Isabella, Countess of Foix
Encyclopedia
Isabella of Foix also known as Isabella of Foix-Castelbon (before 2 November 1361-1428) was the daughter of Roger Bernard IV, Viscount of Castelbon and his wife Gerauda of Navailles. She was Countess of Foix
Counts of Foix
The counts of Foix ruled the independent County of Foix, in what is now southern France, during the Middle Ages. Later they extended their power to almost the entire Pyrenees mountain range, moving their court to Pau, in Béarn, until eventually the last count of Foix acceded to the French throne as...

 in her own right, but shared power with her husband. She succeeded as Countess, along with her husband upon the childless death of her brother Matthew, Count of Foix.

Family

Isabella was the eldest of three children, her two brothers were the aforementioned Matthew and Roger Bernard, who died young. Isabella inherited since neither brothers left children.

Isabella's paternal grandparents were Roger Bernard III, Viscount of Castelbon and his wife Constance de Luna, daughter of Artal de Luna and Constance Perez of Aragon. Roger Bernard III was son of Gaston I of Foix and his wife Jeanne of Artois, daughter of Robert of Artois and Blanche of Brittany
Blanche of Brittany
Blanche of Brittany was a daughter of John II, Duke of Brittany and his wife Beatrice of England. She is also known as Blanche de Dreux...

.

Isabella's maternal grandparents were Garcie Arnaud IV, Baron de Navailles and his wife Béarnaise de Miramont.

Life

Isabella married in 1381 to Archambaud de Grailly. After the death of her younger brother Matthew in 1398, who had tried to claim the Aragonese crown for his wife Joanna
Joanna of Aragon, Countess of Foix
Infanta Joanna of Aragon was the only surviving child of John I of Aragon and his first wife Martha of Armagnac. She was a member of the House of Aragon and was Countess consort of Foix by her marriage to Matthew of Foix....

; Isabella was last living member of the House of Foix and was heiress of a large ownership which focused especially on the northern slopes of the Pyrenees
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...

. This heritage was to be denied to Isabella by the French Crown because of her marriage to Archambaud, whose family had been supporters of the English during the Hundred Years' War
Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War was a series of separate wars waged from 1337 to 1453 by the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet, also known as the House of Anjou, for the French throne, which had become vacant upon the extinction of the senior Capetian line of French kings...

. Charles VI of France
Charles VI of France
Charles VI , called the Beloved and the Mad , was the King of France from 1380 to 1422, as a member of the House of Valois. His bouts with madness, which seem to have begun in 1392, led to quarrels among the French royal family, which were exploited by the neighbouring powers of England and Burgundy...

 wanted to prevent Foix from falling under influence of England, so a Royal Army under the leadership of the Constable de Sancerre invaded Foix and occupied large portions. In this situation, Isabella and her husband were willing to submit to the French Crown. The Treaty of Tarbes on 10 May 1399 saw Isabella made Countess as long as her husband stopped his alliance with the English and allow the two elder sons of the couple to be taken to Royal Court.

The fate of the new Foix dynasty during the French feudal was reflected in its name because Isabella's descendants renounced the leadership of the name and coat of arms of Grailly in favor of the House of Foix's. The loyalty of the new Dynasty of Foix to France was awarded in 1412, when Archambaud was appointed Lieutenant-General of the Languedoc. In 1402 Isabella and her husband arranged the marriage for their eldest son, John to the eldest daughter of Charles III of Navarre
Charles III of Navarre
Charles III , called the Noble, was King of Navarre from 1387 to his death and Count of Évreux from 1387 to 1404, when he exchanged it for the title Duke of Nemours...

, Joan
Joan, Heiress of Navarre
Joan of Navarre also known as Jeanne d'Évreux or Joanna was the eldest child of Charles III of Navarre by his wife Eleanor, daughter of Henry II of Castile....

, who was formally recognised as heiress to the Kingdom later that year. This marriage hoped to make a union between Foix and Navarre. However, in 1413, Joan died leaving no issue and John a widower, all hope of a union had now failed.

Foix was a neighbour of the Kingdom of Aragon
Aragon
Aragon is a modern autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Located in northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces : Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza...

, the conditions were relaxed after 1400 when Martin of Aragon refunded Isabella the County of Castelbon which the King had withdrawn from her brother 1386, after he fought for the crown.

Archambaud died in 1413, Isabella died in 1428 and was buried in the Abbey of Boulbonne, the resting place of her ancestors.

Children

The couple were married for around thirty-two years, in which time they had five sons:
  • John
    John I, Count of Foix
    John I, Count of Foix also known as Jean de Foix-Grailly was Count of Foix from 1428 until his death in 1436. He succeeded his mother Isabella, Countess of Foix...

     (c.1382- 4 May 1436), succeeded as John I, Count of Foix. He married three times; he had two sons by his second wife, Jeanne d'Albret (1403–1433), who was the daughter of Charles I of Albret, commander of the French forces at the Battle of Agincourt
    Battle of Agincourt
    The Battle of Agincourt was a major English victory against a numerically superior French army in the Hundred Years' War. The battle occurred on Friday, 25 October 1415 , near modern-day Azincourt, in northern France...

    , and Marie, Dame de Sully. His third wife was Joanna of Urgell, daughter of James II of Urgell
    James II of Urgell
    James II was the Count of Urgell , Viscount of Àger, and lord of Antillón, Alcolea de Cinca, and Fraga...

     and Infanta Isabella
    Isabella of Aragon (1380–1424)
    Isabella of Aragon was a daughter of Peter IV of Aragon and his fourth wife, Sibila of Fortia. She was infanta of Aragon and Countess of Urgel.- Family :...

    , daughter of Peter IV of Aragon
    Peter IV of Aragon
    Peter IV, , called el Cerimoniós or el del punyalet , was the King of Aragon, King of Sardinia and Corsica , King of Valencia , and Count of Barcelona Peter IV, (Balaguer, September 5, 1319 – Barcelona, January 6, 1387), called el Cerimoniós ("the Ceremonious") or el del punyalet ("the one...

    . He was an ancestor of King Henry II of France
    Henry II of France
    Henry II was King of France from 31 March 1547 until his death in 1559.-Early years:Henry was born in the royal Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, the son of Francis I and Claude, Duchess of Brittany .His father was captured at the Battle of Pavia in 1525 by his sworn enemy,...

  • Gaston (died after 1455), married Margaret d'Albret, by whom he had issue; he was an ancestor of the House of Foix-Candale
    County of Foix
    The County of Foix was an independent medieval fief in southern France, and later a province of France, whose territory corresponded roughly the eastern part of the modern département of Ariège ....

  • Archambaud (killed in battle 10 September 1419) married Sancha de Cabrera and had a daughter, also named Isabelle
  • Matthew (died December 1453), married firstly to Margaret, Countess of Comminges, had no issue; secondly to Catherine of Coarraze, by whom he had two daughters. He also fathered two illegitimate children by mistresses whose identities are unknown.
  • Peter (1386- 13 December 1464), Archbishop of Arles

Ancestry


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