Last modified: 2025-04-26 by olivier touzeau
Keywords: hautes-pyrénées | bigorre |
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![[Flag]](../images/f/fr-65.gif)
Flag of Hautes-Pyrénées - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 23 July 2022
See also:
Code: 65
Region: Occitanie (Midi-Pyrénées until 2014)
Traditional province:
Guyenne and Gascony
Bordering departments: Haute-Garonne,
Gers,
Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Bordering country: Spain (Autonomous
Community of Aragon [Province of
Huesca], Autonomous Community of
Catalonia [Province of
Lleida])
Area: 4,464 km2
Population (2016): 227,829 inhabitants
Préfecture: Tarbes
Sous-préfectures: Argelès-Gazost,
Bagnères-de-Bigorre
Subdivisions: 3 arrondissements, 17 cantons, 469 municipalities.
The department is named ("Upper Pyrenees") after the Pyrénées mountains.
Ivan Sache, 14 April 2019
To date, there is a flag of the Department of Hautes-Pyrénées decorated
with the current logo of the Departmental Council.
We are not aware of the existence of any other official flag.
[Departmental Council]
The new logo appears to be in continuity with the logo of the former
General Council. That logo was modernized in 2010: the writing's
arrangement was swapped for better legibility and "a photographic
representation" of bubbles was added to highlight the significance of
sources in the region.
[LogoNews, 25 January 2010;
Logo en Vue, 25 January 2010]
Olivier Touzeau & Ivan Sache, 22 June 2019
The flag is not white with logo, but blue with the 2017 logo: photo (2022), photo (2022), photo (2021).
Olivier Touzeau, 3 July 2022
Former flag of the General council of Hautes-Pyrénées
![[Flag]](../images/f/fr-65cg.gif)
Former flag of the General council before 2010 - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 3 July 2022
A white flag with the logo of the
general council of Hautes-Pyrénées could be observed in use before 2010: photo, taken in Bordères-sur-l'Échez (2009).
The logo was "modernized" in 2010 [Source: logoenvue.fr].
No flag spotted with this version.
When general councils were renamed departemental councils in 2015, the
logo was modified and simplified, before it was changed again in
2017.
No flag spotted with the 2015-2017 logo.
Olivier Touzeau, 3 July 2022
Flag of the departmental office for sports
![[Flag]](../images/f/fr-65ods.gif)
Flag of the departmental office of Hautes-Pyrénées for sports - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 3 July 2022
The departmental office for sports of Hautes-Pyrénées has its own logo, including the former version of the departmental council's logo, and a white flag with this logo is in use: photo (2021), photo (2018), photo (2018), photo (2018), photo (2017), photo (2016), photo (2015).
Olivier Touzeau, 3 July 2022
![[Flag]](../images/f/fr-65).gif)
Banner of arms of Hautes-Pyrénées - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 3 May 2019
The banner of arms of Bigorre has been spotted in official events organized by the departemental council: photo (2019), photo (2016), photo (2016)
Olivier Touzeau, 3 July 2022
Jean-Lou Montès proposed in 1999 to adopt as the departmental flag the
banner of the arms of Bigorre. The flag had rarely been seen before, except during the
Hesteyade festival in Ibos, where it is still used (photo,
photo).
[La Dépêche, 7 February 1999]
Bigorre is located in the upper watershed of river Adour, on the northern
slopes of the Pyrenees, and comprises today the centre and west of the
departement of Hautes-Pyrénées.
The County of Bigorre was a small feudatory of the Duchy of Gascony, created
in the 9th century, annexed by Philip IV in 1302, ceded to the King of
England in 1360 by the Treaty of Brétigny, reconquered by France in 1370, ceded
to the Counts of Foix in 1425, subsequently to the lordship of Albret in 1483, then to the Bourbon with Jeanne d'Albret (mother of King of Navarre,
Henry III, who became in 1589 Henry IV of France). In 1607 the county was
united to the French Crown.
Pascal Vagnat & Olivier Touzeau, 3 May 2019
The coat of arms of Hautes-Pyrénées was assigned by Jacques Meurgey de Tupigny & Robert Louis in Marques symboliques des départements français as "Gules two leopards or langued azure in pale". The department was mostly formed by the former County of Bigorre, therefore the arms' assignment.
Gilles Fresson, manager of the cathedral of Chartres, pointed out that a
rose in stained glass No. 114 features a riding lord holding a yellow
shield charged with two red leopards. For centuries, the rider was
identified as an obscure lord of Beaumont. Fresson rather believed that
the knight was indeed Guido of Montfort, Count of Bigorre after his
marriage with Petronilla, heiress of Bigorre. Nearby are portrayed Guy's
father, Simon of Montfort, and his brother, Amauri of Montfort.
Accordingly, the rose would feature the oldest known representation of
the arm of Bigorre.
Stéphane Abadie, owner of a Ph.D. in medieval history and President of
the Société académique des Hautes-Pyrénées, corrected the putative attribution of the arms to Boso of Matha-Chabanais, Petronilla's 5th
(and last) husband.
In the aftermath of the Albingensian Crusade, Simon of Montfort, the crusaders' leader, successively imposed to Petronilla as her husband his
junior son, Guido, and two of his supporters, Aymeric of Rancon and Boso
of Matha-Chabanais. This was a convenient way to gain control over Bigorre.
The church of Chabanais-en-Angoumois keeps the tomb of Jordan II of
Chabanais, Boso's brother and once Count of Bigorre, decorated with two
crowned leopards. André Delpech (Pétronille de Bigorre, une comtesse
d'oc et d'oil, 1996) explains that the States of Bigorre, researching
much later the genuine arms of the county, found a seal featuring the
leopard arms appended to a charter dated 1239 and mentioning Petronilla.
This was, however, most probably the seal of Boso of Matha-Chabanais,
whose arms were mistaken for the original arms of Bigorre, which are
still unknown.
The knight portrayed on the Chartres rose is probably a member of the
Chabanais lineage, most probably Boso, who fought close to Simon of
Montfort during the Albigensian Crusade, or, maybe, Jordan.
[La Dépêche, 27 April 2016]
Petronilla of Bigorre (1184-1251) was the daughter of the Count of
Comminges, Bernard IV, and of the Countess of Bigorre, Stephanie, aka
Beatrice IV. Aged 12, she was mrried in 1196, upon order of King of Aragón, Alfonso II, to his vassal Gaston VI Moncade, aged 24. Widow in 1214, Petronilla married Nuño Sanchez, subsequently Count of Roussillon, who was the cousin of the new, young king of Aragón, Peter II. As his predecessor, Nuño did not care of his wife, who was not associated to any political decision.
Nuño Sanchez soon left Bigorre to besiege a French garrison established
by Simon of Montfort in Beaucaire (Languedoc). As a retaliation, Montfort
rushed to Bigorre and obtained from the local bishops the nullification
of Petronilla's marriage; the official reason was the kniship link
between Moncade and Nuño Sanchez's lineage.
On 6 November 1216, Petronilla of Bigorre married in Tarbes Guido of
Montfort, to prevent the invasion of Bigorre by the French crusaders.
The county was poor, with income much too low to hire mercenaries
and warlords to protect it; her only supporters, William-Raimond of
Moncade, Count of Béarn, her father, and her former husband, had very limited power compared to the main actors of the on-going war.
Marriages between heirs of lineages fighting bloody wars against each
other ere not uncommon in that troubled period.
Petronilla, 14 years older than her husband, turned into an influent dame. The arranged marriage was reportedly happy; as opposed to her previous husbands, Guido of Montfort introduced his wife to the Montfort party and always kept her close to him. In autumn 1217, Count Raymond VI raised the town of Toulouse against its French rulers, who had suppressed the town's Consulate and liberties. The stronghold of the Montfort party, the old castle of the Counts of Toulouse confiscated by the French was besieged by the Occitan party. Petronilla gave birth to her daughter, Alix, during the siege. Alix' grand fathers fought in the two camps, Simon of Montfort as the head of the French party, and Bernard of Comminges among the assaulters. In 1218, Guido of Montfort was severely injured by a crossbow bolt shot by Bernard of Comminges, his father-in-law. After the death of Simon of Montort, hit by a stone thown by a trebuchet - ran by women, according to the local tradition, on 25 June 1218, Amauri of Montfort took the lead of the French party, ordering to withdraw to Carcassonne. Soon after the birth of his second daughter, Petronilla, Guido of Montfort was killed on 20 July 1220 in Castelnaudary.
Once again a widow, Petronilla failed to interest the prominent lineages
of the time. Her marriage contract with Guido stated that their children
would inherit the County of Bigorre and the Viscounty of Marsan,
Petronilla's own domains, and, nominally, the County of Comminges still
hold by her father. To secure the situation, the Montfort party sought a
"prince consort" who would marry Petronilla and bear the "void" title of
Count of Bigorre.
in 1222, Petronilla married Aymeric of Rancon, a low-rank lord from Limousin. Two years later, facing the Occitan reconquest and lacking funds, Amauri of Montfort transferred his claims on the County of Toulouse and the
neighboring domains to the king of France. Louis VIII re-activated the
crusade, enrolling Amauri and Aymeric, who died during the siege of
Avignon. For her last union, Petronilla married Boso of Matha, co-lord
of Chabanais, a twon located 30 km of Rancon. With her husband,
Petronilla came back to Bigorre, 22 years after her leave; to prevent
any attempt of murder, the Montfort party decided to keep Petronilla's
daughters in safety near Paris.
In 1228, Petronilla gave birth to her third daughter, Mathe. She could
rear her and attempted to transfer her the Viscounty of Marsan. In the
same time, Boso of Matha recovered part of Comminges and significantly
increased the county of Bigorre; accordingly, he also expected some
reward to be transmitted to his daughter. Amauri of Montfort found a
convenient arrangement: Alix would marry Jordan II of Chabanais, Boso's
brother. The couple would inherit Petronilla's domain, except Marsan, to
be offered to Mathe.
Boso of Matha died in 1247; so did Alix in 1250. The old Countess
Petronilla transferred Bigorre to her brother-in-law, Simon V of
Montfort, Count of Leicester and Seneschal of Gascony. Head of the
Montfort party, Simon had been appointed tutor of Alix's son, Esquivat,
in 1243, following the death of Jordan of Chabanais.
Petronilla retired in the Cistercian abbey of Escaladieu, where she
died, aged 67.
[Académie des Arts, Lettres et Sciences de Languedoc]
Ivan Sache, 5 May 2019