Bernard-Roger of Foix
Encyclopedia
Couserans
Couserans is a small former province of France located in the Pyrenees mountains. Today Couserans makes up the western half of the Ariège département, around the towns of Saint-Girons and Saint-Lizier. A small part of Couserans is also in the extreme south of Haute-Garonne, just across the border...
, in which capacity he was lord of parts of Comminges
Comminges
The Comminges is an ancient region of southern France in the foothills of the Pyrenees, corresponding closely to the arrondissement of Saint-Gaudens in the department of Haute-Garonne...
and Foix
Foix
Foix is a commune, the capital of the Ariège department in southwestern France. It is the least populous administrative centre of a department in all of France, although it is only very slightly smaller than Privas...
.
He was the son of count Roger I of Carcassonne
Roger I of Carcassonne
Roger I of Carcassonne , also known as Roger II of Cominges the Elder, was the count of Carcassonne, Couserans and Comminges.Associated to the government of Comminges in 957, he inherited the county of Couserans in 983 at the death of his father Aznar II. At around 1000 he inherited the county of...
. His elder brother, Raymond I of Carcassonne inherited the county of 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,...
and the remaining part of the lordship of Comminges. Bernard Rogers comital status
Count
A count or countess is an aristocratic nobleman in European countries. The word count came into English from the French comte, itself from Latin comes—in its accusative comitem—meaning "companion", and later "companion of the emperor, delegate of the emperor". The adjective form of the word is...
is attested in the donation to the Abbey of Saint-Hilaire
Saint-Hilaire
-People:* Augustin Saint-Hilaire , a French botanist and traveler* Caroline St-Hilaire , a Canadian politician* Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, , a French zoologist...
in 1011.
He is the founder of the House of Foix which ruled that county for centuries. During his father's lifetime, he married Arsinde, or Garsenda, the heiress of the county of Bigorre
Bigorre
Bigorre is region in southwest France, historically an independent county and later a French province, located in the upper watershed of the Adour, on the northern slopes of the Pyrenees, part of the larger region known as Gascony...
.
He built the square tower of the castle at Foix
Foix
Foix is a commune, the capital of the Ariège department in southwestern France. It is the least populous administrative centre of a department in all of France, although it is only very slightly smaller than Privas...
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 made it his capital, from which a town group up. He had endowed the monastery at Foix and in it he was buried when he died at the ripe old age of seventy-two.
His lands were divided:
- His eldest son, Bernard of Foix, count of Bigorre, took the County of BigorreCounty of BigorreThe County of Bigorre was a small feudatory of the Duchy of Aquitaine in the ninth through fifteenth centuries. Its capital was Tarbes.The county was constituted out of the dowry of a Faquilène, an Aquitainian princess, for her husband Donatus Lupus I, the son of Lupus III of Gascony...
. - His second son, Roger I of Foix, count of Foix, became the first count of FoixCounts of FoixThe 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...
, which included the castles of Castelpenent, RoquemaureRoquemaureRoquemaure can refer to several places:*Roquemaure, Gard, in the Gard département of France*Roquemaure, Tarn, in the Tarn département of France*Roquemaure, Quebec...
, LordatLordatLordat is a commune in the Ariège department in southwestern France.-Population:-References:*...
, and several within the county of ToulouseToulouseToulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
. - His third and youngest son, Peter of Foix, lord of Couserans, inherited the lordship of Couserans.