Gaston IV, Count of Foix


Gaston IV was the sovereign Viscount of Béarn and the Count of Foix and Bigorre in France from 1436 to 1472. He also held the viscounties of Marsan, Castelbon, Nébouzan, Villemeur and Lautrec and was, by virtue of the county of Foix, co-prince of Andorra. From 1447 he was also Viscount of Narbonne. Through his marriage to Eleonor, heiress of the Kingdom of Navarre, he also held the title of Prince of Navarre.
He was a son of John I, Count of Foix and Jeanne d'Albret. His maternal grandparents were Charles d'Albret, Constable of France and co-commander of the French army, killed at the Battle of Agincourt, and his wife Marie de Sully.
Gaston married the Navarrese Infanta, Eleonor, in 1436. Her parents were John II of Aragon and Blanche I of Navarre. At the time, Leonor appeared to have few prospects: her father was a younger son and brother of kings of Aragon, and Leonor had a brother, Charles of Viana, and an older sister, Blanca, standing between herself and the throne of Navarre. However, family dissent and death eliminated both Charles and Blanca; Leonor's father usurped the Navarrese crown, to which he added in 1458 the throne of Aragon and, following the deaths of Charles and Blanca, promised the succession to Navarre to Leonor and her husband in return for their loyalty to him, which was given.
They had ten children: