THE COUNTS OF FOIX
The Comté de Foix and its civilization goes back to prehistoric, Gallic
and Roman times. This much we know, but what the detailed events of
these periods were, we know not. Archæology alone, by means of remaining
monuments in stone, must supply that which history omits. The primitives
of the stone age lived mostly in caverns, but here they lived in some
species of rude huts or houses. This at any rate is the supposition.
With the Romans came civic importance; and fortified towns and cities
sprang up here and there of which existing remains, as at St. Lizier,
tell a plain story.
The principal historical events of the early years of the Middle Ages
were religious in motive. Written records are few, however, and are
mostly legendary accounts. Dynasties of great families began to be
founded in the ninth century; and each region took on different manners
and customs. The Couserans, a dismemberment of Comminges, became
practically Gascon; while Foix cast off from Toulouse, had its own
development. Victor Balaguer, the poet, expresses this better than most
historians when he says: "_Provence et Pyrénées, s'écriet-il, portent le
deuil du monde latin. Le jour où tombèrent ceux de Foix tomba aussi la
Provence_."
The resistance of the counts in the famous wars of the Albigeois only
provoked the incursion of the troops of the cruel Simon de Montfort. The
Comte de Foix fell back finally on his strong château; and, on the
sixteenth of June, 1229, in the presence of the papal legate,
representative of the king of France, Roger-Bernard II made his
submission without reserve.
In 1272, under Comte Roger-Bernard III, the Château de Foix underwent a
siege at the hands of Philippe-le-Hardi; and, at the end of three days,
seeing the preponderance of numbers against him, and being doubtful of
his allies, he surrendered. By marriage with Marguerite de Moncade,
daughter of the Vicomte de Béarn, he inherited the two important fiefs
of Catalogne and Béarn et Bigorre, thus preparing the way for possession
of the throne of Navarre. By the thirteenth century the great feudal
families of the Midi were dwindling in numbers, and it was this
marriage of a Comte de Foix with the heiress of Béarn which caused
practically the extinction of one.
The modern department of the Ariège, of which the ancient Comté de Foix
formed the chief part, possesses few historical monuments dating before
the Middle Ages. There are numerous residential châteaux scattered
about, and the most splendid of them all is at Foix itself. Fine old
churches and monasteries, and quaint old houses are numerous; yet it is
a region less exploited by tourists than any other in France.
Not all these historic shrines remain to-day unspoiled and untouched.
Many of them were destroyed in the Revolution, but their sites and their
ruins remain. The mountain slopes of this region are thickly strewn with
watch-towers and observatories; and though all but fallen to the ground
they form a series of connecting historical links which only have to be
recognized to be read. The towers or châteaux of Quié, Tarascon-sur-Ariège,
Gudanne, Lourdat and Vic-Dessos are almost unknown to most travellers.
They deserve to become better known, however, especially Lourdat, one
of the most spectacularly endowed château ruins extant.
The fourteenth century was the most brilliant in the history of Foix.
These were the days of Gaston Phoebus; and the description of his
reception of Charles VI of France at Mazères, as given by the
chroniclers, indicates an incomparable splendour and magnificence.
Gaston Phoebus, like Henri de Béarn, was what might be called a good
liver. Here is how he spent his day--when he was not warring or building
castles. He rose at noon and after a mass he dined. Usually there were a
great number of dishes; and, on really great occasions, as on a fête or
_festin_, the incredible number of two hundred and fifty. These princes
of the Pyrenees loved good cheer, and their usage was to surcharge the
tables and themselves with the good things until the results were
uncomfortable. Gaston's two sons, Yvain and Gratain, usually stood
behind him at table, and the youngest son, another Gaston, first tried
all the dishes before his august father ate of them. He was weak and
sickly, a "mild and melancholy figure," and no wonder! The feasting
terminated, Gaston and his court would pass into the Salle de Parlement,
"where many things were debated," as the chroniclers put it. Soon
entered the minstrels and troubadours, while in the courts there were
trials of skill between the nobles of one house and another, stone
throwing, throwing the spear, and the _jeu de paume_. The
count--"_toujours magnifique_" (no chronicler of the time neglects to
mention that fact)--distributed rewards to the victors. After this there
was more eating, or at least more drinking.
When he was not sleeping or eating or amusing himself, or conducting
such affairs as he could not well depute to another, such as the
planning and building of castles, Gaston occupied himself, like many
other princes of his time, with belles-lettres and poesy. He had four
_secrétaires_ to do his writing; and it is possible that they may have
written much which is attributed to him, if the art of employing
literary "ghosts" was known in that day. He composed _chansons_,
_ballades_, _rondeaux_ and _virelais_, and insisted on reading them
aloud himself, forbidding any one to make a comment on them. How many
another author would like to have the same prerogative!
Gaston Phoebus de Foix, so named because of his classic beauty, was
undoubtedly a great author in his day. This bold warrior wrote a book on
the manners and usage of hunting in mediæval times, entitled the
"_Miroir de Phoebus_;" and, while it might not pass muster among the
masterpieces of later French literature, it was a notable work for its
time and literally a mirror of contemporary men and manners in the
hunting field.
Gaston de Foix was another gallant noble. He died at the age of
twenty-four at the Battle of Ravenna in 1512. Jacques Fournier, who
became Pope Benoit XII, also came from Foix.
The honour of being the most celebrated of the Counts of Foix may well
be divided by Gaston Phoebus (1343-1390) and Henri Quatre (1553-1610).
The latter was the last of the famous counts of the province; and he it
was who united it with the royal domain of France, thus sinking its
identity for ever, though his predecessors had done their utmost to keep
its independence alive.
During the Hundred Years War the Comtes de Foix, masters of the entire
middle chain of the Pyrenees, were the strongest power in the southwest;
and above all were they powerful because of their alliances and
relations with the Spanish princes, whose friendship and aid were
greatly to be desired, for their support meant success for their allies.
This is proven, absolutely, from the fact that, when the English were
ultimately driven from France, it was through the aid and support of
Gaston Phoebus himself and his successors, Archambaud, Jean I and
Gaston IV.
The fifteenth century saw the apogee of the house of Foix. One of its
princes married Madeleine de France, sister of Louis XI. The sixteenth
century saw sad times during a long civil war of more than thirty years
duration. War among the members of a household or among one's own people
is really an inexcusable thing. In the Comté the Abbey of Boulbonne was
destroyed. At Pamiers all the religious edifices were razed; and the
Abbey of St. Volusien at Foix, the special pride of the counts for ages,
was destroyed by fire.
Calm came for a period under the reign of Henri IV, at Paris; but, after
his death, local troubles and dissensions broke out again, inspired and
instigated by the wily Duc de Rohan, which culminated at Pamiers, where
the great Condé and Montmorenci appeared at the head of their troops.
The peace of Alais ended this final struggle; and, to assure the
security of the country, Richelieu gave the order to dismantle all the
walls and ramparts of the fortified places in the Comté, and all the
châteaux-forts as well. This was done forthwith, and that is why many a
mediæval château in these parts is in ruins to-day. The Château de
Foix, by reason of its dignity, was allowed to keep its towers and
battlemented walls.
For a hundred and fifty years, that is up to the Revolution, Foix was
comparatively tranquil. Under the reign of Louis XIV, however, the
region saw the frequent passage of troops and warlike stores as they
came and went to the Spanish wars. This nearly ruined many dwellers in
town and country by reason of the tax they had to pay in money and
provisions.
Like the Basques and the Béarnais the inhabitants of the Ariège, the
descendants of the old adherents of the Comtes de Foix, bear many traces
of their former independence and liberty. Civilization and their easy,
comfortable manner of living have not made of them a very robust race,
but they are possessed of much fairness of face and figure and
gentleness of manner.
The smugglers of feudal times, and considerably later times for that
matter, were the pest of the region. It was rude, hard work smuggling
wines or tobacco over the mountains, in and out of Spain, and its wages
were uncertain, but there were large numbers who embarked on it in
preference to grazing flocks and herds or engaging in other
agricultural pursuits.
It was hard work for the smugglers of Foix to get their burdens up the
mountains, but they had a custom of rolling their load up into great
balls bound around with wool and thongs and rolling them down the other
side. Thus the labour was halved. The _Romany chiel_ or gypsy adopted
the contraband business readily; and with the competition of the French
and Spanish, there were lively times on the frontier between Foix and
Gascogne and Spain and Andorra.
M. Thiers recounts an adventure in an auberge of the Pyrenees with such
a crew of bandits, and thought himself lucky to escape with his life.
The chief of the band, as the travellers were all sitting around the
great log fire, began cleaning his pipe with a long poignard-like knife
which, he volunteered, was ready to do other service than whittling
bread or tobacco if need be. The night passed off safely enough by
reason of the arrival of a squad of gendarmes, but the next night a
whole house full of travellers were murdered on the same spot.
The roads of the old Comté de Foix, a very important thing for many who
travel by automobile, are throughout excellent and extensive. There are
fourteen Routes Nationales and Départementales crossing in every
direction. The highway from Toulouse to Madrid runs via St. Girons and
Bayonne into Andorra by way of the valley of the Ariège, and to
Barcelona via Perpignan and the Col de Perthus.
The valley of the Ariège, to a large extent included in the Comté de
Foix, has a better preserved historical record than its neighbours on
the east and west.
In the ninth century the ruling comte was allied with the houses of
Barcelona and Carcassonne. His residence was at Foix from this time up
to the Revolution; and his rule embraced the valley of the Hers, of
which Mirepoix was the principal place, the mountain region taken from
Catalogne, and a part of the lowlands which had been under the scrutiny
of the Comtes de Toulouse.