Foix the fox (1)

In 1289 Gaston VII, Vicomte of Béarn in southern Gascony, was made an offer he couldn’t refuse. He was a titled brigand who had spent the past forty years playing off his feudal overlords against each other; Gaston’s standard tactic was to go into revolt against his direct overlord, the King of England, and then run squealing for help to his indirect overlord, the King of France. He used the ensuing chaos to run riot and burn and pillage at will: in 1274 it was estimated that he had caused 100,000 livres tournois worth of damage during his ‘cavalgade’ and plundering raids.

He finally overplayed his hand by arranging a marriage between his daughter Margaret to Roger-Bernard III, count of Foix in southwest France. Gaston had no son, so his inheritance would fall to his son-in-law. The marriage was sanctioned by Edward I, but neither the English king or his cousin, Philip III of France, were overjoyed at the prospect between Foix and Béarn. This created a power bloc on the edge of the Pyrenees that threatened the local hegemony of both kingdoms.

The kings decided to get rid of Gaston before he came up with any more bright ideas. As part of their plans for a joint crusade, Gaston was obliged to agree to go with them to the Holy Land. He had backed out of Edward’s previous crusade in 1270, but this time there was no escape clause. The agreement stipulated that Edward would confiscate Gaston’s lands for debts owed to the English crown, while all of his castles would either be destroyed or taken into the king’s hands. He would, in effect, be disinherited and exiled.

This was precisely the same ‘offer’ made to Prince Dafydd ap Gruffudd in November 1282. Dafydd had refused, but Gaston had no choice: if he said no, Edward and Philip would crush him like a bug. He took the cross in 1290 and - as if to cheat his enemies - promptly died a few days later, leaving five knights of Béarn to redeem his vow.

Enter Foix the fox alias Count Roger-Bernard III. This guy was a player and a half.