Foix

Who he is

Name

Raymond Roger (Raimon Rogier)

Title

Count of Foix

Since

1188

Born

1152 by French Wikipedia (the year is doubtful; his parents married about 1151)

Family

Son of Roger Bernard I of Foix and Cecilia Trencavel, so a cousin of the young viscount Raymond Roger Trencavel. Married in 1189 to Philippa, traditionally of the Montcada. Son and heir Roger Bernard (II), birth not pinned; daughter Cecilia; natural son Loup, later lord of Saverdun. His sister Esclarmonde, wife of Jordan III of L'Isle-Jourdain, is close to the Cathars.

Confidence

high

French Wikipedia (Raimond-Roger de Foix).

Overlord

The count of Toulouse for the county, as usually stated; in 1193 Alfonso II of Aragon granted him the overlordship of lands in the Fenouilledes and the Peyrepertuses (French Wikipedia). Formal homage to Peter II comes only in 1208-1213.

What it holds

• The castle and town of Foix
• The Sabartes: Tarascon, Ax, Lordat and the high valleys
• The lowland county: Varilhes, Saverdun, Mazeres and the plain of the Ariege
• Pamiers, the abbey town of Saint-Antonin of Fredelas, where the count shares lordship with the abbot (terms in 1200 not pinned)
• Overlordship of the castle lords of the Olmes, including the Pereille of Montsegur and the co-lords of Mirepoix in part (not pinned)
• The 1193 grant from Aragon of overlordship in the Fenouilledes and Peyrepertuses (not pinned how much he exercised)

How it was acquired

Inherited from Roger Bernard I in 1188.

Allies and rivals

Allies: Arnau de Castellbo (Iberia map); the Trencavel his cousins; Raymond VI. Rivals: Ermengol VIII of Urgell and the bishop of Urgell; Peter II, who backs them; the abbot of Pamiers.

How things stand that morning

Holds his county; at war in the high Pyrenees with Urgell. He and Castellbo will be captured in February 1203 and held till September 1203 (not yet).

Wealth

Pyrenean pastures and iron of the Sabartes; the Ariege road to Cerdanya; tolls at Foix, Tarascon and Ax; the lowland grain of the Pamiers plain (as usually stated).

Military

Mountain castles (Foix, Lordat, Montreal-de-Sos), his household knights and the companies he led into Urgell; a crusader of 1191. No numbers.

Threats

• War with Urgell and its bishop, backed by Peter II
• Church pressure over heresy in his family
• Quarrels with the abbot of Pamiers

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

In 1200

1. 1200 (Esclarmonde's widowhood; date not pinned)Jordan III of L'Isle-Jourdain, husband of the count's sister Esclarmonde, dies, freeing her to take the Cathar consolamentum at Fanjeaux in 1204.Depends on: Natural death. Stopped by: Play.

Later, on the likely course

1. February 1203Capture of Raymond Roger and Arnau de Castellbo in the Urgell war; released September 1203 through Peter II.Depends on: The war with Urgell continuing. Stopped by: A peace with Urgell brokered by Peter II.

Places of note

• Castle of Foix: The count's seat.
• Lordat: Castle of the Sabartes.
• Montsegur: Castle of the Pereille lords in the Olmes.

Where the sources disagree

• The raid into Urgell and Cerdanya is dated 1196 by French Wikipedia (Raimond-Roger de Foix) and 1198 by the Gran Enciclopedia Catalana (used in the Iberia map).

Evidence: The count's life and wars are well attested; the exact terms of his homage to Toulouse in 1199 and of his share in Pamiers are not.

On the map: Polygon follows the Ariege basin; the eastern edge with the Trencavel Razes and Mirepoix is approximate.

Primary sources for Toulouse

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• Chronicles of Saint-Martial of Limoges, Bernard Itier and other monks of Saint-Martial; Geoffrey of Vigeois for the earlier chronicle (Geoffrey's chronicle to 1184; Bernard Itier's notes about 1195 to 1225). Bernard Itier, librarian of Saint-Martial, kept dated notes through 1200 of what reached Limoges: Richard's death at Chalus in 1199, the viscounts of Limoges and the lords of the Limousin, John's passage through Aquitaine in 1200 and the affairs of Angouleme and the Lusignans, and the abbey's own elections and prices. Read online
• Deeds of the Counts of Barcelona, Anonymous (monks of Santa Maria de Ripoll) (first version 1162 to 1184; continued in the later 13th century; final version 1303 to 1314). The house chronicle of the counts of Barcelona.
• Documents of the French Royal Treasury of Charters, vol. 1 (755 to 1223) (755 to 1223; the archive was organised from the 1190s). The treaties and bonds the French crown kept in its own archive, printed in date order. Read online
• The Great Book of Fiefs, Various; compiled by Ramon de Caldes for Alfonso II of Aragon (compiled 1192 to 1194). The register of the count-king's feudal rights, finished a few years before 1200 and in use at Peter II's court: some 900 charters of homage, convention, oath, sale and marriage arranged by county and lineage, covering Catalonia, Roussillon, Cerdanya, Pallars, Urgell, the Carcassonne and Beziers lands of the Trencavels, Provence and Aragon.