Pau

Pau stands above the Gave de Pau, facing the peaks of the Pyrenees. Its castle became the residence of the rulers of Béarn, and in 1464 Pau succeeded Orthez as their capital. After the rulers of Navarre were driven from Pamplona in 1512, they found refuge in their Béarnais lands and at Pau. Jeanne d'Albret gave birth here in 1553 to Henri of Navarre, the future Henri IV of France. The castle remained a centre of government through the religious struggles of his age. In 1620 Louis XIII came to Pau and had an edict registered joining Béarn and Navarre to the French crown, ending their separate political institutions.