Whatever the ultimate goal of Gaston III's territorial expansion may have been, his policy of armed neutrality in the Anglo-French conflict, together with successful resistance to claims of both English and French suzerainty over Béarn, had effectively preserved his domains from the then endemic ravages of war. To be sure, the perennial feud with Armagnac brought some enemy incursions, particularly into Marsan and Foix, but the most dangerous foreigners – Edward of Wales and Louis d'Anjou – refrained from attempting an invasion of Béarn. During his devastating chevauchée of 1355 from Bordeaux to Narbonne, the Black Prince spared not only the Count's possessions, but also French towns such as Belpech, where Fébus had only a house. The time came when he would have been more inclined to punish Fébus for his evasions, but English power in Aquitaine was by then waning, Béarn was poised for a strong resistance, and an invasion might well have turned into a rout. A few years later, when the balance of forces in Aquitaine was altered and Fébus had reasons to fear a French attack, Louis d'Anjou also hesitated. Then, as more urgent tasks required his presence north of the Garonne, the turbulent Duke moved on without breaching the Béarnais border.

More dangerous perhaps than the various royal armies, which could at least sometimes be stopped or diverted by diplomacy, mercenary companies idled by lengthy truces between the ‘regular’ belligerent powers were one of the major scourges of the century.