Like many feudal rulers, Gaston III had no fixed capital in the modern sense of a central seat of government located in or near his principal residence. The coterie of familiars that formed the rudimentary governing council of Foix-Béarn under Fébus normally followed him wherever he chose to be at any given time. What remains of the several castles where he dwelt in various parts of his domains suggests that they were primarily fortresses, accommodating rather cramped living quarters. The oldest may have been the castle of Foix, on a site inhabited since prehistoric times and fortified since the tenth century. Perched on a crag 200 feet above the town and the bridge on the Ariège, its aspect had discouraged a potential attack by Simon de Montfort during the Albigensian ‘crusade’, and it remained an important military base for Gaston III, especially in the months leading to the Launac victory in December 1362. Thereafter, he made little use of the ancestral seat, and, when in the county of Foix, made Mazères his habitual residence. His choice was probably due in large part to the proximity of Toulouse. Fébus does not appear to have owned an ostel in the capital of Languedoc, but Mazères, only a day's ride away, and at about equal distance from Carcassonne, was ideally situated for keeping an eye on the affairs of that French province, as well as those of neighbouring Catalonia.