a town of France, department of Lower Pyrenees, stands on a hill 892 feet above the sea, on the right bank of the Gave de Pau, 24 miles N.W. of Pau, and 37 E. of Bayonne. The town is regularly laid out and well built, having been recently much improved. The river is here crossed by an old Gothic bridge of four arches, with a tower in the centre. Among the public buildings is a handsome town-hall and an old parish church. On a height above the town stand the remains of the castle of Moncada, built by Gaston de Foix in 1240. These consist of a few dilapidated walls, with one lofty tower. Orthez contains a college and a court of the first instance. Manufactures of linen and woollen stuffs, leather, copper, and other articles are carried on. There is an active and extensive trade in hides, hams, wool, cattle, horses, timber, slates, marble, &c. Orthez was formerly a place of considerable importance, as it was the residence of the princes of Béarn until the end of the fifteenth century, when they removed to Pau. The castle of Moncada was at one time the residence of Jeanne d'Albret, Queen of Navarre, the mother of Henri IV., who established a Protestant college in the town. Orthez suffered much during the civil wars in France after the Reformation. Viscount d'Orthez, governor of the town, was one of the few who nobly refused to obey the royal order for the massacre of St Bartholomew. On the 27th of February 1814 a victory was gained by Wellington, with 37,000 troops, over Soult, with 40,000, in the vicinity of Orthez. In the retreat the French attempted, but unsuccessfully, to blow up the bridge over the Gave de Pau. Pop. 6619.