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Mauléon-Licharre (Municipality, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France)

Flag (left, de facto; right, theoretical banner of arms) of Mauléon-Licharre - Images by Olivier Touzeau, 4 June 2022

Presentation of Mauléon-Licharre
Flag of Mauléon-Licharre

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Presentation of Mauléon-Licharre

Mauléon-Licharre (Basque: Maule-Lextarre; 2,954 inhabitants in 2021; 1,280 ha) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department and the capital of the Soule historical Basque province.

The Viscounts of Soule had their base in the fortress of Mauléon, created in the 11th century, when the Viscounty of Soule was formed: a castle motte erected on a hillock, simply composed of a wooden tower, flanked by a barnyard, the all protected by a palisade surrounded by a ditch. The viscounts of Soule took advantage of their territory. Despite being small in size, it held a strategic position between the Kingdom of Navarre to the south and the Duchy of Aquitaine to the north.

The chapel of Saint-Jean-de-Berraute is attested from 1220. It was part of the hospital commandery managed by the Hospitallers of the order of Saint John of Jerusalem. This commandery lodged the pilgrims of Saint-Jacques coming from Oloron by the Saint-Blaise Hospital and heading by Ordiarp towards Ostabat.

In the year 1152 Eleanor of Aquitaine married Henry II of England, thus the Duchy of Aquitaine joined the Crown of England. In 1261, after ten years of conflict, the last viscount of Soule, Auger III, surrendered the castle of Mauléon to Edward I of England, and as a result the territory of Soule was under direct authority of the Duke of Aquitaine, who was also the King of England. Control over the territory was delegated to a lord, who kept the castle of Mauléon and collected the taxes. Edward decided, to consolidate his power, to fortify Mauléon. A medieval wall, since destroyed, then protected the Upper Town. The latter was organized around a large rectangular square bordered by numerous arched houses housing the market. The ex-viscount Auger III allied with the Kingdom of Navarre, and taking advantage of the war between Philip IV, king of Navarre, and Edward I of England, retook his fortress at Mauléon in 1295, but he was forced to hand it back after Aquitaine was formally declared English in 1303.

Count Gaston IV of Foix-Béarn, favorable to the King of France, initiated, in 1449, the reconquest of Guyenne by the capture of Mauleon. When he died on the battlefield in 1472, the castle, as well as the whole of Soule, was definitively attached to France. It suffered new assaults in 1523 - but short-lived - those of the Prince of Orange and the Lord of Luxe. In the second half of the 16th century, the castle suffered from the Wars of Religion and it was also burned down on this occasion. In 1642, by order of Louis XIII, the fortified castle was demolished. In 1648 a partial reconstruction was organized but the castle was finally abandoned.

The Chapel of Saint-Jean-de-Berraute had become a parish church with the development of the town. Remodeled several times in the 16th century, it had the appearance of the churches of Soule with its Trinitarian bell tower. In 1661, Arnaud François de Maytie buried there, in front of the high altar, the body of the famous priest of Moncayolle nicknamed Matalas, who had led an insurrection of Soule peasants and who, taken prisoner, was beheaded.

Mauléon was the seat of a castellany, a royal bailiwick and the subdelegation of the Pays de Soule.
During the French Revolution, the old castle was used as a prison, a function it kept for years. In 1790, Mauléon was the capital of a district made up of the cantons of Barcus, Domezain, Mauléon, Sunharette and Tardets. It became the capital of the district from 1800 to 1926. In 1841, Mauléon absorbed Licharre and became Mauléon-Licharre.

Abandoned for a long time after the construction of the new Saint-Jean-Baptiste church in 1855, the nave of the first chapel was demolished around 1910. Only the choir remained, in the center of the cemetery which had already spread. It was saved from total destruction in 1983 by the municipality: repair of the roof, consolidation of the vault and the walls. It was listed as a historic monument in 1984.

Mauléon-Licharre is the capital of the canvas shoe known as the espadrille. The manufacture of espadrilles, sandals and ankle boots, rubber boots and clogs occupies 2,000 workers. A significant part of the activity is
agriculture (breeding, pastures). The town is part of the Ossau-Iraty cheese appellation area. Etorki cheese is also made here.

Olivier Touzeau, 4 June 2022

Flag of Mauléon-Licharre

The arms are blazonned: Gules a lion rampant Or on a chief Azure three fleur-de-lys Or. These are the arms of Soule with a chief of France.

Several flags are flown in front of the city hall of Mauléon-Licharre. The municipal flag is a banner of arms, but... with a white lion instead of yellow: photo (2016), photo (2016), photo (2011), photo (2008).

This faulty transformation leads the commune to display the colors of the
city of Lyon instead of its own, inherited from the well-known local coat of arms of Soule. We may conjecture that this error is a facility of the flagmaker, or an error with the order, related to the fact that the flag of Lyon and Lyonnais are mass-produced and widely present in catalogs...

The flags displayed are: France, EU, Basque country, Soule, Béarn, Mauléon-Licharre, Lower-Navarre, Tardets.

Olivier Touzeau, 4 June 2022