Béarn, formerly one of the thirty-two provinces into which France was divided, and now forming the greatest portion of the department of Basses-Pyrénées. The inhabitants are chiefly Gascons with a strong infusion of Basque blood, and they speak a characteristic Gascon dialect—which is practically a kind of Provençal (q.v.). Béarn was a portion of Aquitania under the Romans, and after the downfall of that empire, under its ruling dukes it was a country of considerable importance. From the intermarriage of the ruling family, the Counts of Foix, with that of Navarre, sprang the French monarch Henry IV., who, because he was born and brought up in Béarn, was derisively called Le Béarnois. When he ascended the throne of France, Béarn, of course, virtually became a part of that country, but was only formally incorporated with it in 1620 by Louis XIII.
See Rivarez, Chansons et Airs populaires de Béarn (1844); Bourdeau, Ancienne Gascogne et Béarn (1862); Cadier, Les États du Béarn (1887); Lespy, Proverbes du Béarn (1893); also the articles BASQUES, GASCONY.