TARBES

town, capital of Hautes-Pyrnes dpartement, Midi-Pyrnes rgion, southwestern France. It lies on the left bank of the Adour River, which descends from the Pyrenees into a fertile plain. After the Roman occupation, when it was a city of considerable importance, Tarbes was seized for a time by the Arabs. In the 10th century it became the capital of the ancient countship of Bigorre, and it was captured by the English during the Hundred Years' War (13371453). It suffered greatly in the Wars of Religion in the late 16th century. In 1814 the duke of Wellington, in command of British forces, won a battle against the French near the city. Tarbes' industries, which developed after the coming of the railways, include an arsenal and electrical, mechanical, and aircraft works. Tarbes is reputed for its stud farm breeding of Anglo-Arabian horses. A small 14th-century Gothic cloister has been transferred from the ruined Abbey of Saint-Severand-de-Rustan and rebuilt in the Jardin Massey, a park. Marshal Ferdinand Foch and the poet Thophile Gautier were natives of Tarbes. Pop. (1982) 50,306; (1990) 50,228.