Meeting the Sun Prince
This exhibition is the second part of a project undertaken with the Musée de Cluny and the Bibliothèque nationale de France centred on a major mediaeval figure: Gaston III, who was born in 1331, became count of Foix and lord of Béarn in 1343, and died in August 1391. A rich collection of manuscripts, objets d’art, sculptures, fabrics and archival documents gives a glimpse of the luxury and refinement of a princely court renowned throughout Europe, which bordered the realm of the first Valois kings.
But behind the courtly manners of Gaston, self-styled Fébus (the sun god in Occitan), a skilled connoisseur of weapons, women and hunting (“armas, amors e cassa”, in the words of his faithful troubadour, Peyre de Rius), there lies a darker face. His contemporary Jean Froissart considered him “moult ymaginatif”. Escaping the temporal and spiritual controls of his time, he ruled with an iron hand and proved capable of tragic excesses.
The exhibition sheds light on this unusual ruler, focusing particularly on the success of his hunting manual Livre de la chasse, which he began on 1 May 1387, and on the fine manuscript editions which made him famous.
Gaston Fébus in History
Visitors will begin their investigation of the history and legend of the Sun Count through a number of symbolic objects evoking his life and the main events of his rule. Jealous of his neutral status in the struggle between the house of France and the kings of England during the Hundred Years War, Gaston set about building and renovating his fortresses and castles along the foothills of the Pyrenees. As part of this programme, major construction work was done on the Château de Pau in 1371-1379.
The Court and Books of Gaston Fébus
The myth sparked by the count’s first steps in the political arena was broadcast and embellished by his poets and historians. Foremost among them, Jean Froissart tells the story in his Chroniques (manuscript on parchment, in the Besançon library). The manuscripts that have survived from Gaston Fébus’s large library plunge us into the intellectual atmosphere of his court. He was a discerning connoisseur and the author of the famous Livre de la chasse, which was often copied and illuminated in the late 14th and early 15th century, before being printed. Several particularly precious examples will be on display, including one of the earliest versions of the text (French manuscript 619 from the Bibliothèque nationale de France), probably in the author’s hand. It will be shown alongside beautiful medieval manuscript bestiaries and hunting treatises (Livres du roi Modus et de la Reine Ratio by Henri de Ferrières).
The Death of Fébus and his Intellectual Legacy
Indeed it was after a hunt, on 1 August 1391, that Gaston suddenly died as he was about to take his place at the table. The episode recounted by Froissart is illustrated by hanaps, spoons and goblets from the Treasury of Ariège (mid-14th century, Musée du Louvre) arranged on the table set up alongside The Hunt Dinner from the Maximilien Hunting Tapestries (cartoons from the second quarter of the 16th century), sent to the Château de Pau to decorate the great dining hall (Salle aux Cent Couverts), where the exhibition is being held. These tapestries show how successful Gaston Fébus’s book and its illustrations were. It was also a valuable source of information on animals for Buffon’s Natural History.
Memory and Doubts
The memory of his brilliant figure, the archetypal accomplished prince in the time of the Great Schism and the Hundred Years War, still intrigues us today. Suspicion and controversy stirred uneasiness and admiration in his contemporaries and in historians. Two objects which open and close the exhibition seemed to reconcile his brilliant image and doubts about him: the chest decorated with hunting motifs from the Treasury of Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges, and the mid-14th-century Avignon goblet from the Poldi Pezzoli museum in Milan, an ornate piece of secular goldwork whose courtly themes harmonise perfectly with the subtle elegance and chivalrous charm that prevailed in the Court of Gaston Fébus.
Curators
Paul Mironneau, general heritage curator and director of the Musée national du château de Pau, Sophie Lagabrielle, chief curator at the Musée de Cluny – musée national du Moyen Age, Marie-Hélène Tesnière, General Heritage curator in the manuscripts department of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France
The exhibition is made possible thanks to Macif support
Useful information
Open
Until 14 June, open every day from 9:30 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. then from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., from 15 June, open every day from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 a.m. then from 1:30 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. (last entries at 5:45 p.m.)
Closed on 1 May
Admission
8 €, concession : 6.50 €, including the permanent collectionsl, free for visitors under 26 (EU nationals or long-term residents) and for all visitors on the first Sunday of the month.
Access
Parking recommended in the Place de Verdun (5-10 minutes walk from the Castle). Bus, “Place de la Monnaie”.
TGV Paris – Bordeaux – Pau.
By air : several flights from Paris and London
