Montaner Castle

Around 930-940 a younger brother of the Count de Bigorre carved out in this county, the Viscount of Montaner. He is at the origin of the seigniorial family of Odon, which directs this stronghold until the end of the 11th century.

This small military march interposed between Béarn, Bigorre and Armagnac becomes almost independent and then seems to be fortified by a set of clods, one of which probably constituted the first castle (explicitly mentioned in 1009) that the Viscounts of Montaner made build at the top of the hill. This fortress, made up of earthworks, ditches and palisades, probably contains the first informal nucleus of urban settlement.

The viscounty of Béarn absorbs, by marriage, that of Montaner around 1085. From the 13th century the history of the site is better known. The foundation in 1281, by Gaston VII Moncade, of a “villeneuve” with foundation charter marks the birth certificate of a real village. From this time the castle undoubtedly included stone structures, as in Bellocq or Orthez, reinforced, as for the borough, with ditches and palisades indicated in this charter of frankness.

Gaston VII already attached great importance to this place. His successor, Gaston Fébus, wanted to make it the central pivot of a great Pyrenean kingdom extending from Béarn to the county of Foix. He therefore built by the architect Sicard de Lordat, from 1374 to his death (1391), a powerful palace: a fortress surrounded by ditches and intended for a role as much political as strategic. These considerable works lead to the destruction of the old castle and the remodeling of the town, which has an enclosure 180m long and 70m wide. The dream of Fébus dies with him and the central role of Montaner disappears, even if it retains a certain importance during the Wars of Religion. Its capture and its fire in 1621 by the catholics precipitate its decline and involve the irremediable disappearance of the village. Sold in 1804 to a materials merchant, it is seriously mutilated. Its classification in 1840 then its repurchase in 1854 by the department stops the disaster and important restoration works are progressively carried out since then.

Architecturally, Montaner, although incomplete, is the most accomplished of the various Fébusian castles. Its master tower, the tallest in the southwest, embodies the sovereignty of the count. Inside the polygonal enclosure was organized a luxurious palace whose distribution was inspired by those of the kings of Majorca (Perpignan, Palma de Mallorca) with kitchen under pyramidal roof, large room of 30m by 13m, chapel, bedroom du comte, circulation gallery on two superimposed levels and monumental staircase. Of all this set remain only the bases of the walls.

A wide and deep ditch on the south side, partially covered with a masonry scarp and counterscarp, surrounds the building. It is itself bordered by a covered path, a covered front path, lices and embankments formerly surmounted by palisades. The approaches to the fortress were protected, to the north, by also palisaded slopes, to the south by a barbican or farmyard surrounded by a wall and separated from the village by a ditch.

The village, reorganized by Fébus to the south of the castle, occupies, on either side of the central street leading to the palace, a rectangular surface carefully leveled that the count had endowed with an enclosure of stones and bricks. Powerful embankments bordered by lilies once palisaded protected the city. A ditch and a stepped forward defense reinforced the more vulnerable south side which housed the entrance to the "villeneuve".