FOIX, COUNTS OF. The counts of Foix were a distin guished French family which flourished from the iith to the 15th century, and during the 13th and 14th centuries were among the most powerful of the French feudal nobles. Living on the borders of France, having constant intercourse with Navarre, and in frequent communication with England, they were in a position peculiarly favourable to an assertion of independence.
The title of count of Foix was first assumed by Roger, grand son of Roger I., count of Carcassonne (d. 1012), when he inherited the town of Foix and the adjoining lands, which had hitherto formed part of the county of Carcassonne. Dying about 1064, Roger was succeeded by his brother Peter, who died six years later, and was succeeded by his son, Roger II. This count took part in the crusade of 1095, and was afterwards excommunicated by Pope Paschal II. for seizing ecclesiastical property ; but subse quently he appeased the anger of the Church by rich donations, and when he died in 1125 he was succeeded in turn by his son, Roger III., and grandson Roger Bernard I. The latter's only son, Raymond Roger, accompanied the French king, Philip Augustus, to Palestine in 1190 and distinguished himself at the capture of Acre. He was afterwards engaged in the wars of the Albigenses, and on being accused of heresy his lands were given to Simon IV., count of Montfort. Raymond Roger, who came to terms with the Church and recovered his estates before his death in 1223, was a patron of the Provençal poets, and counted him self among their number. He was succeeded by his son, Roger Bernard II., called the Great, who assisted Raymond VII., count of Toulouse, and the Albigenses in their resistance to the French kings, was excommunicated on two occasions and died in 1241. His son, Roger IV., who followed, died in 1265, and was suc ceeded by his son, Roger Bernard III., who, more famous as a poet than as a warrior, was taken prisoner both by Philip III. of France and by Peter III. of Aragon. This count married Mar guerite, daughter and heiress of Gaston VII., viscount of Beam (d. 1290), and this union led to the outbreak of a long feud be tween the houses of Foix and Armagnac, which was continued by Roger Bernard's son and successor, Gaston I., who became count in 1302, inheriting both Foix and Beam. Becoming em broiled with the French king, Philip IV., Gaston was imprisoned in Paris ; but quickly regaining his freedom he accompanied King Louis X. on an expedition into Flanders in 1315, and died. on his return to France in the same year. His eldest son, Gaston II., became reconciled with the house of Armagnac, and died at Seville in 1343, when he was succeeded by his son, Gaston III. (1331-91), surnamed Phoebus on account of his beauty, the most famous member of the family. Like his father he assisted France in her struggle against England, being entrusted with the defence of the frontiers of Gascony ; but when the French king, John II., showed a marked preference for the count of Armagnac, Gaston left his service and went to fight against the heathen in Prussia. Return ing to France about 1357 he delivered some noble ladies from the attacks of the adherents of the Jacquerie at Meaux, and was soon at war with the count of Armagnac. In 1362 the latter was defeated and compelled to pay a ransom ; and peace was made in 1377. Early in 1380 the count was appointed governor of Langue doc, but when Charles VI. became king later in the same year this appointment was cancelled. Refusing, however, to heed the royal command, and supported by the communes of Languedoc, Gaston fought for about two years against John, duke of Berry, who had been chosen as his successor, until, worsted in the com bat, he abandoned the struggle and retired to his estates, remain ing neutral and independent. Left without legitimate sons, Gaston was easily persuaded to bequeath his lands to King Charles VI., who thus obtained Foix and Berrn when the count died at Orthes in 1391. Gaston was very fond of hunting, but was not without a taste for art and literature. Several beautiful manuscripts are in existence which were executed by his orders, and he himself wrote Deduits de la Chasse des bestes sauvaiges et des oiseaulx de proye. Froissart, who gives a graphic description of his court and his manner of life, speaks enthusiastically of Gaston, saying : "I never saw none like him of personage, nor of so fair form, nor so well made," and again, "in everything he was so perfect that he cannot be praised too much." Almost immediately after Gaston's death King Charles VI. granted the county of Foix to Matthew, viscount of Castelbon, a descendant of Count Gaston I. Dying without issue in 1398, Matthew's lands were seized by Archambault, count of Grailly and captal de Buch, the husband of his sister Isabella (d. 1426), who became count of Foix in 1401. Archambault's eldest son, John (c. 1382-1436), who succeeded to his father's lands and titles in 1412, and married Jeanne, daughter of Charles III., king of Navarre, played an important part in the wars of his time, supporting at different periods the kings of Aragon, France and England. The next count was John's son, Gaston IV., who mar ried Leonora (d. 1479), a daughter of John, king of Aragon and Navarre. In 1447 he bought the viscounty of Narbonne, and having assisted King Charles VII. in Guienne, he was made a peer of France in 1458. In 1455 his father-in-law designated him as his successor in Navarre, and Louis XI. of France gave him the counties of Rousillon and Cerdagne, and made him his repre sentative in Languedoc and Guienne ; but these marks of favour did not prevent him from joining a league against Louis in 1471. His eldest son, Gaston, the husband of Madeleine, a daughter of Charles VII. of France, died in 147o, and when Gaston IV. died two years later, his lands descended to his grandson, Francis Phoebus (d. 1483), who became king of Navarre in 1479, and was succeeded by his sister Catherine (d. 1517), the wife of Jean d'Albret (d. 1516). Thus the house of Foix-Grailly was merged in that of Albret and subsequently in that of Bourbon; and when Henry of Navarre became king of France in 1589 the lands of the counts of Foix-Grailly became part of the French royal domain.
See Le Pere Anselme, Histoire genealogique, tome iii. H. Castillon, Histoire du comte de Foix (Toulouse, 1852) ; J. M. de Madaune, Gaston Phoebus, comte de Foix et souverain de Bearn (Pau, 1865) ; Froissart's Chroniques, ed. S. Luce and G. Raynaud (1869-97) ; D. J. Vaissete, Histoire generale de Languedoc, tome iv. (1876) ; and L. Flourac, Jean le'', comte de Foix, Vicomte Souverain de Bearn (1884).