,000 livres. There is no doubt that the sum offered by the Souletins was lower than that proposed by Troisvilles, who obtained the adjudication. This alienation of public property sparked strong protests by the Souletins, marking the beginning of a fierce struggle by the Estates against the Lord of Troisvilles that would last until 1669. Thus, the Estates of Soule, meeting on July 3, 1641, resolved to send deputies to Paris to revoke the sale of the viscounty. Among them was, as we have seen, Arnaud d’Oihenart. But on October 31 of the same year, Troisvilles took possession of the viscounty. To display his power, he attached to the bailiwick of Mauléon, seated at the Mounès house, the other courts and parishes of Soule, except Licharre and those under Troisvilles’ justice, his “reserved domain.” Finally, he appointed Me Pierre d’Irigaray as bailiff of Mauléon.
Demolition of the Mauléon Castle
But the Estates of Soule were not the only ones to oppose the Captain of Troisvilles and the sale of the royal domain. The governor, captain-castellan of Mauléon, Armand de Belsunce, Viscount of Méharin, categorically refused to hand over the castle. Louis XIII, by letter of September 27, 1642, ordered Belsunce to comply, but he did not. Then, the Baron of Poyanne, lieutenant general of the king in Navarre and Béarn, went to Mauléon on October 9 and occupied the castle. That same month, the king ordered its demolition. Work began on November 27 and was carried out through “peasant corvées,” employing 350 to 400 men daily. The demolition lasted six months and cost 4,274 livres (Démolition..., 1825).
The New Count of Troisvilles
At the death of Louis XIII in May 1643, Troisvilles lost his protector but not his influence at court, as he obtained from the regent, in October of the same year, the elevation of his land of Troisvilles to a county. The new count became the most important and most hated figure in the region. Finally, in 1660, he built, following Mansart’s plans and on the site of the noble house of Elissabé, the palace we know today. But before that, Soule would endure another twenty years of unrest caused by the royal decree of 1639, a sad legacy of Louis XIII’s reign, twenty years of legal disputes, culminating in the bloody uprising of Matalas in 1661.
The Estates of Soule and Troisvilles before the Council of State
The Estates of Soule had ed a loan of 60,000 livres and sent Arnaud d’Oihenart, lawyer at the Bordeaux Parliament, and Pierre de Bonnecaze, syndic of the Third Estate, to Paris to protest against the alienation of the royal domain and obtain its redemption (Jaurgain, 1910). Their efforts led to a first success: the Council of State ordered the annulment of the sale and the reimbursement to the Lord of Troisvilles of 73,000 livres. It was then, out of spite, that Troisvilles’ supporters caused disturbances and attacked the royal officials, especially the King’s prosecutor.
However, the success of the Souletins was short-lived, as the deputies did not raise the required sum in time, and Troisvilles obtained, on April 13, 1644, the annulment of the previous decree. The battle thus continued the Estates of Soule and Troisvilles—the former striving to maintain their independence, the latter pursuing his ambition to become Viscount of Soule. Initially, a decree kept the royal officials in office, allowing Troisvilles to appoint his own justice officers. Armand de Belsunce, governor of Soule, then ordered the arrest of the judge appointed by the count. Finally, in 1646, Troisvilles obtained the right to administer justice through his own judges, although appeals could be made to the Court of Licharre. Each year, a new decree annulled the previous one, and discontent in Soule grew.
The Count of Toulongeon, New Governor
The Estates of Soule needed a protector whose influence could counterbalance that of Troisvilles. They believed they found one in the person of the Count of Toulongeon, brother of the Duke of Gramont and member of the King’s Privy Council. In April 1646, Armand de Belsunce ceded to him his positions as captain-castellan of Mauléon and governor of Soule. The small “justice war” resumed, this time Troisvilles and Toulongeon, each appointing his own justice officers and arresting the others’, leaving the Council of State free to support one or the other. In 1657, a new decree sided with Troisvilles, adding that the inhabitants of Soule could redeem the royal domain if they wished.
The Souletins Bankrupted by the Legal Process
These procedural disputes, the considerable expenses caused by the legal process, and the sale of the royal domain had ruined the Souletins. They had to repay loans and pay for the redemption of the viscounty. Additionally, they soon realized that their new governor was costly. In 1648, he decided that the castle, demolished by Louis XIII, had to be rebuilt at the country’s expense. Thus, having already paid 4,000 livres for the demolition of their castle, the Souletins had to finance its reconstruction—a heavy burden.
But that was not all: Toulongeon, who had bought his governor’s office for 3,120 livres, demanded an annual payment of 320 livres from the Third Estate. Until then, Armand de Belsunce had been content with the revenues from the royal domain as emoluments, but with its alienation, there were no revenues. Soule thus found itself heavily in debt. According to Béla (Clément-Simon, 1894), the nobility had paid 84,000 livres, and the Third Estate had to pay 92,500. Louis de Froidour (ed. 1928) notes:
"The Lord Count of Toulongeon not only had the castle restored but also had a house built in Licharre in which a beautiful residence was established."
This refers to the Guicharnaud de Sponde house, which the governor rebuilt in the Mansart style and sold on February 2, 1676, to Armand-Jean II de Troisvilles, along with the governorship of the viscounty of Soule (Jaurgain, 1910). This house later became the Troisvilles mansion, then Montréal, before becoming the subprefecture and, finally, the town hall of Mauléon.
Opinion of Louis de Froidour
As an impartial witness of the period, Louis de Froidour visited Soule in 1671, appointed by Colbert as intendant in charge of inspecting forests. Observant and highly curious, he wrote a memorandum describing the region (1928). Regarding these events, he wrote:
"Two things ruined the Souletins: first, a loan they took for a considerable sum to reimburse the Count of Troisvilles for the amount he had paid to seize control of the domain. The country litigated for a long time before the Council to recover it, to no avail, as many communities in these provinces did, to avoid falling under the control of a private lord and to have no master but the King. But although there was justice in their claim, it was rejected; the funds were misused and entirely consumed by the deputies who went to Paris. The second cause is that those who had acted as guarantors for the country when the loan was made were obliged to pay, and they had to seek recourse against the country itself."
Driven to this extreme, the people revolted under the leadership of the priest of Moncayolle.
The Beginnings of Matalas
According to the report of July 9, 1661, by Jacques de Brosser, long-robe lieutenant of Soule, and Arnaud de Abbadie Costère, royal prosecutor (Verbal del..., A.D.P.A. 3J 82), the inhabitants of the Third Estate—4,000 to 5,000 armed men—went from parish to parish, beating drums, taking prisoners, and plundering houses. The two royal officers note that on July 3, 1641, the three estates had decided to send 7 or 8 deputies to obtain the necessary funds for the redemption of the viscounty—80,000 livres to be paid: one quarter by the clergy and nobility, three quarters by the Third Estate. The process lasted several years, as the Souletins had appealed to the Parliament of Bordeaux, but on April 8, 1659, the Third Estate was condemned to pay the amounts owed. Failing to act promptly and ing clear rebellious intent, the Count of Toulongeon was tasked with enforcing payment.
It was then that Bernard de Goyheneche, priest of Moncayolle, nicknamed Matalas, spread the rumor that the payment need not be made, claiming that even a ruling of the Cour des Aides forbade it. During an assembly on May 1, 1661, in Silviet, Goyheneche persuaded the degans and nearly the entire populace not to pay the debts and to dismiss the syndic.
Matalas the Enforcer
On June 13, feigning knowledge that authorities wanted to arrest him, Matalas sounded the alarm in Moncayolle and neighboring parishes. He convened another assembly, promising the people royal patents exempting them from debt. That month, Goyheneche demanded the originals of reports filed against him, threatening to burn several houses in Mauléon if denied. The Bishop of Oloron, who had come to Soule to calm tensions, ensured the documents were delivered, which Matalas promptly burned.
The new bishop of Mauléon, Arnaud François de Maytie, nephew of Arnaud II, consecrated on April 27, 1661, tried to restore peace. In Chéraute, Goyheneche and his men demolished the house of Me Pierre d’Arthez, a Parliament lawyer, and on June 29 threatened the Saint-Palais prison, where several Souletins were held for debt. Maytie intervened and secured the prisoners’ release.
Initially seen as a defender of oppressed peasants, a sort of Robin Hood, Matalas, intoxicated by success, imposed a dictatorship over the minds of the people. He demolished a new house in Chéraute where reformists met to worship. Leading some 3,000 men to Montory, he terrorized 15–16 heads of families, forcing them to swear in church to live as Catholics under threat of having their houses burned.
The Dictatorship of Matalas
Jaurgain (1910 and 1884) and Menjoulet (op. cit.) consulted Jacques de Béla’s Journal de l’insurrection des Basques sous la conduite de Matalas, which details the continuation. Matalas seized Jacques de Bustanoby, a reformist pastor of Mauléon, and attempted to throw him off the Mauléon bridge, when the Bishop of Oloron intervened, saving him and giving him refuge. Matalas then imposed taxes—three livres per house, 100 each for Mauléon and the bishop—and established his government in Tardets, moving the local market to Viodos.
The Parliament of Bordeaux sent M. de Arche as commissioner. The bishop, the bailiff, the King’s prosecutor, and six degans begged him not to send troops. Yet in September, Goyheneche occupied the Chéraute domec, holding prisoners including Arnaud d’Elissagary, priest, and Olivier d’Etchecopar, royal notary. The king’s lieutenant general in Guyenne then sent M. Calvo with 400 cavalry to end the rebellion. Arriving on October 11, he fought an initial battle at the Undurein mill, with several peasants killed and many captured. The next day, a larger clash in Chéraute resulted in about 150 Souletin deaths at the hands of cavalry.
Froidour, a commissioner of the French state, described the intervention:
"Don Joseph Calvo resided there for a month, more to plunder and conduct business than to capture Matalas, as he could have done on the first day. Many locals joined, along with the youth and neighboring peasants who were not part of the sedition, under the command of the Viscount of Saint-Martin, a Béarnais gentleman commanding Pau Castle and lieutenant of Count Toulongeon in Soule, to attack Matalas at Gentein. They captured him and four or five others, leaving the rest to flee. He was tried with the others; he was condemned to be beheaded, a degan hanged, his nephew and another peasant sentenced to the galleys, and the war ended, with the King granting a general amnesty."
The End of Matalas
Matalas’ trial began on October 16. On November 5, the Bordeaux Parliament condemned him to be decapitated and quartered. His nephew Jean de Goyheneche, Bernard de Behety, and Jean de Cachau were sentenced to the galleys for life; Roquehort, degan of Val Senestre, was hanged; and other supporters were tortured (Jaurgain, 1884). Jean de Goyheneche was uted on November 8, 1661. The priest of Moncayolle was first degraded by the Bishop of Oloron in Mauléon’s oratory chapel and publicly recanted. He was then uted outside Licharre, with his head placed on a Mauléon gate. The people seized it on January 1, 1662. Arnaud de Maytie, having sought to calm tensions, buried Matalas’ body before the high altar of Saint-Jean de Berraute, paying posthumous homage to him as a Souletin.
Conclusion of the Dispute
The popular uprising led by Goyheneche was thus the consequence and sad conclusion of events that agitated Soule for over 20 years, caused by the disastrous 1639 edict alienating the royal domain and violating Souletin liberties. Undoubtedly, Matalas was followed by a crowd of peasants whose war cry was: Herria, Herria (The People, The People). Sadly, they were led to believe he had the king’s approval and were dragged to their doom. The rebellion, a “jacquerie,” targeted nobles, the wealthy, “those who wear hats,” and mainly reformists. Even state agents like Froidour judged the repression far harsher than the sedition.
The trials of Matalas’ companions continued after his ution. Many Souletins fled to Spain, but the Estates of Soule and the Bishop of Oloron ed pardon for the insurgents. Louis XIV granted it through letters published in Licharre on July 4, 1662, except for the memory of the two uted and the three sentenced to the galleys. This sad episode ended, but, as we were in the reign of the Sun King, it cost the Estates an additional 2,000 livres for the royal letters.
Annulment of the 1639 Decree
The tragic events that Soule had just experienced did not end the quarrel the Counts of Troisvilles and Toulongeon. On July 2, 1662, the governor of Soule obtained a ruling from the Court of Licharre ordering that justice be administered to the inhabitants according to the country’s Fueros and not by the officers of the Count of Troisvilles. The latter did not give up; he used his influence at the Court, and on November 29, 1663, a decree from the Council of State upheld his title as Count of Troisvilles and additionally linked to it the justice of the parishes of Montory, Haux, Laguinge, Restoue, and Athérey, as well as Tardets, Abense, Alos, Ossas, Sibas, Etchebar, Lichans, and Licq. The same decree prohibited the governor of Soule and his successors, as well as the judges of the Court of Licharre, from disturbing the Count of Troisvilles in the enjoyment of his revenues and administration of justice (Jaurgain, 1910).
This s how, by a simple decree issued in Paris, Louis XIV could sweep aside the Fueros of Soule, which had been respected for centuries by his predecessors, both English and French. In return, the Count of Troisvilles had to pay 6,000 livres to the Count of Toulongeon. The great lords profited from this, but not the rest of the Souletins. Finally, in 1669, Louis XIV redeemed the royal domain, thereby annulling the fatal edict of 1639. Soule had endured thirty years of legal battles, misery, disorder, and humiliation—for nothing.
Soule Seen by a 17th-Century Witness
During this time in Versailles, Colbert was deeply interested in the rise of the royal navy and wanted to find the timber in France needed to build ships. He therefore had the forests of the Pyrenees inspected for intensive exploitation. Froidour, whom we have already mentioned, Grand Master of Waters and Forests of Languedoc, visited Soule in 1671. We have already noted his opinion on the repression following the Matalas revolt. Froidour was an observer who understood the characteristics of a country, and his account of Soule (1928) is invaluable for understanding the region in the reign of Louis XIV.
He first notes that the country is densely populated and that the Souletins live in attractive stone or masonry houses, covered with tiles. The paths leading to the houses are lined with trees, adding to the beauty of the landscape. However, the soil is poor and requires much labor and manure to become fertile. The main crops are wheat and millet, grown alternately, along with some vineyards and apple trees. The most common drink is cider. Souletins are very sober and mainly live on millet, which they make into a sort of porridge with milk. Notable products include dried sheep cheeses and hams, ranked among the best in the kingdom after those of Lahontan, known as "Bayonne hams."
The only way for peasants to earn money was by selling some oxen to Spain, sheep’s wool to Oloron merchants, and pigs to Spain and Bayonne. They cultivated the flax they needed for personal use, and no peasant, however poor, lacked a dozen fine linen cloths, snow-white with green stripes. The main activity in the 17th century was livestock breeding; wealth was measured by the size of one’s herds. Froidour also elaborates extensively on pasturing.
Pasturing and Transhumance
From Saint John’s Day, the start of the summer heat, the herds were sent to the mountains, where they remained until the first snow. At intervals, there were small shelters called kaiolar, where shepherds and herds spent the night. Only some noblemen were entitled to own them, but all shepherds could use them for a small fee. The king and the ten potestats had the right to bring in foreign livestock. When snow appeared, the herds moved down to lower mountains and then to the plains. In winter, the herds were taken out of the region to Gascony and the Landes, and in spring, they returned, restarting the transhumance cycle.
Dr. Blot wrote in 1984:
"The Basque has been a farmer for a relatively short time if we consider his long pastoral tradition, going back over 5,000 years. All Basque culture is rooted in livestock breeding; it is imbued with it, and this ancestral way of life has survived, in some places, almost unchanged to this day."
Character and Work of the Souletins
Like all Basques, Souletins are wary of novelty, protective of their rights, courageous, and hardworking. This explains why there are no beggars in Soule. Many go to Spain to work the land. The same is true in Labourd, where most men, dedicated to fishing, spend the entire summer at sea.
Regarding social organization, Froidour notes that nothing had changed since the 15th century, and the structure outlined in the Fueros remained valid. Although the Fueros states that all Souletins are free, there is a distinction nobility and the Third Estate. Whereas elsewhere in France, nobility is linked to blood and person, here it is real—tied to possession of certain noble houses. The Third Estate participates directly in political life, as every inhabitant has deliberative voting rights in the Court of Order.
The Agotes (“Cagots”), Their Origin
There was one social category that can only be mentioned with sadness and shame: the cagots or agotes (Basque: agotak). At the bottom of the social , they formed, until the 18th century, a separate class, marginalized from the local population. They existed in Soule, as elsewhere in Vasconia, in Béarn, Gascony, Navarre, and Aragon. Less numerous than in Lower Navarre, they were found in Aïnharp, Chéraute, Ordiarp, L’Hôpital-Saint-Blaise, Domezain, etc. (Michel, 1947a). Their origin is uncertain. Francisque Michel and most Basque authors, such as Oihenart and Martín Vizcay, saw them as descendants of the Visigoths of Spain, rejected by Arab invaders in the 8th century, or of Frankish prisoners or wounded left behind after Duke Arimbert’s or Charlemagne’s retreat. They were generally described as tall, blond, with blue eyes. A Souletin song from the early 19th century states:
"Among all men, the cagot is said to be the most beautiful:
Blond hair, white skin, and blue eyes.
I have seen him among shepherds: the most beautiful.
To be beautiful, must one necessarily be a cagot?"
Condition of the “Cagots”
Others considered them lepers or descendants of lepers. For centuries, leprosy was thought to be hereditary. Today we know it is not, but the disease attributed to them justified their exclusion. These small, possibly ethnically distinct groups were treated as pariahs, feared for their contact and appearance. They were restricted to certain trades—carpenters, tile makers, and generally wood-related work. They lived in their own quarter, separated from the rest. They entered the church through a special door and had a separate water fountain. Even in the cemetery, a special area was reserved for them. Oihenart wrote in 1637:
"It is said they are leprous and contagious, that their face and actions something that makes them miserable and odious, and that their breath stinks. I believe none of it and fear this opinion rests more on popular prejudice than verified fact. I do not deny they were publicly despised and considered foreigners in their own land, without access to offices or honors. They could not enjoy common goods with other inhabitants. Marriage and all relations with others were forbidden, and they were required, under penalty of flogging, to go barefoot and wear a piece of red cloth on their clothing."
This recalls the condition imposed on Jews by the Nazis and the wearing of the yellow star.
Rehabilitation of the “Cagots”
Despite this, the agotes maintained their dignity and continued to claim their rights to justice. In 1514, the Navarre agotes appealed to Pope Leo X, who, after investigation, ruled in their favor. But the Basques resisted the political and religious powers determined to end this discrimination. Under Louis XIV, and thanks to Colbert’s constant need for money, the agotes finally gained recognition of their civil rights. In 1684, on the proposal of Du Bois de Baillet, intendant of Béarn, the king offered them freedom in exchange for two louis per person freed. The wealthy paid for the poor. In 1688, the Parliament of Pau opened public offices and all trades to them, allowed mixed marriages, and freedom of residence. ility persisted, but gradually, the Basques accepted those whom political power had rehabilitated (Reicher, 1958).
The Gypsies (Bohémiens, Buhameak)
Unfortunately, the agotes were not the only pariahs of Vasconia. Another social category experienced an equally miserable fate, entirely excluded from the indigenous community: the Gypsies. Their situation was less severe because it was more recent: Gypsies appeared in Vasconia in the 15th century, probably from Spain, from which they were expelled in 1492. They immediately provoked ility and contempt among the local population, particularly because of their very different lifestyle from the Basques. Unlike the agotes, they never claimed to belong to the country and did not seek assimilation. They worked in basketry and coppersmithing, often begged, and the women practiced palmistry. Yet people said they lived from theft and idleness. In the 16th century, Francis I expelled them from Soule and Labourd. Some sought refuge in Lower Navarre, and a few returned to Soule. In 1721, the States of Soule enacted measures against them (Actes, T. I, f°7): it was forbidden to offer them hospitality, and the villagers had to assemble at the sound of the bell to expel them. Finally, they were to be sent, at the parish’s expense, to the prison at Pau Castle. Later, they were expelled en masse again in 1802 and deported to North Africa.
The memory of the Gypsies remains in the Souletin maskarada. After the traditional characters representing Basque society comes the buhamejaun, or lord of the Gypsies, accompanied by his tribe: “He carries a rifle, a bundle, and a saber, as if he were to strike blows everywhere and loot everything” (Sallaverry, 1899).
Continuation of the Counter-Reformation
The Counter-Reformation initiated by the Bishop of Oloron, Arnaud I de Maytie (1599–1622), was continued by his successors: his nephew Arnaud II de Maytie (1622–1646), and, after two bishops with very brief episcopates, by this latter’s nephew, Arnaud III François de Maytie (1660–1681). Thus, three men from the same Mauleon family held the episcopal see of Oloron in the 17th century.
Many churches had been looted and partially burned during the religious wars of the 16th century. The work of these prelates consisted in encouraging their reconstruction. From this period date the tribunes in which men were traditionally seated during services, and all those magnificent gilded altarpieces that adorn even the humblest church in Soule. Also notable are the calvary-bell towers, so characteristic of Soule churches. With their three peaks topped with three crosses, they were long called “Trinitarian bell towers.” E. Lamben (Goyheneche, 1959) suggested that it was more appropriate to call them “calvary bell towers,” since the cross has never been a symbol of the Trinity but of the Crucifixion, and moreover, with the central cross taller than the others, it is impossible to conceive that one Person of the Trinity would have preeminence over the others. On the contrary, in depictions of Golgotha, Christ’s cross is always taller than the crosses of the two thieves martyred alongside Him.
Arnaud II de Maytie also restored the ancient collegiate church of Sainte-Engrâce, which the Calvinist troops under Captain Sénégas had attempted to burn. Its furnishings and archives had been destroyed, but the church, thanks to the solidity of its walls and the thickness of its vault, had withstood the flames. The bishop appointed twelve canons and an abbot for the church.
Foundation of the Convent of Mauléon
Continuing the work of his predecessors, Arnaud III François de Maytie founded the convent of Mauléon. The people of Mauléon had long wished for the Capuchins to establish themselves among them and, in accordance with a town council resolution, ed that the Bishop of Oloron grant this. He could not refuse and went to Paris to obtain the corresponding royal letters patent. On May 3, 1669, the Capuchins from Pau planted the cross in Mauléon, “and all the country testified its desire to contribute to the construction of a church and convent with incredible generosity” (“E.H.R.B.”, 1901).
The convent was built on the right bank of the Saison River, at the foot of a slope leading to the Upper Town, on the road to Chéraute, at the site now occupied by the Saint Francis College. In his will, made in Barcus on December 2, 1678, the Marquis de Moneins bequeathed 750 livres to the Capuchins of Mauléon for the construction of their church (Jaurgain, 1884–5). Maytie himself left his library and portrait to the convent. The Capuchins occupied it until the Revolution, when it was confiscated and the friars dispersed.
Witchcraft
Religious life in the 17th century was not free from traces of paganism in mentalities. Froidour notes: “The Souletins are very devout, but, according to the Capuchins who recently settled in Mauléon, there are many witches and warlocks” (Op. cit.). There was a wave of witchcraft accusations throughout Vasconia, North and South, at this time, especially noted in the dramatic trials in Labourd led by the infamous De Lancre. Soule also suffered similar misfortunes. As early as 1599, the Court of Licharre had to handle the case of two women accused of witchcraft (Veyrin, Op. cit.). Accusations spread across the country, and personal hatreds manifested in slander and denunciation.
"The fear of torture created such an impression that the suspected witches would come forward to confess guilt and Church exorcisms, trying to escape, through a priest’s absolution, the severity of civil justice" (Menjoulet, Loc. cit.).
Fortunately for Soule, the population faced not an obsessed zealot like Lancre, but a learned and benevolent man, Athanase de Belapeyre, vicar general of Oloron and thus of Soule. He belonged to the Béla family, already mentioned, several members of which played important roles in Soule’s history.
"They came to me pale, trembling… unable to say they were not criminals, and I had to persuade them of their innocence" (Menjoulet, Loc. cit.).
Finally, the king intervened: by a decree of October 19, 1671, the year Froidour visited Soule, he annulled all witchcraft proceedings, released those imprisoned, and as the fear subsided, accusations ceased, restoring calm.
Institutional Changes
Although Soule continued to govern itself under its Fueros, its administration experienced several changes aimed at greater centralization (see supra, “Foral Organization”).
The Armorial of 1696
Emboldened by his victories, Louis XIV constantly engaged in wars; the War of the League of Augsburg was draining France’s finances. Money was needed at any cost, and with the people already burdened by taxes, it was unclear how to raise more. This led to the Armorial. In 1696, a royal edict required all those possessing a coat of arms to register it, paying 20 livres per person. To maximize revenue, officers in charge of registering arms were instructed to grant them to anyone
"who by birth, office, service, or virtue had the right to bear them." Registration was mandatory, and officers were empowered to grant arms to anyone with a somewhat elevated social status… This led to the imposition of registration on a multitude who had no arms and cared little about possessing them (Labrouche, 1883).
Having placed Soule under the jurisdiction of the Parliament of Navarre in November 1691, while still dependent on the Bordeaux Generality for finances, the Souletins were required to register in the Béarn Armorial. Resistance among the Béarnese was greater than elsewhere. Of the 637 coats of arms in the Béarn Armorial, 118 were d and 519 imposed ex officio (Dufaut de Maluquer and Jaurgain, 1887–88).
As for the Souletins, they once again demonstrated their independent spirit. Not a single noble or bourgeois registered their arms; only four Souletins appear in the Armorial, all granted arms ex officio: three as canons of Sainte-Marie of Oloron and the fourth as king’s procurator in the seneschalty of Lower Navarre (Op. cit.). Those who relied on French vanity to fill state coffers failed completely in Soule. The 1696 edict, which mandated registration of individual arms, violated the Fueros of Soule, since Souletin nobility was tied to the land, not the person. Thus, it was the house that possessed the arms and gave its owner the right to bear them and to participate in the States. By refusing to register their arms, Souletin nobles clearly signaled that they recognized no one’s authority to alter their ancient institutions.
Foundation of the Mauléon Hospital
At the beginning of the 18th century, there was no building in Soule to accommodate the sick. The Saint John Hospital of Berraute in Mauléon, as well as that of Ordiarp, founded in the Middle Ages to pilgrims traveling to Santiago de Compostela, were in ruins. However, the revenues of the Ordiarp hospital were not negligible, amounting at the time to 3,000–4,000 livres per year (Dubarat, 1887), but their administration was in the hands of incapable or unscrupulous people who diverted them from their primary purpose: helping the poor.
The syndic of Soule took an interest and, in 1708, submitted a petition to the king ing the appointment of administrators to audit the hospital’s accounts. On February 25, 1709, the king granted his approval, and a commission was established, including: the bishop of Oloron, the governor of Soule or the long-robed lieutenant, the king’s prosecutor, the prior of Ordiarp, plus two deputies from Ordiarp and one from each parish collecting revenues from the commandery.
The new administrators found that the Ordiarp hospital was so deteriorated that it could not receive patients. It was therefore necessary to build a new one. They decided to locate it in Mauléon, which seemed to them the most suitable place to receive patients from all of Soule, and the king approved this change by letters patent on January 7, 1715.
Litigation against the hospital and the Diocese of Bayonne
We have already seen that the Ordiarp commandery initially depended on the Roncesvalles Hospital. During the ongoing conflicts France and Spain, the assets of the Roncesvalles Abbey and those of the Diocese of Bayonne were threatened or confiscated. An agreement was reached the two countries in 1712, and the Ordiarp commandery was ceded to the Diocese of Bayonne.
The diocese found itself with two owners: one effective, the Mauléon hospital, and one nominal, the Diocese of Bayonne. Since revenue collection was, for the Church of the time, a greater concern than aiding the poor, the Diocese of Bayonne undertook a lawsuit against the Mauléon hospital that lasted about fifteen years. Finally, a definitive ruling pronounced by Louis XV on May 11, 1733, upheld the Mauléon hospital’s possession and enjoyment of the Ordiarp assets. It should be noted that, until the Revolution, the hospital lived mainly on these revenues.
The new building took the name of the General Hospital of Mauléon. Over time, it became a hospice, an old-age asylum, and again a hospital, but always in its original location, the road to Tardets and the Saison river, near the parish church of the time, Saint John of Berraute. The new buildings were not completed until 1737, and the care of patients was entrusted to nuns: first the Sisters of Wisdom, then, from 1775, the Sisters of the Congregation of Nevers, who remained in Mauléon for nearly two centuries.
Restructuring and decline of the Estates
1730 and 1733, several royal counter-foral orders reduced the power of the Third Estate in favor of the Nobility and the intendant, undermining the forality of Soule (see supra “Foral Organization”).
Mauléon in 1759
By the 18th century, Mauléon already had two main districts: the Upper Town (Ville Haute), or old part, and the Lower Town (Ville Basse), or Bridge district. The market was held every Tuesday in the Upper Town, which displeased the inhabitants of the Lower Town. An investigation (A.D.P.A., C 122) conducted in 1759 by M. Sallenave from Pau, on behalf of the Intendant of the Generality, regarding the claims of the Lower Town inhabitants, revealed that they wanted the market held there weekly or at least every fifteen days, with two annual fairs.
This report is interesting because it offers a picture of Mauléon in 1759. In his description of the town, Sallenave notes:
"A district situated on the slope of a mountain, at the top of which there is an old, heavily damaged castle, and another by the river, next to which lies the community of Licharre, separated only by a cross in the middle of a small square (the 'Croix Blanche'). In this Licharre square are the palace of the Lord of Trois-Villes (today the city hall) and a large house belonging to the Lord of Méharon (the Maytie Palace), long-robed lieutenant of the Court of Licharre. Mauléon and Licharre are separated by a stone bridge over the river called Suson (sic)."
Until 1755, access to the Upper Town was not easy. Only a rough and long paved ramp led to it. From that year, a new road was opened at the other end of the town, leading directly to a large square where markets were held. There is also a very spacious square, surrounded by main houses, with a large fountain in its center. In the 18th century, the inhabitants of the Upper Town were more numerous than those of the Lower Town, but the latter were wealthier and subjected to heavier taxes. We can see that some elements of Mauléon society go far back in time.
Soule and the Bishops of Oloron
Relations Soule and the Bishops of Oloron were not always excellent, except when the Mauleon seat was held by Mauleonais, the Maytie family, from 1598 to 1681. Saint John of Berraute, the parish church of Mauléon, belonged to the Order of Malta, as did its annexes in Libarrenx and Larrebieu. In 1709, Joseph de Révol, bishop of Oloron, during a visit to his parishes, ordered repairs to be made. The knights appealed against this order, resulting in a long legal dispute (Menjoulet, Op. cit.).
The same bishop undertook, in 1708, the founding of a seminary to train priests for his diocese. To provide funding, he attached the collegiate church of Sainte-Engrâce to the new institution. Two free places in the seminary were reserved for students from Soule, one of whom had to be preferably from the parish of Sainte-Engrâce. Naturally, not all the canons agreed with these measures, and neither did the commune of Sainte-Engrâce… resulting in a new lawsuit. The bishop won, and in 1724, the Souletin collegiate and the Grand Seminary were united. Later, another lawsuit occurred the Oloron seminary and the commune of Sainte-Engrâce, which found a fierce defender in Jean-Philippe de Béla, from this illustrious Souletin family. Béla and Sainte-Engrâce had to yield, and the collegiate revenues continued to fund the seminary (Op. cit.).
The Chevalier de Béla
Returning to Jean-Philippe de Béla, he led one of the most adventurous lives. Born in Mauléon on July 8, 1709, he was baptized in the Saint John Chapel in Licharre on the 11th of the same month. His godfather was Philippe de Béla, Baron of Chéraute, and his godmother Jeanne d’Abense. He was the son of Jacques de Béla, lawyer in the Parliament, and Constance de Hudelot, and great-great-grandson of Jacques de Béla, author of the Tablettes and the Commentaire de la Coutume de la Soule (Regnier, 1985).
Béla left Mauléon at 18, on November 15, 1727, to enlist in the army, in the Royal Artillery detachment stationed in Grenoble. He later went to Sweden as an engineering lieutenant and entered the service of King Stanislaus of Poland. He had a very active military career, was made a Knight of Saint-Louis on January 15, 1741 (hence the title Chevalier de Béla), and became chamberlain to Stanislaus, Duke of Lorraine. In 1745, he was ordered to create a regiment composed of Basques, which became the Royal Cantabre. Following a duel and various slanders, Jean-Philippe was imprisoned for six months, and the Royal Cantabre was dissolved in 1749.
The Chevalier de Béla then returned to Soule. He acquired the noble Domecq house in Libarrenx, entered the Estates of Soule on April 27, 1767, and the Estates of Béarn on January 12, 1778, through the lay abbey of Hours. He also bought a house in Sainte-Engrâce, which earned him the post of syndic of the parish. He then devoted most of his time to studying his country. He wrote his Mémoires militaires, published in 1876 by Ducéré, a history of the Royal Cantabre regiment, but his main work is Histoire des Basques, in three volumes (Manusc. Bibl. Nationale, Paris). During the Terror, Béla was imprisoned and died in Paris on March 15, 1796, at the age of 87 (V. SANADON, Barthélemy Jean Baptiste).
Foundation of the Mauléon College
A brother of Chevalier Béla, Jean de Béla-Lassalle, also distinguished himself by his love for his homeland. On September 8, 1775, he died in Paris, bequeathing to the Estates of Soule an annual income of over 10,000 livres, to be collected from the Paris town hall, intended to support a boys’ college and a girls’ school in Mauléon (Larrieu, 1891).
The Estates accepted the bequest and immediately set to work. Construction of a house for the governor (former Dominican convent) had begun in 1772. Meanwhile, the Mont-Real palace (current Town Hall) was put up for sale, purchased for the governor, and allocated to the future college. The income was only assigned to the Estates of Soule after the death of the three usufructuaries, including Chevalier Béla (Ithurbide, 1934).
On April 1, 1788, it was decided to entrust the education of boys to the Barnabites of Lescar and that of girls to the Sisters of Nevers. The Barnabites did not agree with the Estates, and the foundation was further delayed. Nevertheless, the need for a college was evident, and Soule demanded it in its cahiers de doléances. The Estates then decided to establish two humanities rectors (Latin and Greek) with a salary of 600 livres each, and a writing teacher, all three residing in the college. A sum of 200 livres was also granted to the Sisters of Nevers for the free education of girls.
We know, from a letter from the Mauléon district dated January 19, 1792, that the college was functioning at that time (Batcave, 1897). This letter responded to a from the Legislative Assembly of November 1791, seeking information on the state of education in France.