The history of Pau
T
he history of Pau is long several
centuries but the blooming of the city is relatively recent, it is
affirmed to the XIX and XXème. The beginnings of Pau are quite
modest. Until XIème century they are some hovels around a
timber construction, observation post, only made up of one tower and a
palisade which will probably give its name to the city: the
pile, the stake: paü as Inhabitant of Béarn. The site is however
exceptional: a headland enters the right bank gave and its small
affluent: "Hédas". The fortification makes it possible to
control the Sud/Nord road and the ford on the gave, the populations
coming from the mountain (in particular of the valley dOssau) and the
herds moving towards the Aquitaines plains.
years what is, at the time,
Vicomté de Béarn, Pau, small Village, lives sparely at the
rate/rhythm of the quarrels opposing its inhabitants to hard Ossalois
for the control of the passages extending beyond the ravine from
Hédas. XIVème century marks an important stage. The
Viscount of Béarn is blazing it a Count de Foix, Gaston Fébus.
It is a large prince well-read man and political end since it
manages to remain with the variation of the conflict which opposes the
king of England to the king de France (it is the 100 year old war).
Moreover, its great intention is to build a Pyrénéen state
connecting its fields active of Vicomté de Béarn to the County of
Foix. This policy leads it to protect its grounds from its
enemies. It makes build a remarkable defense force. Pau in
fact part. The small fortified town built out of stone,
meanwhile, becomes a fortress with a brick keep, public image of
constructions of Fébus. That does not make therefore growing
the village.
Next century , the spirit of the
rebirth blows on Pau. In XVème century the austere fortress
becomes princely residence thanks to the will of the prince of navarre
which makes of Pau a capital equipped with privileges, it becomes the
seat of a seneschalsy. In XVIème century, it obtains the right
of coinage, Pau starts to leave its torpor. King de Navarre,
Henri d' Albret settles there with his wife, Marguerite d' Angoulème,
sister of François 1st, brilliant spirit author of Heptaméron.
The royal couple gives to the castle its letters of nobility, it
becomes one of the florets of the architecture of the rebirth.
The castle and its royal occupants
contribute to the economic advancement of the city, rise which is
accentuated with the arrival of the Protestants who take refuge in the
capital of the Huguenotte queen: Jeanne d' Albret. The
fame of the city grows with the son of Jeanne: Henri III of
Navarre become the king Henri IV after the disappearance of his/her
cousins: the Valois last. Royal inhabitant of Béarn will not forget
the city of his birth to which it grants the title of city.
His/her son Louis XIII makes the seat of a Parliament of it.
Pau thus sees developing legal but such a religious activity.
Catholicism takes again ground on Protestantism. The
convents and the religious institutions multiply. A craft
industry develops in particular around the textile but even if it
commense to be extended towards the east, the city remains modest,
without imposing presence around a castle which is dilapidated.
And comes Napoleon the Ist emperor
and its army is back of the cruel adventure in Spain. The
emperor immediately appreciates the exceptional site of the city.
With blow of decrees it transforms it, airs it and makes of it
for the 1st time a city open on the Pyrenees. In his turn, the
duke of Wellington, future victorious of Napoleon, stops in Pau with
his army; Britaniques discover Pau and its climate. The
XIXème century starts, it will become that of "Pau English city".
They are legion those which speak in
praise of the healing virtues of the climate of the royal city, among
them, most dedicated is a young Scottish doctor: Alexandre
Taylor. Britaniques rich person flow in order to look after
their melancholy, their lung diseases and in particular frightening
tuberculosis. A brilliant company settles, the city changes.
His affections there are looked after but it is also necessary
to be distracted. The English introduce what makes their way of
life: the Golf, Hunting for the Fox, Hippodromme. The love
of English for the horse is at the origin of the horse vocation of the
city. They make build sumptuous villas. The hotels of
prestige like the hotel of France and the hotel of Gassion are not
enough. Should be satisfied demanding customers. The
municipal officials get busy there: the city is fed out of
water, one installs a system sewerages and lighting with gas.
One carries out ambitious projects of town planning as the
purchase of the property of the count de Beaumont where the splendid
palate of winter to the sumptuous canopy and the boulevard of the
Pyrenees are built, beautiful walk connecting the castle to the
Beaumont field.
The sport is a king; Tennis, the
hunt, the golf but also aviation. With the paddle of the XXème
century, Pau becomes one of the cradles of this new adventure thanks
to two Americans: the Wright brothers who practise their
activity on the moors of the Long Bridge. Pilots of legend like
Guynemers, Nungesser or Roland Garros passed by the school of Pau Pau
is also appraisal by the men of letters. Persian Saint-John,
Francis Jaymmes and the poetess Anna de Noailles. Decades
earlier, Alfred de Vigny and Lamartine had sung the charms of the
city. The First World War opens with crash the XXème century, a
whole dark time with the cauchemard of the trenches; The rich
person families desert Pau for seaside resorts.
During the Fifties, the discovery of
the gas layer of Lacq gives in Pau fresh impulse and if the layer
becomes exhausted today, the research center related to the oil
activities, the university and the development of new technologies,
make of Pau a city which makes the bet of the innovation.
Between Ocean and the Pyrenees, Pau kept its tourist vocation.
Served well by its road, airport and railway network, only a
motorway axis Aquitaine/Espagne is cruelly lacking. Pau also has
an important fabric of small and medium-sized undertakings, some in
the wake of Turboméca, floret the aircraft industry. Pau is a
sporting and cultural city; Let us take for example its new
Jaï-Alaï, its sport hall, its Zenith, its Hippodrome and its future
media library.
The beautiful sky of Pau "Beth Ceü de
Paü" that with enthusiasm the Inhabitants of Béarn continue to sing is not a
legend. It is under this sky that it is necessary to stroll to
find testimonys of the long history of a city which saw being born 2
kings: Henri IV and Bernadotte become king de Suède with the
favour of the Napoleonean adventures.