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The Gers

Deep in south-west France, the Gers (formerly part of the duchy of Gascony) has a timeless quality. Here, nurtured by the warm southern sun, the land is rich and fertile, the gently undulating hills covered with fields of corn and sunflowers, as well as the vineyards of the Armagnac producers.

A land of castles and bastides

The history of the Gers is marked by periods of turbulence and of prosperity. As part of Aquitaine, it came under English rule in the mid 12th century after Eleanor of Aquitaine married Henry of Anjou, who subsequently became Henry II of England in 1154. Aquitaine then became the object of the Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453), in which the French eventually defeated the English and reclaimed the kingdom. This was followed in the 16th and 17th centuries by the intermittent Wars of Religion between the Catholics and the Protestant Huguenots.

It is this history that has shaped the region’s many medieval villages. The Gers boasts an astonishing 146 castles, one of the largest and most imposing of which is that of Lavardens, built on a limestone outcrop. There are also dozens of bastide villages (one third of modern-day Gersois villages are original medieval bastides). These fortified villages, with their grid-patterned streets and central arcaded market place, were established at many strategic points all over south-west France in the Middle Ages, both in English-owned Aquitaine and in parts still under French rule. In Gers, some of these new villages took the names of prestigious cities, hence Montréal-du-Gers, Fleurance (as in Florence, Italy), Cologne and Barcelonne-du-Gers. Many of course suffered great damage in the later wars.

Earlier types of settlement include sauveterres, small communities established by the Church which offered protection against attacks and feudal disputes in return for some form of service. The first sauveterre to be built in the Gers was Saint-Mont in 1040. Another type of settlement that appeared between the 11th and 13th centuries was the castelnau, built around a fortress or castle, and usually on a hill or rocky outcrop. Nowadays, along with the hill-top bastides, they make for an interesting skyline.

Exploring the region you will also discover ancient dovecots, once considered a symbol of wealth and power, and some of the few remaining water and windmills (at the peak of the Gers’ prosperity, there were 934 mills).

The pilgrims’ route to Santiago

After the remains of St James were miraculously revealed in north-west Spain in the 9th century, pilgrims from all over Europe flocked to visit the tomb. Four main routes developed across Europe, converging at various points in France. The section of the route through the Gers between Lectoure and Condom has been cited as of particular historical and cultural interest by UNESCO, which classed it as a World Heritage Site in 1998, along with other parts of the route. The constant flow of pilgrims - which peaked in the Middle Ages at 2 million per year - brought wealth to the region, as it did to all the regions through which the route passed. Three monuments that should be visited along the route are Auch cathedral, with its unique stained glass windows and intricately carved stalls, the monastery at La Romieu, and the Artigue bridge, built specifically for the pilgrimage.

A rich gastronomy…

The cuisine of the south-west is deliciously rich and earthy. Despite the high fat content of the region’s traditional dishes, the cuisine is widely recognised as contributing to a long life expectancy among Gersois. Poultry - chicken, turkey and guinea fowl, but particularly goose and duck - features in many regional dishes. In centuries past, most households would rear a handful of birds. Nothing would ever go to waste. The liver - foie gras - was, and still is, one of the most prized parts, either cooked or simply marinated and eaten raw, while the fat often served as a substitute for butter. The breast - magret in the Gers but maigret elsewhere in France - is delicious when grilled. Alternatively, the breast and legs are covered in salt and left for some time before being oven cooked and then preserved in their own fat, making the flesh as soft as butter. This rich and flavoursome dish is known as confit.

Other ingredients to be found locally are also incorporated into local recipes: walnuts (either whole or as oil), garlic, wild mushrooms and truffles. The latter are believed to have romantic properties - it has been written that ‘truffles make gentlemen more tender towards ladies, and ladies more docile towards gentlemen’.

…and excellent brandy

The Gers produces some wine, the Madiran appellation, originally a wine used at Mass whose popularity grew due to the steady flow of pilgrims, and Côtes de Saint-Mont. However, the region is best known for its brandy. Armagnac was first ‘invented’ at the beginning of the 14th century in a part of Gascony of the same name. The colourless eau de vie is aged in oak casks for between four and twenty years, during which time it acquires its colour and distinctive taste. The longer it is left to mature, the more amber-coloured and the less alcoholic it becomes. Documents found in the Vatican library attribute forty virtues to this famous Gersois export, including the curing of headaches, redness of eyes, and hepatitis, as well as the sharpening of the mind and the soothing of toothache.

Armagnac differs from Cognac, which is scorned locally as a cheap imitation of the real thing, in that it is distilled just once, rather than twice as in the case of the latter. Looking at a map, the area in which Armagnac is produced resembles a vine leaf, which is taken by some as sign that Armagnac was always meant for great things! Another local drink is Floc de Gascogne, a blend of wine and young Armagnac, usually served as an apéritif.

A source of literary inspiration

Finally, two of French literature’s most colourful fictional characters were Gascons. Alexandre Dumas’ d’Artagnan, one of The Three Musketeers (1844), was based on the real-life Gascon Charles de Batz, whose memoirs inspired Dumas. Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac was also a Gascon.

We offer a grade 1-2 walk in the Gers, Sunflowers & Abbeys. Several of the walking days follow the pilgrimage route, the itinerary taking you past small chapels, some fine bastide villages, and the monastery at La Romieu. With stays in both Condom and Lectoure, there is also the opportunity to taste and buy Armagnac.

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