The 9th April 1419, in the year of our Lord. It was not for the first time that he reached the summit of the hill at Cabidos, situated a half-league away from his estate of Arbleix at Philondex in neighbouring Tursan. He had always loved the view over towards the Pyr\u00e9n\u00e9es from this vantage point, where he often came to wonder at the spectacle of this beauty, so eternal, and to say to himself, as Alphonse de Lamartine said of Pau four centuries later: \u201cit\u2019s the most beautiful view on earth!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n That day, however, his gaze was different. Three days prior our man had changed his status, and with it, his bearing \u2013 he had become the new Baron Trubess\u00e9. Arnauton Guilhem Du Vignau, the man who bought, for 200 gold florins at the office of the Royal Notary Ma\u00eetre Daubin, the Barony of Trubess\u00e9 and its holdings, with, in accordance with feudal legislation, all associated seigniorial rights and titles.<\/p>\n Certainly the Barony came under the Viscount of Louvigny, the Duke of Grammont, but the title of Baron Trubess\u00e9 made him all the same the Lord of the Abbey of Pimbo, the Lord of Arbleix, of P\u00e9chevin, of Bugnein, of Boursac, of Saint Sorlin du Coudret, of Curley, of Barbasse, of Taillancourt, co-Lord of Barenne et Cavier de From a ledge halfway up the hill, he saw what would become the heart of his fief, the Ch\u00e2teau of Cabidos. The building appeared austere with its four towers around the main building, but he had already devised his plans. In a few weeks he would take a wife and they would come to live here. With her, he would remodel the building and would extend also the village church, set like a pearl on the pinnacle of the estate.<\/p>\n He knew also that the land of Cabidos was well drained and generous. With its south-facing orientation he could plant vines and trade with the English merchants who were rife in the region. The subjects of Henry V, the King of England and Duke of Aquitaine, were neighbours of Trubess\u00e9 and highly fond of the wines of B\u00e9arn and Tursan which they came to buy at Arzacq, the region\u2019s most important market.<\/p>\n The son and sole heir of all the lands and titles of Trubess\u00e9 belonging to Arnauton Guilhem, was Menard du Vignau. Menard defended relentlessly his baronial rights and was upheld as a noble by the judgement of the Viscount of Louvigny. Bertonnier, who would succeed him, died in 1512 in the battle of Brescia in Italy, in the service of Gaston of Foix.<\/p>\n It is with Jacques that the title of Baron of Trubess\u00e9 reappears in 1554. He undertook major renovations to the Ch\u00e2teau, keeping only two of the four towers, and adding a main building more suitable for the life of a noble family. Jacques spent all of his life at the Ch\u00e2teau, from where he supervised the 3,500 hectares of his estate; and it is to Jacques that we owe the creation of the sweet white wine from the vineyards of Cabidos, a nectar so highly-renowned and so greatly-appreciated that it was served on the table of the Lord of Gramon and Prince of Bidache, Antoine the First, named \u201cl\u2019ou gentil\u201d (\u201cthe kind\u201d) by his vassals in recognition of his great goodness.<\/p>\n The following generations were divided between the work of the lands and vineyards, bearing arms in the service of the king, and becoming priests in the service of the church. Dominique was a Lieutenant under Charles IX; Pierre was the priest of Monein; Mathieu was honoured by the hand of Henry IV in person for his excellent military service; another Mathieu was promoted by licence of Louis XIII to the grade of Captain in Chief of the Regiment of B\u00e9arn; Elie was Captain of the Regiment of Champagne for Louis XIV; Bernard was in the legal service of the Pope; other descendants of Du Vigneau de Trubess\u00e9 became Knights of Saint Louis, or canons and priests at Cabidos and in neighbouring parishes; and thus succeeded the line of this noble family of B\u00e9arn.<\/p>\n During the 18th<\/sup> Century the successive barons of the House of Trubess\u00e9 added a second building to the side and north of the Ch\u00e2teau, as well as a terrace. The demolition of one of the two remaining towers enabled this extension, as well as the construction of a winery to store the produce of the vines of Cabidos.<\/p>\n The family Du Vignau de Trubess\u00e9 dedicated themselves to the benefit of their barony and its vassals during the following centuries which brought troubled times. When the revolution and the ensuing \u2018terror\u2019 of 1793 broke out, the very young Jean-Baptiste was living with his family. The Ch\u00e2teau of Cabidos was sacked and set alight by a group of revolutionaries who had come from the direction of Lescar. Jean-Baptiste\u2019s mother saved their lives, as well as the rest of the estate, by directing the revolutionaries to the winery where their anger was dispelled as they set about drinking the estate\u2019s entire stocks of wine.<\/p>\n With his mother and his five brothers and sisters, the family found themselves plunged into misery, relentlessly threatened with denouncement as aristocrats, and at the risk of finding their heads on the guillotine. When the torment had passed, Jean-Baptiste set about rebuilding the House of Trubess\u00e9 and its estate. Notably, at the entrance of the Ch\u00e2teau he established the garden in its current form.<\/p>\n![\"blason\"](\"http:\/\/www.chateau-de-cabidos.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/blason.jpg\")
<\/a>Garos and of Cabidos, and allowed him moreover to bear the arms of Trubess\u00e9. \u201cA magnificent golden eagle holding in its beak an arrow with silver fletching, the arrowhead pointed high, and standing boldly on the blade of a sword, hilt facing. Crowned by a baronial stamp: a terrifying knight\u2019s helmet with its visor facing head on; the whole supported on either side by two imposing griffons.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
<\/a><\/h2>\nJacques the Builder<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Saving family and Ch\u00e2teau: the blood of the vines<\/strong><\/h2>\n