Gaston IV, Count of Foix

Who was Gaston IV, Count of Foix?

Gaston IV, Count of Foix, Viscount of Béarn was a French nobleman from Bearn, who founded a brief-ruling dynastic house of the Kingdom 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, Leonor, in 1436. Her parents were John II and Blanche I of Navarre. At the time, Leonor appeared to have few prospects: her father was a younger son and brother of the Kings of Aragon, and Leonor had a brother, Charles of Viana, and an older sister, Blanca, standing between herself and the inheritance of Navarre. However, family dissent and death eliminated both Charles and Blanca; Leonor's father usurped the Navarrese throne, to which he added in 1458 the throne of Aragon, and, following the deaths of Charles and Blanca, promised the inheritance of Navarre to Leonor and her husband in return for their loyalty to him, which was given.

They had ten children:

Gaston de Foix, Viscount of Castelbon, prince of Viana, lieutenant general of Navarre.