History

Presentation

Ice age

We owe our valley of Ossau to this famous glacier which, tens of thousands of years ago, covered the Pyrenees.
It is indeed a thick layer of ice that has dug the wide furrow/ plateau that extends today from Laruns to Arudy.

Palaeolithic/Magdalenian

Numerous remains discovered in the caves around Arudy have helped refine our knowledge of this prehistoric part: the human presence in the valley dates from the late glacial period (about 17,000 years ago).
It is the warming of the climate that pushes the first hunter-gatherers to migrate to the mountains.

Beginning of pastoralism / Neolithic (generalization of tools) :

Little by little, man passes from an economy of predation to an economy of production.
It was then that the first semi-nomadic pastoralists settled. According to recent palynological studies (pollen and fossil studies) carried out in Ossau, the beginnings of pastoralism on high grasslands date back more than 7000 years.

Invasions

While life in the valley is gradually organized, the daily life of the Ossalois is forced to evolve with the passage of different peoples: the "Iberians" (came from Asia through North Africa and Spain around 500 BC) then a century later, the "Celts" (from the North and West).

In the year 60 BC, the Romans, under the orders of Caesar, set up their administration in OLORON... Rome will then enter the valley by appointing a "magister" (high official) who will build a "vila" at the heart of it.
This «vila» (today the village of «BIELLE»: «vila», «villa», «biela») will become the «Capitolium» or «capdulh», historical capital of the whole valley.
The control of the Roman Empire over the territory lasted 5 centuries but was not limited to the establishment of an administration, it also led to an economic revolution by the introduction of cereal cultivation (millet, rye and barley).

Following this long period, the Visigoth, Arab and Norman invasions succeed one another. The Normans razed Oloron in 841 and also advanced towards the Ossau Valley.
According to legend, the Ossalois resistance is led by the young Lord of BEON who kills in single combat the Norman chief, thus saving the valley!
a chapel of Our Lady of the Ayguelade in Bielle was built in memory of this fight won.

A valley apart

The valley of Ossau is structured by forging little by little its Vallean identity. In 1221, it is attributed, by the viscount béarnais Guillaume de Moncade, its own for (set of legal texts constituted between the XIth and the XVth century).
In the 14th century, the «Jurade d'Ossau», composed of all the representatives of the valley, manages its own system of governance.
It meets in the «Ségrari» (room adjoining the church of Bielle) to ensure the well-being of the inhabitants, the respect of the privileges of the valley against the seigniorial authority béarnaise and the respect of the pastoral treaties.
At the same time, the inhabitants also freely administered themselves and managed huge stretches of undivided pastures, both in the mountains and in the middle, with the moors of Pont-Long located north of Pau.

On 15 October 1620 LOUIS XIII invaded the Béarn and entered Pau. Five days later, he published an edict to «bring union and incorporation of Bearn and Navarre to the crown of France».
Béarn lost its independence (claimed by Gaston Febus in 1347)... but the Ossalois did not lose their culture and their unique identity.
In order to minimize, to stifle the uprising of the people, the king ensures that the Béarnais can keep their «fors and privileges».

Thermal baths and first tourists

In the 19th century, the Ossau Valley saw its first tourists arrive with the development of hydrotherapy, driven by Napoleon III and his wife the Empress Eugenie.
These wealthy new visitors are at the origin of many new infrastructures in the valley.
It is in this context that the villages of Eaux-Chaudes and Eaux-Bonnes have flourished.

Beginning of Pyreneism

The mountains that dominate these spas attract the most curious and especially the most adventurous.
There is everything to explore; passes and summits to climb... It is with the appearance of local guides (some of which will become famous) that mountain tourism is born... Thus creating a new economy that marks the beginning of Pyreneism.

Today

Today tourism is still part of the local economy in the same way as hydroelectricity, pastoralism, hydrotherapy, logging...
It is in the 20th century that the Ossau valley will see the appearance of its two ski resorts, with Gourette then Artouste.