Bagnères-de-Bigorre (, literally Bagnères of Bigorre; ) is a commune and subprefecture of the Hautes-Pyrénées Department in the Occitanie region of southwestern France.
Name The town was known in antiquity as (Latin for "watery neighborhood") and in the Middle Ages as ("Waters of the Comminges"). Its present name similarly means "Baths" () of Bigorre, the area of southwestern France once inhabited by the and now forming most of the department of Hautes-Pyrénées. Either Bagnères-de-Bigorre or nearby Cieutat was apparently the "Begorra" attested in AD 400, which also derived from the ancient tribe.
Heraldry
Geography
Location Bagnères-de-Bigorre is located in the foothills of the Pyrenees partly in the valley of the Adour some southeast of Tarbes and east of Lourdes.
Hydrography
The Adour river flows through the north-east of the commune and the town flowing towards the north to eventually flow into the Atlantic Ocean at Bayonne. Numerous streams flow through the commune including the GaiVeste which forms the northern border as it flows north-east to join the Adour, the Oussouet which forms part of the western border as it flows north, the Ardazen which forms part of the eastern border as it flows east to join the Angoue, the Quartier par d'Abay which also forms part of the eastern border as it flows north-east gathering numerous tributaries, the Lhécou flows north from Lac Bleu just south of the commune to join the Quartier par d'Abay, the Garet forms part of the south-eastern border as it flows north from several lakes in the south of the commune (Lac de Caderolles, Lac de Gréziolles), the Adour d'Arizes flows south-east, and the Adour du Tourmalet flows east then north-east through the south of the commune, the hamlet of La Mongie and the Castillon Dam, to join the Adour d'Arizes forming the Adour de Gripp.
Climate Bagneres-de-Bigorre is relatively untouched by the west by south-west disturbances which blow out before the high border mountain range. It is however intensely exposed to north by north-west disturbances that collide with the terrain. This barrier effect is felt up to the foothills so that springs, autumns, and winters are cool and rainy while summers are often hot and particularly stormy.
History
Antiquity Bigorre was conquered by the Roman general Julius Caesar in 56 BCE and incorporated into the province of Gallia Aquitania. Valerius Messala stamped out the last pockets of tribal resistance in 28 BC at a victory over the Campani on a hill in Pouzac. The Romans subsequently settled and greatly frequented Vicus Aquensis's natural springs. At its greatest extent, the Roman vicus covered about half as much area as the present community. In the 4th-century reforms, the area around Vicus Aquensis became Aquitania Tertia or Novempopulana. It was sacked by the Visigoths amid the Barbarian Invasions.
Middle Ages The Visigoths in the area were displaced by the Franks following their defeat at the AD 507 Battle of Vouillé, but there are no documents or remains from the area to provide guidance on local history until 1171. Archaeologists have proposed that the city was destroyed at some point by an earthquake and abandoned following a plague outbreak in 580.
The area had recovered by 1171, when , count of Bigorre, granted "Aquae Convenarum" a liberal charter. The bill of rights and franchises lists four villages in the area protected by ramparts. By 1313, 800 "fires" (i.e., taxable homesteads) were recorded, making Bagnères as large as Tarbes, the county seat. The town was a place of manufacture and trade, with only 40% directly involved in agriculture. Mills were erected on widened canals fed by the Adour; in addition to grinding wheat, they were used to stamp cauldrons, forge scythes, and tanning hides. The Black Death reached the town in 1348. Amid the Hundred Years' War, the town fell into English possession in 1360 before suffering a second outbreak of plague the following year. Henri de Trastámara, an ally of the French king, plundered, ransomed, and razed the town in 1427. Two years later there were no more than 291 "fires" in Bagnères, although the town slowly repopulated.
Renaissance The town became even more commercial. In 1551, King of Navarre reformed the town's government, replacing its six consuls indirectly elected by a general assembly of the locals with a larger council of 40.
The area's natural springs again rose to national prominence under Jeanne d'Albret, who became queen of Navarre and countess of Bigorre upon her father Henry's death in 1555. She frequented the baths, prompting many other prominent visitors to follow.
Already badly disposed towards Catherine de' Medici, queen regent of France, Jeanne converted to Calvinism on Christmas Day, 1560. She began attempting to impose the Reformation on her domains the following year. As the people of Bagnères remained largely Catholic, following the onset of the French Wars of Religion after the Massacre of Vassy, arrests for heresy began in 1562. While the Count of Montgomery was recovering Béarn from Catherine's allies in 1569, he went on to demand large ransoms from her other towns, including Bagnères. (It is unrecorded whether the people of Bagnères paid him, but he is recorded leaving the town unmolested and leaving for Gers.) The governor of Bagnères Antoine Beaudéan was killed by the Protestant warlord Lizier in an ambush near Pouzac in 1574. By the end of the Wars of Religion, the town was ruined. Plague also returned in 1588. The outbreak ended following a religious procession prompted by the "Lighting of the Liloye", a Marian apparition at the Chapel of Notre-Dame-de-Médous.
The ascension of Jeanne's son Henry as king of France in 1589 united his titles—including count of Bigorre—with the French monarchy.
Early Modern era
The plague struck Bagnères again in 1628, 1653, and 1654. Public health measures were taken, with most patients isolated in the Salut Valley. The disease did not reappear after December 1654.
On 21 June 1660, strong earthquakes hit the town, continuing for three weeks. Only seven people were killed, but 150 houses were damaged and the springs initially dried up. This was only temporary, however, and the water flowed again sometime later. Reconstruction was carried out with dimension stones from the Salut Quarry. This stone has the distinction of becoming like marble once polished, a feature that characterized the architecture of the town afterwards.
Hydrotherapy was gaining importance. There were 25 private businesses by 1787. In 1775, a convent building was transformed into a gambling establishment called the Vaux-Hall where there was also dining and dancing. This is the first casino in Bagnères.
French Revolution
During the French Revolution, "moderate suspects" took refuge in the city from 1789 to 1793, ready to flee to Spain if the situation worsened. The departmental authorities were wary of the Bagnèrese, to whom they ascribed little civic or revolutionary spirit. In late 1793, before the hospitals in the southwest became saturated, the wounded were evacuated to spas. At Bagnères, the Saint Barthelemy Hospice, the Uzer and Lanzac houses, and the Hospice of the Médous Capuchins were used as military hospitals.
Industrialization
In the 19th century, the hydrotherapy offered by Bagnères's spas was reckoned particularly effective for digestive complaints but the private spas were growing more decrepit. In response, the municipality organized the construction of a Grand Thermal Spa (the "Thermes"), which was completed in 1828. By the 1870s, the tourists would double the town's population of during the "season", which ran from May until about the end of October. The casino also opened its own spa, the "Néothermes".
The supply of marble became a pillar of the local economy, with the expansion of the Géruzet marble works making it one of the largest in France from 1829 to 1880. In the 1870s, the industry employed a thousand people. Slate was also quarried. Dominique Soulé expanded his business from an old mill purchased in 1862, the same year the town was connected to the Midi Railway. The town also produced woolen and worsted cloth, leather, pottery, and toys. A local specialty was barège, a light fabric of mixed silk and wool.
The demolition of the city's walls allowed the completion of ring roads around the town, and the town was the site of tribunals of first instance and of commerce.
20th century The town's population had declined to around 7000 at the onset of the First World War, which resulted in the expansion of industry in Bagnères, particularly in the field of railway rolling stock. The marble industry collapsed but mechanical and textile industries replaced it. The share of hydrotherapy in the economy also decreased. In June 1944, during the Second World War, a punitive expedition of a company of SS murdered 32 in the town and hundreds more in the valley in retaliation against the actions of the resistance in the region.
The postwar period saw rapid urban growth, particularly in the 1960s. Rural areas of the commune disappeared. The territory was occupied by dwellings to the borders of the neighbouring communes of Gerde and Pouzac which also become urban.
At the end of the 20th century industrial activity decreased. The thermal spa guests were always present and new jobs were created by the implementation of the regional Centre for Reeducation and Rehabilitation, a large retirement home, and a nursing home.
Administration List of Successive MayorsList of Mayors of France
From To Name 1781 1784 Jean-Baptiste Nicolas Pambrun 1787 1790 Dumoret 1790 1791 Lebrun 1790 1790 de Cazebonne 1791 1792 Etienne Xavier Salaignac 1792 1794 Pierre Guchan 1794 1795 Jean-Louis Rousse 1795 1795 Bonnet 1795 1795 Dabbadie 1795 1797 Jean-Jacques Gaye 1797 1799 Dussert 1799 1799 Jean-Jacques Gaye 1799 1800 Costallat 1800 1801 Jean-Marie Sarrabeyrouse 1801 1806 Etienne Louis Salaignac 1806 1806 Piera 1806 1815 Paul Alexandre de Joulas 1815 1816 Bertrand Pinac 1816 1817 Achille d'Uzer 1817 1830 Jean Alexandre Duffourc d'Antist 1830 1831 Jean-Pierre Dumont 1831 1835 Aristide Lasserre 1835 1835 Jean-Pierre Dumont 1835 1838 Aristide Lasserre 1838 1842 Louis Dumoret 1842 1848 Jean-Baptiste Dauphole 1848 1848 François Soubies 1848 1848 Ariste Pambrun 1848 1870 Clément Cyprien d'Uzer 1870 1871 Mathieu Gaye 1871 1873 Jean-Jacques Dumoret 1873 1881 Dominique Jean-Marie Cardailhac 1884 1889 Robert de Puysegur 1889 1901 Jean-Marie Dejeanne 1901 1912 Bertrand Fortassin 1912 1914 Louis Lafforgue 1914 1915 Jean Lhez 1915 1918 Jean-Marie Cougombles 1918 1919 Jean Lhez 1919 1935 Prosper Nogues 1935 1941 Henri Suberbie
Mayors from 1941
From To Name 1941 1944 René Sühner 1944 1945 Joseph Domec 1945 1958 Joseph Meynier 1958 1965 Raymond Compagnet 1965 1977 André de Boysson 1977 1989 Eugène Toujas 1989 2013 Rolland Castells 2013 2020 Jean Bernard Sempastous 2020 2026 Claude Cazabat 2026 Nicole Darrieutort
Twinning
Bagnères-de-Bigorre has twinning associations with:National Commission for Decentralised cooperation Alhama de Granada (Spain) since 1995. Granarolo dell'Emilia (Italy) since 1985. Malvern (England) since 2016.Malvern Observator Tutzing (Germany) since 1975. Inverurie (Scotland) Since 2016.North-east town to say 'bonjour' to its new French twin - Evening Express
Intercommunality The Community of communes of Haute-Bigorre (CCHB) was created in December 1994 to support joint development projects. It has been allocated a general grant for operations by the State and large grants by the General Council, the Regional Council, the State, and by Europe. Its skills are in: Economic development (businesses, trades, commercial fabrics...); Services to the elderly, children, and the disabled; Protection and enhancement of the environment; Selective waste collection; Housing and living Environment policy; Land development; Tourism.
Health