Roger IV (Foix)

Roger IV († February 24, 1265 ) was Count of Foix from 1241 until his death . He was the only son of his predecessor, Count Roger Bernard II, and his first wife, Errant von Castelbon. After the death of his mother in 1229 he was also Vice Count of Castelbon .

In 1242 Roger participated in the revolt of Count Raimund VII of Toulouse against the sovereignty of the French King Louis IX. The Counts of Comminges , Bigorre , Armagnac and Rodez also joined this uprising, and this alliance had the support of the English King Henry III. as well as the sympathies of the kings of Castile, Aragon and Navarre. The revolt failed, however, in the same year: On the one hand, Heinrich III. Destroyed on July 21 at the Battle of Taillebourg , and on the other hand there were conflicts between the Allies. After the Count of Toulouse gave up the revolt after losing battles in the Querzy and submitted to the king on November 30th of that year, the latter now demanded that the Count of Toulouse fight the Count of Foix, which Raimund used as a pretext for the occupation of Saverdun and the Attempted to subject the county of Foix to his suzerainty. He ignored the fact that the Count of Foix had meanwhile paid homage to the king. Count Roger IV himself called on the king for assistance, who forced the Count of Toulouse to give up his expansion plans.

In the Peace Treaty of Lorris (January 1243), Roger was able to secure a strong position in the Pyrenees region. In contrast to his rival from Toulouse, who had to submit to the king completely and also had to demolish a large number of his castles and even the city walls of Toulouse himself, the Count of Foix only had to pay homage to the king for the lowlands of his county while he could continue to rule the highlands independently. However, this also meant that Roger could not give Montségur , who belonged to Foix until 1229, no support in the following year when it was besieged and taken by a royal army . Roger was able to achieve another success against Toulouse in December 1243, when the royal seneschal of Carcassonne, Hugues d'Arcis , instructed the Count of Toulouse to hand over Saverdun to the Count of Foix. Roger benefited from the gratitude and influence of his uncle Loup de Foix, whom he had recently ransomed with a large ransom from the captivity of the Count of Comminges, who had also opposed Foix. The Count of Toulouse, however, refused to give up his claim to Saverdun until his death.

Roger now concentrated again on the southern Pyrenees , where he could successfully assert his rule over Castelbon against the attack of the Bishop of Urgell , although he could not finally decide this conflict for himself. In 1249, Roger finally benefited from the death of the Count of Toulouse, leaving Saverdun, for which Loup de Foix paid homage, unchallenged in his possession. In 1255, Roger was a military aid to the Count of Bigorre when he was attacked by Vice Count Gaston VII of Béarn . The Count of Bigorre then married a daughter, Rogers.

Roger was able to enlarge his county in 1258 when his uncle Bernard d'Ailon by marriage turned against King James I of Aragón . At Perpignan , however, he was beaten by this and burned for Cathar heresy because of his supporters . His property, the Pays d'Ailon , was then given to Roger by the Aragonese king. In contrast to his ancestors, Roger himself was regarded as a strict persecutor of the Cathars and, together with the Inquisition, fought particularly wealthy nobles who believed in false beliefs in order to be able to confiscate their possessions. But his own family was also to come into the focus of the Inquisition: in 1263, because of their earlier conspiracy with the heretics, the exhumation and cremation of his parents' remains were ordered. Roger could not prevent the execution of this posthumous punishment.

Roger IV died on February 24, 1265 and was buried in Boulbonne Abbey.

Marriage and offspring

Since 1231 Count Roger IV was married to Brunissende, a daughter of the Vice Count Rámon Folch VIII of Cardona ( House Folch de Cardona ) and Inés de Torroja. Both children were:

• Roger Bernard III († March 3, 1303), successor as Count of Foix and Vice Count of Castelbon
• Sibylle († before 1289), ⚭ Vice Count Aimery IV of Narbonne ( Manrique de Lara house )
• Esclarmonde († after November 22, 1299), ⚭ 1275 James II , King of Mallorca , Count of Roussillon and Cerdange , Lord of Montpellier
• Agnes / Inès († after 1256), ⚭ 1256 Eschivat (IV.) De Chabanais, Count of Bigorre
• Philippa († after 1304), ⚭ 1262 Arnaud I de Comminges, Vice Count of Couserans

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• Matthias Benad: Domus and religion in Montaillou. The Catholic Church and Catharism in the struggle for survival of the family of Pastor Petrus Clerici at the beginning of the 14th century . Mohr, Tübingen 1990, ISBN 3-16-145562-2 (Habilitation, University of Frankfurt / M. 1987), pages 48-50.

Web links

• "Short biography of Roger IV of Foix" (French)

predecessor	Office	successor
Roger Bernard II	Count of Foix 1241-1265	Roger Bernard III
Roger Bernard II (de iure uxoris)	Vice Count of Castelbon 1229–1265	Roger Bernard III