Count of Foix

The Count of Foix ruled the independent County of Foix, in what is now southern France, during the Middle Ages. The House of Foix eventually extended its power across the Pyrenees mountain range, moving their court to Pau in Béarn. The last count unified with King Henry IV of France in 1607.

Gallery of Arms

Arms of the House of Foix-Béarn

Arms of the House of Foix-Béarn

Arms of the House of Foix-Grailly

Arms of the House of Foix-Grailly

Arms of the House of Foix-Grailly-Navarre

Arms of the House of Foix-Grailly-Navarre

Arms of the House of Albret

Arms of the House of Albret

Arms of the House of Bourbon

Arms of the House of Bourbon

List of counts of Foix

House of Foix

House of Foix-Béarn

House of Foix-Grailly

House of Albret

House of Bourbon

In 1607 the county of Foix was reunited to the French crown.

See also

Foix

Foix (French pronunciation: ​[fwa]; Occitan: Fois [ˈfujs, ˈfujʃ]; Catalan: Foix [ˈfoʃ]) is a commune, the former capital of the County of Foix. Today it is the Préfecture of the Ariège department in southwestern France in the Midi-Pyrénées region. It is the least populous administrative centre of a department in all of France, although it is only very slightly smaller than Privas. It lies south of Toulouse, close to the border with Spain and Andorra. At the 2009 census, the city had a population of 9,861 people. It is only the second city of the department after Pamiers which is one of the two sub-prefectures.

History

The Romans built a fort on the rocky hill where the Château de Foix castle now overlooks the town. The town of Foix probably owes its origin to an oratory founded by Charlemagne, which afterwards became the Abbey of Saint Volusianus in 849. The current area was preceded by the County of Foix.

The founding, in 849, of the Abbey Saint-Volusien allowed the development of urban living in the tenth century to the twelfth century. The city reached its peak in the fourteenth century.

Foixà

Foixà is a village and municipality in the comarca (county) of the Baix Empordà.

Geography

The rural village of Foixà stretches from the right bank to the lower basin of the Ter river. It is divided into two main sections: la Vila (the village), which surrounds the old 13th century Castle of Foixà atop a hill, and L'Església (the church), near the parish church, of a less dense population.

The stream Foixà provides water to the village and empties into the Daró after Fontanilles, passing Ultramort and the Daró Mountains. The forests that surround it (about 1000 ha) are inhabited mainly by oaks and pines.

History

The first documentation found dates from 1019, when it belonged to the county of Empúries, just on the western edge and bordering the county of Girona. This fact gave rise to many armed conflicts. Foixà also suffered disputes between the counts of Empúries and the kings during the reigns of James II of Urgell and Peter IV of Aragon. Records show that in 1359, Bernat Alemany d'Orriols, cousin to queen Sibila of Fortia, came into discord with the count John I of Empúries starting an open war to the point that the count besieged the castle. Peter IV then intervened in favor of his wife's relative and John I was forced to sign a humiliating truce at his castle in Bellcaire.

Foix (river)

The Foix (Catalan pronunciation: [ˈfoʃ]) is a river in Catalonia in the province of Barcelona, northeastern Spain. Its source is near La Llancuna in the Comarca of Anoia 800 m above the sea. Later it runs through the Comarca of Alt Penedès, where it feeds a reservoir in the nature reserve of Parc del Foix since 1928, which is highly important for the drinking water supply of the densely populated coastal plain between Barcelona and Tarragona. Then it goes through the Comarca of Garraf from north to the south where it ends into the Mediterranean Sea west of the village of Cubelles. This little delta became an important natural reserve and recreational area after the campground ″Camping Paradiso″ was removed in the late 1990s.

For most of the year, the river is dried up because of the dam and because of hot-summer climatical reasons. That can suddenly change in the winter months when heavy rain comes down in the mountains.

See also