know the method of execution; they have no real existence.
“Sforza,” Ital. for disarmament. “Scandaglio,” Ital for examination,
studying the form of an opponent at the beginning of a bout.
“Toccato!” Ital. for “Touched!”,. Fr. “Touché.”
Bibliography.—The literature of foil-fencing is practically identical with that of the art in general (see Fencing). The following modern works are among the best. French School: Fencing, in the Badminton library (1897); Foil and Sabre, by L. Rondelle (Boston, 1892); “Fencing,” by C. Prevost in the Encyclopaedia of Sport (1901); Fencing, by Edward Breck (New York, 1906). Italian school: Istruzione per la scherma, &c., by S. de Frae (Milan, 1885); La Scherma italiana di spada e di sciabola, by F. Masiello (Florence, 1887). (E. B.)
FOIX, PAUL DE (1528–1584), French prelate and diplomatist. He studied Greek and Roman literature at Paris, and jurisprudence at Toulouse, where shortly after finishing his curriculum he delivered a course of lectures on civil law, which gained him great reputation. At the age of nineteen he was named councillor of the parlement of Paris. Having in this capacity expressed himself favourable to the adoption of mild measures in regard to certain persons accused of Lutheranism, he was arrested, but escaped punishment, and subsequently regained the favour of the French court. At the end of 1561 he was sent ambassador to England, where he remained four years. He was then sent to Venice, and returned a short time afterwards to England to negotiate a marriage between Queen Elizabeth and the duke of Anjou. He again fulfilled several important missions during the reign of Henry III. of France. In 1577 he was made archbishop of Toulouse, and in 1579 was appointed ambassador to Rome, where he remained till his death in 1584.
Les Lettres de Messire de Paul de Foix, archevesque de Toloze et ambassadeur pour le roy auprès du pape Grégoire XIII, au roi Henry III, were published in 1628, but there are some doubts as to their authenticity. See Gallia Christiana (1715 seq.); M. A. Muret, Oraison funèbre de Paul de Foix (Paris, 1584); “Lettres de Catherine de Médicis,” edited by Hector de la Ferrière (Paris, 1880 seq.) in the Collection de documents inédits sur l’histoire de France.
FOIX, a town of south-western France, in the middle ages
capital of the counts of Foix, and now capital of the department
of Ariège, 51 m. S. of Toulouse, on the Southern railway from
that city to Ax. Pop. (1906) town, 4498; commune, 6750. It is
situated between the Ariège and the Arget at their confluence.
The old part of the town, with its ill-paved winding streets and
old houses, is dominated on the west by an isolated rock crowned
by the three towers of the castle (12th, 14th and 15th centuries),
while to the south it is limited by the shady Promenade de
Villotte. The chief church is that of St Volusien, a Gothic
building of the 14th century. The town is the seat of a prefecture,
a court of assizes and a tribunal of first instance, and has a lycée,
training colleges, a chamber of commerce and a branch of the
Bank of France. Flour-milling and iron-working are carried on.
Foix probably owes its origin to an oratory founded by Charlemagne.
This afterwards became an abbey, in which were laid
the remains of St Volusien, archbishop of Tours in the 5th
century.
The county of Foix included roughly the eastern part of the modern department of Ariège, a region watered chiefly by the Ariège and its affluents. During the later middle ages it consisted of an agglomeration of small holdings ruled by lords, who, though subordinate to the counts of Foix, had some voice in the government of the district. Protestantism obtained an early entrance into the county, and the religious struggles of the 16th and 17th centuries were carried on with much implacability therein. The estates of the county, which can be traced back to the 14th century, consisted of three orders and possessed considerable power and virility. In the 17th and 18th centuries Foix formed one of the thirty-three governments of France, and in 1790 it was incorporated in the department of Ariège.
Counts of Foix.—The counts of Foix were an old and distinguished French family which flourished from the 11th to the 15th century. They were at first feudatories of the counts of Toulouse, but chafing under this yoke they soon succeeded in throwing it off, and during the 13th and 14th centuries were among the most powerful of the French feudal nobles. Living on the borders of France, having constant intercourse with Navarre, and in frequent communication with England, they were in a position peculiarly favourable to an assertion of independence, and acted rather as the equals than as the dependents of the kings of France.
The title of count of Foix was first assumed by Roger, son of Bernard Roger, who was a younger son of Roger I., count of Carcassonne (d. 1012), when he inherited the town of Foix and the adjoining lands, which had hitherto formed part of the county of Carcassonne. Dying about 1064, Roger was succeeded by his brother Peter, who died six years later, and was succeeded in turn by his son, Roger II. This count took part in the crusade of 1095, and was afterwards excommunicated by Pope Paschal II. for seizing ecclesiastical property; but subsequently he appeased the anger of the church by rich donations, and when he died in 1125 he was succeeded by his son, Roger III. The death of Roger III. about 1149, and of his son, Roger Bernard I., in 1188, brought the county to Roger Bernard’s only son, Raymond Roger, who, in 1190, accompanied the French king, Philip Augustus, to Palestine and distinguished himself at the capture of Acre. He was afterwards engaged in the wars of the Albigenses, and on being accused of heresy his lands were given to Simon IV., count of Montfort. Raymond Roger, who came to terms with the church and recovered his estates before his death in 1223, was a patron of the Provençal poets, and counted himself among their number. He was succeeded by his son, Roger Bernard II., called the Great, who assisted Raymond VII., count of Toulouse, and the Albigenses in their resistance to the French kings, Louis VIII. and Louis IX., was excommunicated on two occasions and died in 1241. His son, Roger IV., who followed, died in 1265, and was succeeded by his son, Roger Bernard III., who, more famous as a poet than as a warrior, was taken prisoner both by Philip III. of France and by Peter III. of Aragon. This count married Marguerite, daughter and heiress of Gaston VII., viscount of Béarn (d. 1290), and this union led to the outbreak of a long feud between the houses of Foix and Armagnac; a quarrel which was continued by Roger Bernard’s son and successor, Gaston I., who became count in 1302, inheriting both Foix and Béarn. Becoming embroiled with the French king, Philip IV., in consequence of the struggle with the count of Armagnac, Gaston was imprisoned in Paris; but quickly regaining his freedom he accompanied King Louis X. on an expedition into Flanders in 1315, and died on his return to France in the same year. His eldest son, Gaston II., was the next count. Having become reconciled with the house of Armagnac, Gaston took part in various wars both in France and Spain, dying at Seville in 1343, when he was succeeded by his son, Gaston III. (1331–1391). Gaston III., who was surnamed Phoebus on account of his beauty, was the most famous member of the old Foix family. Like his father he assisted France in her struggle against England, being entrusted with the defence of the frontiers of Gascony; but when the French king, John II., showed a marked preference for the count of Armagnac, Gaston left his service and went to fight against the heathen in Prussia. Returning to France about 1357 he delivered some noble ladies from the attacks of the adherents of the Jacquerie at Meaux, and was soon at war with the count of Armagnac. During this struggle he also attacked the count of Poitiers, the royal representative in Languedoc, but owing to the intervention of Pope Innocent VI. he made peace with the count in 1360. Gaston, however, continued to fight against the count of Armagnac, who, in 1362, was defeated and compelled to pay a ransom; and this war lasted until 1377, when peace was made. Early in 1380 the count was appointed governor of Languedoc, but when Charles VI. succeeded Charles V. as king later in the same year, this appointment was cancelled. Refusing, however, to heed the royal command, and supported by the communes of Languedoc, Gaston fought for about two years against John, duke of Berry, who had been chosen as his successor, until, worsted in the combat, he abandoned the struggle and retired to his estates, remaining neutral and independent. In 1348 the count had married Agnes, daughter of Philip, count of Evreux (d. 1343), by his wife Jeanne II., queen of Navarre. By Agnes, whom he
