Gave, the view from the château extending over a fertile valley limited
by the snow-capped Pyrenees. There had been a château at Pau as early
as the tenth century, but the oldest portions of the structure now
subsisting date from the time of Edward III., when Pau was the capital
of the celebrated Gaston-Phoebus. The château was considerably enlarged
and embellished in the fifteenth century, but it was not until after
Margaret's marriage with Henry d'Albret that the more remarkable
decorative work was executed. Upon leaving Nérac to reside at Pau,
Margaret summoned a number of Italian artists and confided the
embellishment of the château to them.(1)

It was not, however, merely the château which Margaret beautified
at Pau. Already at Alençon she had laid out a charming park, which a
contemporary poet called a terrestrial paradise,(2) and upon coming
to reside at Pau she transformed the surrounding woods into delightful
gardens, pronounced to be the finest then existing in Europe.(3)

1 Some of the doors and windows of the château are
elaborately ornamented in the best style of the Renaissance,
whilst the grand staircase, although dating from Margaret's
time, has vaulted arches, sometimes in the Romanesque and at
others in the Gothic style. Entwined on the friezes are the
initials H and M (Henry and Margaret), occasionally
accompanied by the letter R, implying _Rex_ or _Regina_. On
the first floor of the chateau is the bedroom occupied by
Margaret's husband, remarkable for its Renaissance chimney-
piece, and also a grand reception hall, now adorned with
tapestry made for Francis I. in Flanders. It was in this
latter room that the Count of Montgomery--the same who had
thrust out the eye of Henry II. at a tournament, and thereby