Gaston III, Count of Foix

Gaston III, known as Gaston Phoebus or Fébus (30 April 1331 – 1 August 1391), was the eleventh Count of Foix (as Gaston III) and twenty-fourth Viscount of Béarn (as Gaston X) from 1343 until his death.

Gaston III was overlord of approximately ten territories located between Gascony and Languedoc. During the Hundred Years' War, he established his domination over the Pre-Pyrenees by playing on the conflicts between French and English monarchies. He authored the Livre de chasse, an illustrated manuscript on hunting. Gaston used the name Fébus, using the Occitan spelling, after a crusade in Prussia in reference to the Greco-Roman sun-god Apollo (known contemporaneously as Phoibos).

The only legitimate child of Gaston II, Count of Foix, and Aliénor of Comminges, Gaston inherited a fragmented territory that paid homage to the king of France as well as the king of England. During the Hundred Years' War, he claimed sovereignty over Béarn on 25 September 1347. He won decisive victories against the House of Armagnac (the ancestral enemies of his house), thus ensuring the union between Béarn and Foix. Gaston left no legitimate heir, as he likely killed his only legitimate son in 1380 for attempting to assassinate him.

Gaston constructed and strengthened several fortresses during his life. Endowed with immense wealth, Gaston III notably built the Château de Montaner to symbolize the union between Béarn and Foix. Known as the Prince of the Pyrenees, Gaston ruled as an enlightened despot, playing the role of lord protector for his people. Gaston III is prominent in Pyrenean history due to his reign, but also from the accounts of various chroniclers and contemporaries, including Jean Froissart in his Chronicles.