County of Foix (Traditional province, France)

Comté de Foix

Last modified: 2004-12-22 by ivan sache
Keywords: county of foix | comte de foix |
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by Arnaud Leroy

• History of the county of Foix
• Description of the flag of the county of Foix

See also:

• France
• Traditional provinces
• Regions
  • Midi-Pyrénées
  • Languedoc-Roussillon
• Departments
  • Ariège
  • Aude
    
    
• Occitanie
• Catalonia
• Andorra

History of the County of Foix

Thierry Borel has set up a website called FoixStory whose presentation and content are excellent. The history, genealogy and heraldry of the counts of Foix and other families involved in the history of the area are explained in great detail. I have attempted to summarize below the complicated history of the county of Foix, which shows the permanent involvement of the counts in the more global history and their permanent struggle with their neighbours, small or big lords.

The first count of Foix was Bernard I (1012). He was of the family of the counts of Carcassonne, who were in the IXth century vassals of the counts of Toulouse and progressively gained independence. It is often said that the counts of Foix were descendants of the royal Merovingian dynasty through Eudes, duke of Aquitaine. The only source for the early genealogy of the dukes of Aquitaine is Alaon's Chart, which was proved to be a forgery dating from XVIIth century. Therefore, the origin of the first counts of Foix is still obscure.

I shall summarize the history of the County following the succession of the Counts.

• Bernard I (1012-1034)
• Roger I (1034-1067)
• Roger II (1067-1124) should have inherited the county of Carcassonne in 1067 when count Roger III died, but he was despoiled by his neighbours the Trencavels.
• Roger III (1124-1148) reconciliated in 1125 with the Trencavels. He was involved in the conflict between Aragon and Castile.
• Roger-Bernard I (1148-1188) was involved in the war between Toulouse and Barcelona (1185).
• Raimond-Roger (1188-1223) struggled against Toulouse (1201), was defeated in Urgell (1203) and signed a peace treaty with Comminges (1209).
• Roger-Bernard II (1223-1241) surrendered to the king of France and the pope (1229) and struggled with the bishop of Urgell (1233-1239).
• Roger IV (1241-1265) was in conflict with Toulouse (1242-1249), the bishop of Urgell (1243-1257) and repressed the Cathars (1261).
• Roger-Bernard III (1265-1302) struggled against the king of France and surrendered in 1272, and was kept prisonner in 1272-1273. In September 1276, he invaded Nav