Gaston VI, Viscount of Béarn

Who was Gaston VI, Viscount of Béarn?

Gaston VI, called the Good, was the French Viscount of Béarn, Gabardan, and Brulhois from 1173. He was also Count of Bigorre and Viscount of Marsan through his marriage in 1196 to Petronilla, the daughter of Countess Stephanie of Bigorre.

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Gaston was the son of ruling Viscountess Mary and William I of Béarn. He was the elder of twins, his younger brother being the later viscount William Raymond. After their birth, in light of the conflict in Béarn over the succession, Mary fled with them to the monastery of Santa Cruz de Volvestre. A Bearnese delegation reached the monastery in 1173 seeking one of the boys to be their viscount. Mary gave them Gaston, who was taken back to Béarn to rule.

During his minority, a council of regents from Aragon governed on his behalf. The council was led by Pelegrino de Castellarzuelo, lord of Barbastro. The period of the regency, however, is poorly documented. In 1187, when fourteen years old, Gaston was declared of age and paid homage to Alfonso II of Aragon at Huesca.

Like most of the baronage of southern France, Gaston did not participate in the Third Crusade, because of the grand conflict between the crown of Aragon on the one hand and the county of Toulouse on the other. Gaston was firmly in the Aragonese camp.