which was founded in 1160 and served as a staging ground for pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. However, in 1193, Richard I of England, who was also duke of Aquitaine and, as such, a vassal to the king of France, agreed to relinquish sovereignty over a strip of land—located next to the Earldom of Béarn and stretching from the Pyrenees down to the Adour—to his father-in-law, Sancho VI of Navarre, who ruled over northern Spain. This land was then integrated into the kingdom of Navarre under the name Lower Navarre (French: Basse-Navarre; Basque: Neferroa Beheroa), and thus removed from the realm of France for the next four centuries. Sames, hemmed in at the confluence of the three rivers, remained under French control but found itself politically isolated. It was cut off from the village of Oeyregave to the northeast by the Earl of Orthe's fortress at Peyrehorade, and from the rest of Labourd by the Bidouze river, on the opposite bank of which was set a ring of villages belonging to Navarre. It was also cut off from its southwestern neighbours beyond Bidache, where a fortress was built in 1325 by the Earl of Gramont, and from Guiche to the south, which had a strong fortress dating back to the 11th century. Additionally, in 1289, the Duke of Aquitaine—who controlled Bayonne, the only port between Spain and Bordeaux—established a stronghold on the hilltop of Hastingues half a mile away under an agreement with the Abbey of Arthous (which sought protection from the Earl of Orthe). As a result of this isolation, the commune's jurisdictional, police, and fiscal situation were blurred until two decisive steps were taken in the second half of the 16th century: In 1563, Sames and neighbouring villages to the south were integrated into the new Earldom of Guiche, created by King Charles IX of France on behalf of the Gramont family. Sames was thus clearly reinstated into the province of Labourd. In 1589, Henry of Navarre became King Henry IV of France, ending Lower Navarre's four centuries of detachment from France. In 1790, when the territorial divisions of France were reorganized by the French Revolution, Sames and its neighbours in Labourd and Lower Navarre were placed in the Basses-Pyrénées department, later renamed Pyrénées-Atlantiques. Culture Since 2006, Sames has been the seat (at Quartier Saint-Jean) of an association dedicated to the promotion of lyric arts. The