County Foix

The Foix coat of arms

The County of Foix and its capital Foix comprised of 11 to the 16th century largely what is now the department of Ariege .

The county lay on the northern slope of the Pyrenees and was geographically half divided into a highland in the south (haut pays) and a lowland in the north (bas pays). The most important cities besides Foix were Pamiers (formerly Frédélas ), Saverdun , Mirepoix , and Tarascon . Important religious institutions were the abbeys of St. Volusien (Foix), St. Antonin (Pamiers), Lézat-sur-Lèze and Boulbonne . Well-known medieval castles, which played a role especially in the time of the Cathars , were Montségur , Roquefixade and Usson .

Bordering the county was the county of Toulouse to the north, the counties of Carcassonne and Razès to the east, the county of Urgell to the south and the county of Comminges to the west .

History of the county

In the 11th century

As early as the end of the 10th century, Count Roger the Elder of Carcassonne-Couserans built a fortification on the "roc de Foix" (Rock of Foix), which already served as the preferred residence for his son Count Bernard Roger . The county was actually founded with the death of Roger Bernard in 1034 and the subsequent division of couserans among his sons. Roger I received the eastern half with Foix, but his nephew Roger II reunited both territories, with Foix still serving as the main residence.

Of political importance at this time was the failed inheritance of the Counts of Foix in the county of Carcassonne, to which they were entitled under a hereditary decree of Count Rogers the Elder, but the Trencavel family successfully contested their inheritance .

In the 12th century

As a result, the counts experienced a loss of power in the Languedoc region , which forced them to secure their position by means of waving between the two most important powers of the region, the Counts of Toulouse and Barcelona . While they initially leaned on Toulouse, they moved from 1151 under Count Roger Bernard I to the side of Barcelona (or Aragon ). With the latter option, the Counts of Foix were able to secure a much more sovereign position, as, due to their geographical location, they were spared a stronger dominance of the Catalan rulers. Because by blocking the Pyrenees passes, the counts could more easily repel possible attacks from the south.

During this time, the Cathar religious movement spread in Languedoc and was classified and persecuted as a heretical sect by the Roman Catholic Church . The Counts of Foix, like the other feudal lords of the region, granted the Cathars tolerance and support in their lands. The Cathars found strong support especially in the county of Foix and its nobility.

In the 13th century

The first half of this century was dominated by the Albigensian Crusade , which was called to fight the Cathars and their supporters. The Counts Raimund Roger and Roger Bernard II were among his most determined opponents and fought against the crusaders for several years with varying success. But in the end they had to give up and submit in the Treaties of Meaux-Paris in 1229 and Lorris in 1243 to the French crown, the main beneficiary of the crusade.

In the last half of the century the counts were committed to preserving their countial rights within their territory against the royal authority, which was represented by the Seneschal of Carcassonne , which they largely succeeded in doing. A testimony of the work of the counts that still exists today is the Principality of Andorra , which was founded on a pareáge treaty concluded in 1278 by Count Roger Bernard III. and goes back to the Bishop of Urgell .

Within the church hierarchy, Foix was detached from the Archdiocese of Toulouse by Pope Boniface VIII in 1295 and placed under a new diocese, which got its seat in Pamiers .

In the 14th century

The county of Foix

The dynasty of the counts of Foix rose to become one of the leading families in France, and the inheritance in the vice-county of Béarn was particularly important. Because during the Hundred Years War , which the counts fought on the side of France, the dynasty was able to establish a sovereign principality there. Due to the inheritance of Béarn, the Counts of Foix came into conflict with the Counts of Armagnac for a long time , who also made a claim to the Béarn . The most famous representative of the House of Foix should be Gaston III. Be Fébus , who was a vaunted warrior and promoter of court culture and art. The county of Foix itself, however, should suffer a loss of importance since this time, as the counts now maintained their court in Orthez, Gascogn, or in Pau . Legally, the county was also subordinated to the Seneschal of Toulouse.

At the end of this century, the first Foix dynasty died out in its male line and was inherited by the Grailly family , which continued the coat of arms and names of their predecessors.

In the 15. century

Under the new dynasty, the House of Foix reached the height of its power. In addition to territorial gains such as the county of Bigorre in 1425 and the vice-county of Narbonne in 1447, Foix was recognized as a family belonging to the nobility of the kingdom with the award of the French peerage for Foix in 1458.

At the end of the century they even achieved royal dignity when the House of Foix inherited the Navarre royal crown . However, the dynasty in Navarre only had a very short life as it died out a few years later.

In the 16th century and after

Through renewed inheritance, the County of Foix came first in 1517 to the House of Albret , an old family that came from Gascony , and in 1572 to the House of Bourbon , which was a family of royal Capetian descent. Both houses were involved on the Protestant side in the Huguenot Wars , which determined the history of France in this century. With Count Henry II's accession to the throne in 1589 as Henry IV, the County of Foix finally became part of the royal domain , where it remained until the French Revolution . In 1646, a new Seneschalate was created in Pamiers , to which Foix has been legally subject since then.

When King Louis XVI. When the Estates General convened in 1789 , the County of Foix was represented there by four deputies, including Marc Guillaume Alexis Vadier . Due to a law resolution of December 22, 1789, the county was incorporated into the Ariège department on March 4, 1790 .

List of the Counts of Foix

	Surname	Reign	relationship	Remarks
House Comminges (Foix)
	Roger the old	957-1012		Count of Carcassonne built the castle of Foix
	Bernard Roger	1012-1034	Son of his predecessor	Count of Couserans
	Roger I.	1034-1067	Son of his predecessor	first Earl of Foix
	Roger ii	1067-1124	Nephew of his predecessor	Crusader
	Roger III	1124-1148	Son of his predecessor
	Roger Bernard I. the Fat	1148-1188	Son of his predecessor
	Raimund Roger	1188-1223	Son of his predecessor	Crusader
	Roger Bernard II the Great	1223-1241	Son of his predecessor
	Roger iv	1241-1265	Son of his predecessor
	Roger Bernard III	1265-1302	Son of his predecessor	First French co-prince of Andorra
	Gaston I.	1302-1315	Son of his predecessor
	Gaston II the Brave	1315-1343	Son of his predecessor
	Gaston III. Fébus	1343-1391	Son of his predecessor
	Mathieu	1391-1398	Second cousin of his predecessor
	Isabelle	1398-1428	Sister of her predecessor
House Foix-Grailly
	Archambaud de Grailly	1398-1412	Husband of Countess Isabelle
	Johann I.	1428-1436	Son of his predecessor
	Gaston IV.	1436-1472	Son of his predecessor
	Franz Fébus	1472-1483	Grandson of his predecessor	King of Navarre
	Catherine	1483-1517	Sister of her predecessor	Queen of Navarre
House Albret
	Johann II.	1483-1516	Husband of Countess Katharina	King of Navarre
	Heinrich I.	1517-1555	Son of his predecessor	King of Navarre
	Johanna	1555-1572	Daughter of her predecessor	Queen of Navarre
House of Bourbon
	Anton	1555-1562	Husband of Countess Johanna	King of Navarre
	Henry II	1572-1610	Son of his predecessor	King of Navarre since 1589 as Henry IV. King of France
Association of Foix with the French crown domain in 1589.

Web links

Commons : County Foix - collection of images, videos and audio files

Biographies of the Counts of Foix ( Memento of April 4, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (French)