TARBES, a town of south-western France, capital of the department of Hautes-Pyrenees, 98 m. W.S.W. of Toulouse on the Southern railway. Pop. (1931) 28,943. Under the Roman dominion Turbo, which was about 1 r m. S.E. of the present town of Tarbes, was the capital of the Bigerriones, one of the states of Novempopulania. The bishopric of Tarbes dates from the 5th century, and in feudal times its bishops held the chief temporal authority, that of the counts of Bigorre, of which Tarbes was capital, being limited to the quarter of the town where their castle was built. The English held the town from 1360 to 1406. In 1569-70 Tarbes was twice taken by Gabriel, count of Mont gomery, and the inhabitants driven out, but in August 157o the peace of St. Germain allowed them to return. Subsequently Tarbes was several times taken and re-taken, and a number of the inhabitants of Bigorre were forced to take refuge in Spain, but in 1594 the members of the League were finally expelled. The English, under Wellington, gained a victory over the French near Tarbes in 1814. Tarbes stands in a fertile plain, stretching to the Pyrenees, on the left bank of the Adour, streams from which are conducted through the town. The lines of the Southern
railway from Morcenx to Bagneres-de-Bigorre and Lourdes and from Toulouse to Bayonne cross here. Chief among the many open spaces is the Jardin Massey (35 acres), given to his native town by a director of the gardens of Versailles and containing a museum of paintings and antiquities. Near a small lake stands a cloister (15th century) brought from the abbey of St. Sever-de Rustan, 14 m. N.E. of Tarbes. The architecture of the cathedral, Notre Dame de la Secle, is heavy, but the cupola of the transept (14th century), and a rose window of the i3th century, in the north transept, are interesting. There is also a modernized Car melite church of the i3th century. Tarbes is the seat of a bishopric under the archbishop of Auch, of a prefecture, tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a chamber of commerce and a board of trade-arbitrators. Tarbes has an important stud for the breeding of Anglo-Arabian horses, much used by light cavalry. The industrial establishments include tanneries, potteries, saw mills and turners' shops. There are important fairs and markets.