John I, Count of Foix
Encyclopedia
John I, Count of Foix also known as Jean de Foix-Grailly (1382 – 4 May 1436) was Count of Foix from 1428 until his death in 1436. He succeeded his mother Isabella, Countess of Foix
Isabella, Countess of Foix
Isabella of Foix also known as Isabella of Foix-Castelbon was the daughter of Roger Bernard IV, Viscount of Castelbon and his wife Gerauda of Navailles. She was Countess of Foix in her own right, but shared power with her husband...

. His father was Archambaud de Grailly.

Early life

As a result of the Treaty of Tarbes signed on 10 May 1399, John's parents were given possession of the County of Foix, but it required that his father renounce his English alliance, and it stipulated that John and one of his brothers were to be sent as hostages to the Royal Court of France to ensure observance of the terms of the treaty. On 24 April 1406 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...

 recognised John as heir to the County of Foix and he was also involved in several operations against the English: the Siege of Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...

 in 1404-1405 and the Seat of Blaye in 1406. In 1409, John accompanied King Martin of Aragon on an expedition to Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...

 against the Genoese at the battle of San Luri on 30 May 1409 and returned to Foix in September.

Aragon

When Martin died on 31 May 1410 without surviving children, two princes tried to claim the succession: Ferdinand of Castile
Ferdinand I of Aragon
Ferdinand I called of Antequera and also the Just or the Honest) was king of Aragon, Valencia, Majorca, Sardinia and Corsica and king of Sicily, duke of Athens and Neopatria, and count of Barcelona, Roussillon and Cerdanya...

, nephew of Martin and Louis II of Anjou, married to Yolande of Aragon
Yolande of Aragon
Yolande of Aragon, , was a throne claimant and titular queen regnant of Aragon, titular queen consort of Naples, Duchess of Anjou, Countess of Provence, and regent of Provence during the minority of her son...

, daughter of King John I of Aragon
John I of Aragon
John I , called by posterity the Hunter or the Lover of Elegance , but the Abandoned in his lifetime, was the King of...

, brother and predecessor of Martin. The dowager Queen Violant of Aragon, widow of King John I, wrote to John on 20 January 1411 promising the return of Rosanes and Martorell (part of the properties confiscated from his maternal uncle Matthew of Foix) if her daughter Yolande succeeded to the throne, as a result John sent troops to help Louis and Yolande in their claim, but Ferdinand prevailed ultimately on 25 June 1412 by the compromise of Caspe. However, John was able to gain the lost estates by a marriage to Joanna of Urgell, granddaughter 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...

.

John fought with 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...

 against Castile
Crown of Castile
The Crown of Castile was a medieval and modern state in the Iberian Peninsula that formed in 1230 as a result of the third and definitive union of the crowns and parliaments of the kingdoms of Castile and León upon the accession of the then King Ferdinand III of Castile to the vacant Leonese throne...

, but helped his brother Peter, Cardinal of Foix and Arles, to crush insurgents from Aragon.

Count of Foix

John's father Archambaud died in 1412, John then became Count of Foix; he was co-ruler of Foix with his mother Isabella until her death in 1428.

In 1402, John married 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....

, 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...

; two months after the wedding, she was formally recoginsed as heiress presumptive of Navarre
Navarre
Navarre , officially the Chartered Community of Navarre is an autonomous community in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Country, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and Aquitaine in France...

. Navarre would have become part of the Foix inheritance if John and Joan had children, but they failed to produce children and Joan died in July 1413.

During the Hundred Years War, John switched his support between the English and French a few times, mainly for his own personal gain; always aligning with the side who promised him the most political and economic benefits at the relevant time. As sovereign of the Pyrenean Principality he took up a neutral stance in the war which was reflected in its motto ni Anglais, ni Français (England, nor France).

John became Count of Bigorre in 1415 by agreement with Bernard VII, Count of Armagnac
Bernard VII, Count of Armagnac
Bernard VII, Count of Armagnac was the Count of Charolais, Count of Armagnac, and Constable of France. He was the son of John II and Jeanne de Périgord. He succeeded in Armagnac at the death of his brother, John III, in 1391...

, the title was finally recognised by the King of France by letters dating from 18 November 1425, which definitively stabilized John's new position. The King of France installed him as Governor of Dauphiné in 1416. In 1425 he was appointed Governor of Languedoc and received from the King the Vicomté de Lautrec. He also bought the Vicomté de Villemur.

Although John was sided with the French at the time, he did not take part in 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...

; the French army suffered a crushing defeat by the English forces commanded by King Henry V
Henry V of England
Henry V was King of England from 1413 until his death at the age of 35 in 1422. He was the second monarch belonging to the House of Lancaster....

. John's brother Archambaud was killed during the battle.

John died 4 May 1446 and was succeeded by his son Gaston
Gaston IV, Count of Foix
Gaston IV, Count of Foix, Viscount of Béarn was a French nobleman from Bearn, who founded a brief-ruling dynastic house of the Kingdom of Navarre.He was a son of John I, Count of Foix and Jeanne d'Albret...

.

Family

John married firstly to Joan of Navarre
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....

 in 1402; they had no children.

John married in 1422 secondly to Jeanne d'Albret. She was the daughter of Charles I of Albret, co-commander of the French Army in the Battle of Agincourt where he was killed. John and Jeanne had two children:
  • Gaston
    Gaston IV, Count of Foix
    Gaston IV, Count of Foix, Viscount of Béarn was a French nobleman from Bearn, who founded a brief-ruling dynastic house of the Kingdom of Navarre.He was a son of John I, Count of Foix and Jeanne d'Albret...

     (27 November 1422 - 25 July/28 July 1472), succeeded his father and married Eleanor of Navarre
    Eleanor of Navarre
    Eleanor of Aragon , Regent and the queen regnant of Navarre in 1479...

     (niece of John's first wife).
  • Peter (died 1454) Viscount of Lautrec


After Jeanne's death, John married thirdly in 1436 to Joanna, 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 Isabella of Aragon
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 :...

; they had no children, but the marriage helped John recover the remaining Spanish property he was owed.

John had four children by unknown mistresses:
  • Isabella (died 1486) married 11 May 1443 to Bernard, Baron de Cauna and had issue
  • Bernard, Seigneur de Gerderest married Praxede de Caramany
  • John, Baron de Miossens and Sénéchal de Béarn
  • Peter, Abbot of Sainte-Croix, Bordeaux

Ancestry


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