Gaston I. (Foix)

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Foix-Béarn coat of arms

Gaston I (* 1287 ; † December 13, 1315 ) was Count of Foix , Vice Count of Castelbon and Béarn (as Gaston VIII) and co-lord of Andorra from 1302 until his death . After the death of his maternal aunt in 1310, he was also Vice Count of Marsan .

He was the only son of his predecessor, Count Roger Bernard III. and his wife Marguerite de Montcade († 1319), heiress of Béarn.

During the first years of his reign, Gaston was under the tutelage of his mother, as he was only 13 years old when his father died. His youth did not prevent him from taking part in military activities, for example, during the Flanders War of King Philip IV , he drove 100 knights and almost a thousand infantrymen to the royal army, with whom he took part in the fateful Battle of the Golden Spurs at Courtrai on July 11, 1302 participated. After the king's army suffered a lossy defeat against the Flemish civil army there, Gaston returned to his lands in the south of France, where he immediately met his cousin Count Bernard VI. by Armagnacfought who made claims on Béarn . By King Philip IV, however, both were forced to conclude peace on December 25, 1303, after they had ignored Pope Clement V's calls for peace despite the threat of excommunication . Gaston then took part again in the king's campaign in Flanders where he took part in the victorious battle of Mons-en-Pévèle on August 17, 1304 , which a year later led to a provisional peace with Flanders in Athis-sur-Orge in which France ruled could secure over Flanders.

Returning to his domains, Gaston got involved in border disputes with his uncle King James II of Mallorca, which was also only settled by the intervention of King Philip IV in October 1308. When Gaston took over the management of his land from his mother a little later, he got into a conflict with her that had sparked off by his poor reign. After there were also armed clashes, mother and son reconciled on September 21, 1312. But Gaston immediately took advantage of the heirless death of Count Ermengol X. von Urgell in July 1314 to break a new dispute with Aragon . Gaston put forward an alleged inheritance decree, which the dead count had decreed in his favor in 1298, but which the king of Aragon declared as a forgery. Ultimately, Gaston could not oppose the power of Aragon and had to give up the county of Urgell .

In the same year Gaston, like so many French nobles, rose against the king's rigid tax policy and was imprisoned in the Grand Châtelet in Paris . But soon afterwards the king died and his successor Ludwig X. released the count from captivity. Gaston then joined the royal army on a new campaign against Flanders, where there was renewed fighting.

On the way there Gaston died on December 13, 1315 in the Abbey of Maubuisson near Pontoise . His body was transferred to Boulbonne Abbey , his family's burial place.

Marriage and offspring

Count Gaston I was married to Jeanne d'Artois († 1350), daughter of Philipp von Artois ; the marriage was contractually agreed in October 1303 after royal mediation in Senlis . Jeanne was a member of the Capetian branch line of Artois who descended from King Louis VIII . During the lifetime of her husband and son, Jeanne caused constant unrest through her personal claims to power and, above all, brought the nobility of Foix against her. Her son was to put her in long-term imprisonment. The children of Gaston I and Jeannes were:

Web links

predecessor Office successor
Roger Bernard III./I./I./III. Count of Foix 1302-1315
Blason ville for Foix (Ariège) .svg
Gaston II./IX./II.
Roger Bernard III./I./I./III. Vice Count of Béarn 1302-1315
Blason du Béarn.svg
Gaston II./IX./II.
Roger Bernard III./I./I./III. Co-Prince of Andorra
1315–1343 		Gaston II./IX./II.
Roger Bernard III./I./I./III. Vice Count of Castelbon
1315–1343 		Roger Bernard III
personal data
SURNAME Gaston I.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gaston VIII.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Count of Foix
DATE OF BIRTH 1287
DATE OF DEATH December 13, 1315