Prehistory and antiquity Prehistoric and Protohistoric remnants have been found, many in the valleys above Cauterets: Eleven
stone circles, four cromlech tumuli, six individual
tumuli and five
dolmens. The stone circles are particularly located in the Marcadau Valley and some plains and pastures. There are few traces of the period preceding the Roman conquest. Of the Gallo-Roman period, remains were found which used Cauterets thermal waters, such as a swimming pool. On the balcony of Saint-Savin, a
castrum was built as well as the
Palatium Aemilianum villa. The Villa Bencer was located on the present site of the village of Cauterets.
Middle Ages In the 8th or 9th century, a monk by the name of Sabinus came to live as a hermit in the valley. The future , his miracles and his canonization caused an influx of pilgrims. An
abbey was built around his hermitage. It had the
hôpital de Cauterès, named in a
Papal Bull of the 12th century along with territories given by various lords, such as
Charlemagne and the Comte de Bigorre. The abbey was plundered and destroyed by the
Normans. Between 1059 and 1078, Bernard III, Abbot of Saint-Savin, had installed a pool called "bain d'en-haut" [bath from above]. Cabin houses were grouped around this pool. This was the beginning of the village of Cauterets (
Caouteres). In the 12th century, a conflict arose between the inhabitants of Lavedan and those of the Aspe Valley for a theft of livestock; the result was the death of several Aspe people. The Bishop of Comminges,
Bertrand excommunicated the Bigorre people who were repentant. They were sentenced to life imprisonment and to pay a yearly fine on the
day of Saint Michel in the Church of Saint-Savin. It was regularly paid until 1789, and it was known as the
tribut des Médailles [tribute of the medals]. Three baths existed around the different hot springs and there were twenty
feus in the village.
Gaston Phébus came to Cauterets to treat his deafness in 1380.
Early modern period Return to "antique" values during the Renaissance of the 16th century favoured the return to the baths and the thermal waters. Multiple visits by
Marguerite de Navarre in this century gave real fame to Cauterets. In the 16th century, the
Abbey of Saint-Savin lost its prestige and decayed due to lack of maintenance. During the
French Wars of Religion, hydrotherapy stopped due to the destruction and wars against Spain. The construction of passable roads in the 18th century to
La Raillère helped the development of the valley.
La Raillère became a water source of fashion thanks to editions of books on the water sources of Cauterets. At the end of the 18th century, the Bruzaud Spa was built.
Contemporary period The 19th century and the golden age of spas , ''Vue du
Pont d'Espagne près de Cauterets'', (A view of the Bridge of Spain near to Cauterets), 1807, ,
Toulouse The thermal baths of César, the Grand Hôtel d'Angleterre and the Grand Hotel Continental were all created along with monumental facades. All are witnesses of a 19th-century golden age of
spas. Among its famous visitors,
George Sand went there in 1825,
Chateaubriand in 1829 and
Victor Hugo in 1843. However, the socialites weren't the only ones to attend Cauterets:
Bernadette Soubirous, affected by asthma, went there on several occasions in 1858 and 1859. The vogue of hydrotherapy in the 19th century brought many personalities including members of the Bonaparte family.
Hortense de Beauharnais, Queen of Holland, daughter of Empress Joséphine and wife of
Louis Bonaparte, King of Holland stayed in Cauterets from 18 June to 10 August 1807. On 25 July 1807, the Queen accompanied by guides Clement, Lacrampe and Martin, made the Cauterets-Gavarnie crossing by the . In 1822, Vincent Chausenque, made the first ascent of the peak that now bears his name at above sea level. Count
Henry Russell and other famous mountaineers came to realise numerous ascents from the valley. On 8 September 1859,
Napoleon III and
Empress Eugenie visited Cauterets. La Raillère was built in stone from 1818 to 1828. Transport infrastructure developed strongly, including the line of railway between Lourdes and
Pierrefitte which opened in 1871, then the Pierrefitte-Cauterets electric line in 1899, and the Cauterets-La Raillère tramway was put into service on 2 August 1897.
The 20th century: Towards a society of leisure At the beginning of the 20th century, Louis Falisse was one of the pioneers of skiing in the Pyrenees. With Henri Sallenave and Louis Robach, he made the first ascents of the
Vignemale and the
Aneto on ski. They gave tribute to the Pic Falisse at , close to the Grande Fache. The Cauterets ski club was founded in 1907. In 1910, the France Skiing Championship was organised at
Eaux-Bonnes and Cauterets. In 1918, one of the first guardians of the was Pantet; Pic R.-Pantet at bears his name. In 1937, the idea of a cable car to develop the skiing was launched but postponed due to World War II. In the 1950s, during the construction of numerous hydroelectric dams, Cauterets refused the introduction of several selected at the Pont d'Espagne. On 18 June 2013, a catastrophic flood destroyed several buildings of the village. The RD920 departmental road, the access road to Cauterets from
Pierrefitte-Nestalas, was swept away by the . The services of the General Council of the Hautes-Pyrénées commissioned a new section of road, in record time, of several hundred metres drawn on a mountainside, with a succession of spectacular laces that bypass the collapsed area.
Heraldry ==Demography==