Expo: Gaston Phoebus, Prince Sun (Cluny Museum)
Cnaudin | 
Prince atypical Hundred Years War, half way between France and England, Gaston Phoebus (1331-1391) was a warrior, political and philanthropist, author of the famous Book of Hunting, and particularly determined to stage his own magnificence. The Cluny Museum - National Museum of the Middle Ages (Paris), devotes an exhibition, an opportunity to (re) discover a complex and ultimately ignored, and a period, both rich and troubled history of France. 
Gaston Phoebus and the Hundred Years War
One of the interests of Prince Sun is the context in which he lives and works especially. Indeed, its possessions, it is at the heart of the conflicts of the time, not just the Hundred Years War. Count of Foix and Viscount of Béarn, Gaston Phoebus is on the border of the kingdom of France, England (the Aquitaine) and Navarre (and in this way Castile) and Aragon! Unlike his father Gaston II, who had chosen to support Philip VI of Valois, Prince Sun continues to move between each of the camps, does not inspire much confidence in the successive kings of France, when he leaves the Black Prince through his land or chooses to marry, certainly before her away unceremoniously, with Agnes, the sister of Charles of Navarre, said the Poor. Like the latter, Gaston Phoebus is a bitter rival of the house of Armagnac, an ally of the kings of France. It was not until the reign of Charles VI, and even the last year of life of the Count of Foix for it to be recognized as it considers should be, and that the King of France to visit him on his land. It was at Charles VI he bequeathed his principality to his death.
Its strategic position makes it possible to Gaston Phoebus to remain relatively neutral, and not suffer too much from war and rides English, even if a part-time to the conflict in the 1340s, the French side. Policy wise and unscrupulous, he pay for this neutrality, and does the same in the conflict between Peter the Cruel and Henry of Transtamare in the currency of Great Companies passage of Du Guesclin, en route to Castile. This allows him to finance his project: to build his own legend in his lifetime.
A prince of the fourteenth century
At a time when the Great weigh all their weight on a king weakened by conflict, Gaston Phoebus is presented both as a prince type of the fourteenth century, and as an original personality and unpredictable, with an ambiguous reputation he knows very well maintained.
Born in 1331, son of Gaston II, in which he succeeded in 1343 as Count of Foix, Gaston Phoebus is first a prince of war. He fought at first the English, but especially illustrated by its participation in the crusades of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia in 1356. The war, he made against its rivals, including the Count of Armagnac, he defeated at the Battle of Launac in 1362, and only releases against ransom. After the repudiation of Agnes of Navarre, he must fight against this brother, Charles the Bad. One time he even confronts the Duke Jean de Berry, with whom he is competing for the favor of King Charles VI ...
Gaston Phoebus is of course a territorial prince. His fields are divided into two large blocks, the County of Foix and Viscount of Bearn, so it is supposed to pay homage to the King of France for one, and the King of England for the other. He spent his life to take advantage of this situation initially difficult to reform the economy and its territories, while accumulating wealth by various methods sometimes questionable. The fact that it strikes currency shows that it is not a minor prince. 
Fébus is finally a prince of the arts, as well as the other Great's time, as the dukes of Berry and Burgundy. It has a sumptuous court, and works in his legend in his lifetime, wishing himself a poet and scholar, as shown in his Book of Hunting and prince builders with the construction of fortifications at Pau Orthez or. It is in this sense of celebration of its magnificence that he decided to be called "Phoebus," referring to the Sun and Apollo.
This does not stop to have a dark side, which goes far beyond its political intrigue. Cruel and avaricious, he falls into paranoia and his son accused of plotting against him at the instigation of Charles the Bad. He kills himself in a fit of anger, and finds himself no legitimate heir. When he died suddenly in 1391, after a bear hunt, his possessions are in the hands of Matthew Castelbon, a younger branch of Foix-Béarn, and under the authority of Charles VI, as seems to have Gaston wanted during the visit of the king. Phoebus was still trying to place his bastard son, Yvain, the court of France, but he died burned at the famous Ardent Ball in 1393 ...
Exposure Gaston Phoebus, Prince Sun (Cluny Museum)
The exhibition begins with some background which shows the strategic position of Gaston Phoebus in the conflicts of the time, and active (A prince in the turmoil of the war). This makes it quite exciting to discover a letter from the Black Prince to the Earl of Foix, and the promise of it to John III of Armagnac to respect the peace concluded. This letter is signed by the hand of Gaston, who wrote "Phoebus" instead of using a seal. This is one of the first signatures of this type that has survived. Other works, not all contemporary, but the Count indirectly related to it (this is the case throughout the exhibition), are interesting in more ways than one, as the treaty of alliance between Peter IV of Aragon and Charles V, or documents of the Teutonic Knights.
The second part, the Prince Images Sun, does not really his name at first, mainly because there is no portrait of Phoebus in his lifetime (the faithful portraits are still rare at the time). Representations that we find are after, particularly from the chronicles of Froissart, but also much later, like the engravings of Gustave Doré. In this part we also discover the buildings (or what's left) of Prince Sun, as the castle tower Moncade, the last remnant still standing at Orthez.
The court of Orthez is the theme of the next section. Seen as an "ideal knight" by Jean Froissart, the Count of Foix welcomed the great princes of the time, like Jean de Berry and the Black Prince and King Charles VI. Us back into the atmosphere of this court, the exhibition of contemporary works (or just after) of Gaston, but not directly from the treasury, from England or Italy, such as lamps and parts of Treasures Gaillon and Ariège (the dishes for example).
The epilogue returns to the death of Gaston Phoebus, with a remarkable final piece, the treaty by which the Count bequeathed his principality to King Charles VI. Time to take stock of everything on a prince who managed to make his legend, but whose character and excess, including the assassination of his own son, will mitigate somewhat the "chivalry" that saw in him as chroniclers Froissart.
The notice of history for all
If the exposure is certainly short (two rooms), with parts for many are not directly related to Sun Prince, we recommend it without hesitation. First, because some works are wonderful (illuminations), others moving (treaties and letters signed by princes and rulers of the time missed). Then, because exposure can serve as an introduction not only to (re) discovery of a prince atypical, but also an exciting time in the history of France. We can further extend the visit by the rest of the Cluny Museum, especially following the course entitled Art and Nature in the Middle Ages, which made the connection between Gaston Phoebus and museum collections.
- Gaston Phoebus (1331-1391), Prince Sun, the Cluny Museum - National Museum of the Middle Ages (Paris), until March 5, 2012. Information on the museum site . The exhibition extends to Pau from 17 March to 17 June 2012.
Read this:
- Gaston Phoebus (1331-1391), Prince Sun (collective), exhibition catalog, RMN / BNF, 2011, p. 176
- C. Pailhès, Gaston Phoebus: The Prince and the devil, Perrin, 2007.
