Cauterets and literature

1546: Marguerite of Angoulême, Queen of Navarre, wrote her famous « Heptaméron » while in Cauterets to take the waters. From 1541 to 1549 she visited Cauterets on a number of occasions to treat her rheumatism.

1761: The Abbé de Voisenon, author of novels, stories and comedies, stayed in Cauterets for several months. He was a member of the Académie Française.

1792: Ramond spent the autumn in Cauterets.

1816: Cauterets welcomed the philosopher Maine de Biran.


Marguerite de Navarre, Claude-Henri de Fusée de Voisenon, Louis Ramond de Carbonnières and Maine de Biran.

1825: The writer George Sand, or Baroness Dudevant, had an affair in Cauterets with Aurélien de Sèze, a young lawyer from Bordeaux, before becoming the lover of Musset and Chopin.

1826: Alfred de Vigny came to Cauterets on his honeymoon with his English wife Lydia Bunburry. On his return he published his « Poèmes antiques et modernes ».

1829 :Cauterets was where René de Châteaubriand’s took refuge with his lover, the beautiful, passionate and young Léontine de Villeneuve « L’Occitanienne »,who was 40 years his junior. In «  Les mémoires d’Outre tombe »”, he tells the story of this, his last love.

1840: Gustave Flaubert came to take the waters in Cauterets.


George Sand, Alfred de Vigny, François-René de Chateaubriand and Gustave Flaubert.

1843 : Victor Hugo (August) wrote a poem for « Contemplations » in Cauterets as well as the famous letters to his friend, Louis Boulanger, to whom he recounted his stay in Cauterets : « Imagine, Louis, I get up every day at four o’clock in the morning and at this hour, which is both dark and light at the same time, I set off for the mountains. I walk along a mountain stream, I plunge into the wildest gorge there is and, on the pretext of taking a dip in the hot water and drinking sulphur, I witness a new, unexpected and wonderful sight every day. »

He spent his time in Cauterets Cauterets in the company of his mistress, the actress Juliette Drouet. On his return from Cauterets he published « Voyage vers les Pyrénées ».

11846: Eugénie de Guérin, the author of « Lettres » and a « journal » stayed in Cauterets in the Maison Longué, opposite the church..

1883: Hector Malot, author of the novel « Sans Famille » met his art friends in Cauterets.

1888: Cauterets hosted the writer Emile Zola.


Victor Hugo, Eugénie de Guérin, Hector Malot and Emile Zola.

The doctor René Flurin, from a long-established family of doctors in Cauterets gave us « l’Histoire de Cauterets, des origines à nos jours » by Editions Créer « This unquestionably high-quality work is now the benchmark publication on Cauterets ». (One of the first readers)


René Flurin

Jacques Longué, native of Cauterets and journalist, has published a dozen books and thousands of articles on the history and people of his region.