In the beginning
The Domaine de Beterguibel is located 3 minutes from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, capital of Lower Navarre. Lower Navarre is one of the seven traditional provinces (Zazpiak Bat) of the Basque Country (Euskal Herria).
It belonged to the Duchy of Gascony. It entered the history of the Kingdom of Navarre in the 9th century.
After a series of violent incidents, Richard the Lionheart returned it to Navarre in 1191. Occupied and sacked by Ferdinand the Catholic in 1512, Charles V abandoned it in 1530. Henry II d'Albret reclaimed it and established it as an independent kingdom. With Henry III of Navarre (later Henry IV), Lower Navarre joined the French crown in the person of the king, but remained a separate kingdom.
In 1620, Louis XIII annexed it to France.