Roger IV of Foix
Encyclopedia
Roger-Bernard II of Foix
Roger Bernard II , called the Great, was the sixth count of Foix from 1223 until his death. He was the son and successor of the illustrious count Raymond-Roger and his wife Philippa of Montcada....
, was the seventh count of Foix from 1241 to his death. His reign began with the south again at war with the north in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and, though he was reluctant to join his father's old ally, Raymond VII of Toulouse
Raymond VII of Toulouse
Raymond VII of Saint-Gilles was Count of Toulouse, Duke of Narbonne and Marquis of Provence from 1222 until his death. He was the son of Raymond VI of Toulouse and Joan of England...
, in revolt and he did not aid the king of England, Henry III
Henry III of England
Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
, in his Saintonge War
Saintonge War
The Saintonge War was a feudal dynastic encounter that occurred in 1242 between forces of Louis IX of France and those of Henry III of England. Saintonge is the region around Saintes in the center-west of France. The conflict arose because some vassals of Louis were displeased with accession of his...
.
Roger IV was a vassal of both the count of Toulouse (for his county of Foix
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 ....
) and the king of France (for his Carcassonne
Carcassonne
Carcassonne is a fortified French town in the Aude department, of which it is the prefecture, in the former province of Languedoc.It is divided into the fortified Cité de Carcassonne and the more expansive lower city, the ville basse. Carcassone was founded by the Visigoths in the fifth century,...
lands), then Louis IX
Louis IX of France
Louis IX , commonly Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 until his death. He was also styled Louis II, Count of Artois from 1226 to 1237. Born at Poissy, near Paris, he was an eighth-generation descendant of Hugh Capet, and thus a member of the House of Capet, and the son of Louis VIII and...
. His loyalty to the king, however, took precedence and war broke out with Raymond VII (October 1242). Though Raymond was forced to submit to the king on November 30, the war with Roger continued until January 1243, when the king ended it. The count of Foix was now solely a vassal of the king and Raymond spent the rest of his life (until 1249) trying to retrieve Roger's homage, to no avail.
Like his father, Roger IV had troubles with the church and the bishop of Urgel in particular and, in 1257, he successfully released the viscounty of Castelbon from the bishop's jurisdiction. In February 1245, he gave many freedoms to his subjects and he signed paréages with the abbots of Mas-d'Azil (1246), Boulbonne (1253), and Combelongue (1255). In 1251, he built the church at Boulbonne, transferred his ancestors' remains there, and defended it against the exactions of numerous enemies. He persecuted Catharism, the heresy of his mother, Ermesinda of Castlebon, in order not to be at odds with the Inquisition
Inquisition
The Inquisition, Inquisitio Haereticae Pravitatis , was the "fight against heretics" by several institutions within the justice-system of the Roman Catholic Church. It started in the 12th century, with the introduction of torture in the persecution of heresy...
. He died on February 24, 1265, and was interred in Boulbonne next to his father.
Marriage and children
Roger married Brunissenda of CardonaCardona
Cardona is a town ìn Catalonia, Spain, in the province of Barcelona; about 90 km northwest of the city of Barcelona, on a hill almost surrounded by the river Cardoner, a branch of the Llobregat.Near the town is an extensive deposit of rock salt...
, a daughter of Ramon VIII, Viscount of Cardona. They had six children:
- Roger-Bernard III of FoixRoger-Bernard III of FoixRoger-Bernard III was the Count of Foix from 1265 to his death. He was the son of Roger IV of Foix and Brunissende of Cardona. He entered into conflicts with both Philip III of France and Peter III of Aragon, who held him in captivity for a time...
(died 1302). - Peter of Foix.
- Sybille of Foix. Married Aimery IV, Viscount of Narbonne.
- Ines of Foix. Married Eschivat III, Count of Bigorre
- Philippa of Foix. Married Arnauld, Count of Pailhars.
- Esclaramunda of Foix. Married James II of MajorcaJames II of MajorcaJames II was King of Majorca and Lord of Montpellier from 1276 until his death. He was the second son of James I of Aragon and his wife Violant, daughter of Andrew II of Hungary...
.