County of Foix

The County of Foix was a medieval fief of southern France, roughly the eastern half of the modern Ariege, ruled from the castle that overlooks the town of Foix. It was created in 1002 by the testament of Roger the Old of Carcassonne for his younger son Bernard-Roger, whose line grew independent on the father's death in 1012. The title of count was first borne by Roger of Foix, dead about 1064. His heirs began as vassals of Toulouse and Barcelona, then used the Cathar crusade to answer directly to the French king. Raymond Roger defended the Cathars, lost his lands to Simon de Montfort and recovered them before 1223. Through the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the counts ranked among the mightiest French feudatories, playing France against Navarre and England. In 1290 they gained Bearn, which became the working centre of their lands. The county passed to Grailly in 1398, was raised to a peerage for Gaston IV in 1458, travelled through Albret to Bourbon-Vendome, and in 1607 Henry IV, himself of that blood, united it to the French crown. Its estates sat until the Revolution; in 1790 it merged with Couserans into the Ariege department.