Eschivat IV Chabanais was Count of Bigorre from 1255 to 1283 and Count of Armagnac

Count of Armagnac

The following is a list of rulers of the county of Armagnac:-House of Armagnac:*William Count of Fézensac and Armagnac ?– 960*Bernard the Suspicious, First count privative of Armagnac 960– ?*Gerald I Trancaléon ? –1020*Bernard I Tumapaler 1020–1061...

 and de Fézensac of 1255 in 1256. He was the son of Jordan, Lord of Chabanais, and Alix de Montfort, Countess of Bigorre.

Biography

He succeeded his mother as Count of Fezensac in 1255 and married Mascarós II d'Armagnac, Countess of Armagnac and Fézensac the same year. The counties of Armagnac and Fézensac were still claimed by Gerald

Gerald VI of Armagnac

Gerald VI, , was Viscount Fezensaguet from 1240 to 1285, then Count of Armagnac and Fezensac from 1256 to 1285. He was the son of Roger d'Armagnac, Viscount of Fezensaguet, and Pincelle d'Albret....

, Viscount of Fezensaguet. The death of his wife, Mascarós, the following year, ended the conflict and made Gerald VI heir to the County of Armagnac.

He faced a new conflict, this time in Bigorre. Near the end of her life the Countess Petronilla de Bigorre, Eschivat's grandmother, relinguished the government of Bigorre to her brother-in-law, Simon de Montfort

Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester

Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, 1st Earl of Chester , sometimes referred to as Simon V de Montfort to distinguish him from other Simon de Montforts, was an Anglo-Norman nobleman. He led the barons' rebellion against King Henry III of England during the Second Barons' War of 1263-4, and...

 Earl of Leicester

Earl of Leicester

The title Earl of Leicester was created in the 12th century in the Peerage of England , and is currently a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, created in 1837.-Early creations:...

 and governor of Guyenne. Simon had interpreted this act as a gift and had been fought by the heiress of the county, Alix de Montfort assisted by her half-sister, Maths Matha, wife of Gaston VII

Gaston VII of Béarn

Gaston VII de Montcada , called Froissard, was the twentieth Viscount of Béarn from 1229. He was the son and heir of William II Raymond and Garsenda, daughter of Alfonso II of Provence and Garsenda of Forcalquier...

 Viscount of Béarn

Viscounts of Béarn

The viscounts of Béarn were the rulers of a former province of France, located in the Pyrenees mountains and in the plain at their feet, in southwest France...

. To prevent Guyenne and Gascony from rebelling, Henry III recalled Simon de Montfort and appointed John Grailly in his place.

Eschivat had succeeded his mother without protest, but made the mistake of keeping land that Mathe had in Bigorre. Gaston VII then invaded the county, forcing Eschivat to defend it, seeking the assistance of Prince Edward of England

Edward I of England

Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...

 and the alliance of Count

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...

 Roger IV of Foix

Roger IV of Foix

Roger IV , son and successor of Roger-Bernard II the Great, 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 and, though he was reluctant to join his father's old ally, Raymond VII of Toulouse, in revolt and he did not aid...

 he married the daughter Ines (1256).

In 1258, war resumed in the region and Eschivat agreed to temporarily surrender the County of Bigorre

County of Bigorre

The 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...

 to Simon de Montfort, this time to end the conflict. In doing so, he committed the same mistake as his grandmother, because Simon refused to return the county. Soon after, Simon de Montfort rebelled against King Henry III, and Eschivat helped Gaston VII regain Bigorre.

After his death, his aunt Mathe and his sister Laura competed for the County of Bigorre

County of Bigorre

The 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...

.