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BARN

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 582 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BARN , formerly a small frontier See also:

province in the See also:south of See also:France, now included within the See also:department of Basses-See also:Pyrenees. It was bounded on the W. by Soule and See also:Lower See also:Navarre, on the N. by Chalosse, Tursan and Astarac, E. by Bigorre and S. by the Pyrenees. Its name can be traced back to the See also:town of Beneharnum (Lescar). The civitas Beneharnensium was included in the Novempopulania. It was conquered by the Vascones in the 6th See also:century, and in 819 became a viscounty dependent on the See also:dukes of Aquitaine—a feudal See also:link which was broken in the 11th century, when the viscounts ceased to acknowledge any suzerain. They then reigned over the two dioceses of Lescar and Oloron; but their See also:capital was Morlaas, where they had a See also:mint which was famous throughout the See also:middle ages. In the 13th century Gaston VII., of the Catalonian See also:house of Moncade, made See also:Orthez his seat of See also:government. His See also:long reign (1229-1290) was a perpetual struggle with the See also:kings of France and See also:England, each anxious to assert his See also:suzerainty over Bearn. As Gaston See also:left only daughters, the viscounty passed at his See also:death to the See also:family of See also:Foix, from whom it was transmitted through the houses of Grailly and See also:Albret to the Bourbons, and they, in the See also:person of See also:Henry IV., See also:king of Navarre, made it an apanage of the See also:crown of France. It was not formally incorporated in the royal domains, however, until 162o. None of these See also:political changes weakened the See also:independent spirit of the Bearnais. From the 11th century onward, they were governed by their own See also:special customs or fors.

These were See also:

drawn up in the See also:language of the See also:country, a See also:Romance See also:dialect (1288 being the date of the most See also:ancient written See also:code), and are remarkable for the manner in which they define the rights of the See also:sovereign, determining the reciprocal obligations of the See also:viscount and his subjects or vassals. Moreover, from the 12th century See also:Beam enjoyed a See also:kind of representative government, with See also:tours plenieres composed of deputies from the three estates. From 1220 onward, the judiciary See also:powers of these assemblies were exercised by a tour majour of twelve barons jurats charged with the See also:duty of maintaining the integrity of the fors. When Gaston-See also:Phoebus wished to establish a See also:regular See also:annual See also:hearth-tax (fouage) in the viscounty, he convoked the deputies of the three estates in assemblies called 'tats. These soon acquired extensive political and See also:financial powers, which continued in operation till 1789. Although, when Bearn was annexed to the domains of the crown, it was granted a conseil d'etat and a See also:parlement, which sat at See also:Pau, the province also retained its fors until the Revolution. See also Olhagaray, Histoire de Foix, Beam et Navarre (16o9); See also:Pierre de See also:Marca, Histoire de Bearn (164o). This See also:work does not go beyond the end of the 13th century; it contains a large number of documents. See also:Paget de Baure, Essais historiques sur le Beam (1818) ; See also:Les Fors de Beam, by Mazure and Hatoulet (1839), completed by J. Brissaud and P. Roge in Textes additionnels aux anciens Fors de Beam (19o5) ; See also:Leon Cadier, Les Etats de Beam depuis leur origine jusqu'au commencement du XVI' siecle (1888). (C.

End of Article: BARN

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