ORTHEZ, a city in the province of Bearn, and perhaps the meanest in all France. It was, however, till the Revolution, a bishop's see. The cathedral is a wretched edifice, very ancient, built in a barbarous style, and almost in ruins. The remains of the castle of Orthez are very noble, and its situation is fine, on a hill, which commands the town and a great extent of country. The people call it Le Château de la Feuse Jeanne, because that queen resided in it during many years, in preference to the castle of Pau. Some of the apartments, though in ruins, may yet be entered. The princess Blanche, daughter to John king of Aragon and Navarre, was shut up, and died here, in 1464. Her brother being dead, she became heiress to the crown of Navarre; but her father having delivered her into the hands of her younger sister Leonox countess
Orthodox of Foix, she confined the unhappy Blanche in the castle of Orthez, and, after an imprisonment of two years, caused her to be poisoned.