The origin of Lourdes is uncertain. From the 9th century onwards it was the most important place in Bigorre, largely owing to the fortress which is intimately connected with its history. In 1360 it passed by the treaty of Brétigny from French to English hands, and its governor was murdered by Gaston Phoebus viscount of Béarn, for refusing to surrender it to the count of Anjou. Nevertheless the fortress did not fall into the possession of the French till 1406 after a blockade of eighteen months. Again during the wars of religion the castle held out successfully after the town had been occupied by the troops of the Protestant captain Gabriel, count of Montgomery. From the reign of Louis XIV. to the beginning of the 19th century the castle was used as a state prison. Since the visions of Bernadette Soubirous, their authentication by a commission of enquiry appointed by the bishop of Tarbes, and the authorization by the pope of the cult of Our Lady of Lourdes, the quarter on the left bank of the Gave has sprung up and it is estimated that 600,000 pilgrims annually visit the town. The chief of the pilgrimages, known as the national pilgrimage, takes place in August. Several religious communities have been named after Our Lady of Lourdes. Of these one, consisting of sisters of the third order of St Francis, called the Congregation of Our Lady of Lourdes (founded 1877), has its headquarters in Rochester, Minnesota. Another, the Order of Our Lady of Lourdes, was founded in 1883 for work in the archdiocese of New Orleans. See G. Marès, _Lourdes et ses environs_ (Bordeaux, 1894); Fourcade, _L'Apparition de la grotte de Lourdes_ (Paris, 1862) and _L'Apparition ... considérée au point de vue de l'art chrétien_ (Bordeaux, 1862); Boissarie, _Lourdes, histoire médicale_ (Paris, 1891); Bertrin, _Hist. critique des événements de Lourdes_ (2nd ed., Paris, 1905), written under authority of the bishop of Tarbes; H. Lasserre, _Miraculous Episodes of Lourdes_ (London, 1884, tr.); R. F. Clarke, _Lourdes and its Miracles_ (_ib_., 1889) and _Medical Testimony to the Miracles_ (_ib_., 1892); D. Barbé, _Lourdes hier, aujourd'hui, demain_ (Paris, 1893; Eng. trans. by A. Meynell, London, 1894); J. R. Gasquet, _The Cures at Lourdes_ (London, 1895); _Les Pèlerinages de Lourdes. Cantiques, insignes, costumes_ (Lourdes, 1897); W. Leschner, _The Origin of Lourdes_ (London, 1900). Zola's _Lourdes_ (Paris, 1894), a criticism from the sceptical point of view, in the form of a realistic novel, has called forth many replies from the Catholic side.