The House of Armagnac is a French noble house established in 961 by Bernard I, Count of Armagnac. It achieved its greatest importance in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
The House of Armagnac, at the end of the thirteenth century, was not yet powerful enough to play a political role beyond its possessions. The House of Toulouse, which ruled over the large southeast of France, was defeated by the Capetians during the Albigensian Crusade, but local dynasties, like the House of Foix, the Counts of Comminges and the House of Albret, were gaining momentum.
At the beginning of the fourteenth century, the Armagnacs reached the rank of great feudal lords with the legacy of the County of Rodez. This heritage, combined with its Gascon lands, allowed the family to hold a rank of major importance in the heart of the nobility and, therefore, to ally itself to the royal House of France.
Between the fourteenth and fifteenth century, the Armagnacs came into possession of other territories including the counties of Charolais, La Marche, Pardiac, Castres, the land of Nemours elevated to a duchy, and the Carladez. After being attached to the Kings of France during the fourteenth century, the Counts of Armagnac sought to emancipate themselves (money title Dei gracia) from the Royal Trust in the fifteenth century and took an active part in the last struggles of feudalism in France. King Louis XI broke their desire for independence by force and the Armagnacs would never recover from their defeat. They declined and became extinct in the sixteenth century.
The House of Armagnac's most famous member was Bernard VII, Count of Armagnac and Rodez, Constable of France, leader of the Armagnacs opposed to the Burgundians during the Hundred Years' War.
The House of Armagnac is from the lineage of the former Dukes of Gascony known since the eighth or ninth century.
Garcia II Sanchez of Gascony (†930), Duke of Gascony, divided the duchy between his three sons: [1]
William Garcés of Fézensac detached from his land the County of Armagnac, to give to his younger son Bernard, who founded the first house of Armagnac. Bernard II, younger son of Bernard I, was briefly Count of Biscay—a title which he inherited from his mother—but was deposed by his cousin Guy Geoffroy Guillaume VIII, Duke of Aquitaine. In 1140 the elder branch of Fézensac ended, which benefited the counts of Armagnac: a legacy that initiated the power of the family.
Following the acquisition through marriage of the County of Rodez between the end of thirteenth century and the early fourteenth century, the counts of Armagnac, John I and John II, came closer to the court of France.
John I married his daughter, Joan of Armagnac to John, Duke of Berry, who then married his daughter, Bonne of Berry to Bernard VII, Count of Armagnac, who then married his daughter, Bonne d'Armagnac to Charles d'Orléans. At the death of Louis d'Orléans, he succeeded him in the war against the Burgundians, becoming the head of the party that became that of the Armagnacs. To increase his power, he dispossessed the cadet branches of the family, recovering the Fezensaguet and Pardiac, but failed with Comminges. He died in 1418, leaving two sons:
From the assassination of Louis d'Orléans in 1407 to the Treaty of Arras in 1435, the House of Armagnac supported French interests against the Dukes of Burgundy allied with the English. The Armagnacs represented the armed wing of France.
After serving the Capetians during the fourteenth century and the beginning of the fifteenth, the Armagnacs were openly seeking to emancipate themselves. They assumed that the role they played during the Hundred Years' War gave them greater rights than the rest of the nobility. They had not counted on the pugnacity of King Louis XI.
At the end of the fifteenth century, the Armagnacs were claiming sovereign rights (coin money, take the qualification Counts by the grace of God), incurring the wrath of King Louis XI. In 1473, John V, Count of Armagnac was besieged and killed in Lectoure by French troops led by Cardinal Jean Jouffroy, Archbishop of Albi, who murdered the count in front of his wife, pillaged, and burned everything, and left alive only the Countess Jeanne de Foix (daughter of Gaston IV, Count of Foix). [2] The Countess was stripped of her jewels and dragged, even though she was seven months pregnant, into the castle of Buzet-sur-Tarn which had been turned into a state prison. There King Louis XI ordered the extinction of the House of Armagnac. Cardinal Jouffroy ordered the apothecaries and the soldiers to force the unfortunate Countess to drink a potion to destroy her unborn child. Jeanne de Foix's child was stillborn in April 1473. Jeanne died 10 February 1476.
Jacques d'Armagnac, Duke of Nemours and Count John V were both targets of King Louis XI's deadly vengeance against the House of Armagnac. They were two of the last three grandsons and male heirs of Bernard VII, Count of Armagnac.
The only male survivor of the House of Armagnac was, Charles I, Count of Armagnac, Viscount Fezensaguet, who was born in 1425 and died without issue 3 June 1497 in Castelnau-de-Montmiral at the age of 72 years. Charles I of Armagnac was particularly troublesome and King Louis XI had him confined in prison for thirteen years, from 1472 to 1485. With King Louis XI having disposed of the House of Armagnac, Alain I of Albret occupied the county of Armagnac.
 |
| Garcia II Count of Gascony [1] († 926) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| William Garcés of Fézensac [1] Count of Fézensac († 960) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Odo Count of Fézensac († 985) | Bernard I le Louche Count d'Armagnac († 995) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bernard-Odon Count of Fézensac († 1020) | Gérald I Trancaléon Count d'Armagnac († 1020) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Aymeric I comte de Fézensac († 1032) | Arnaud I vicomte de Lomagne | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Astanove I comte de Fézensac († 1064) | Bernard II Tumapaler Count d'Armagnac († 1090) | Odon I vicomte de Lomagne († 1085) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Aymeric II comte de Fézensac († 1103) | Géraud II comte d'Armagnac († 1103) | Odon II vicomte de Lomagne († 1091) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Astanove II comte de Fézensac († 1140) | Bernard III comte d'Armagnac († 1110) | Vézian I vicomte de Lomagne († 1137) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bernard III comte de Bigorre († 1112) | Anicelle comtesse de Fézensac | Géraud III comte d'Armagnac († 1160) | Odon III vicomte de Lomagne († 1178) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bernard IV comte d'Armagnac († 1193) | Mascarose | Odon seigneur de Firmacon | Vezian II vicomte de Lomagne († 1221) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Géraud IV comte d'Armagnac († 1215) | Bernard I vcte de Fézensaguet († 1202) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Roger vicomte de Fézensaguet | Gérald V comte d'Armagnac († 1219) | Odon IV vicomte de Lomagne († 1240) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pierre Gérard cte d'Armagnac († 1241) | Bernard V cte d'Armagnac († 1243) | Mascarose I ctesse d'Armagnac († 1255) | Arnaud Odon cte d'Armagnac († 1265) | Escaronne de Blaziert | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gérald VI Count d'Armagnac († 1285) | Eskivat de Chabanais comte d'Armagnac et de Bigorre († 1283) | Mascarose II comte d'Armagnac († 1256) | Vezian III vicomte de Lomagne († 1280) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bernard VI Count d'Armagnac and of Rodez († 1319) | Gaston cte de Fézensaguet († 1326) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| John I Count d'Armagnac and of Rodez († 1373) | Géraud I cte de Fézensaguet († 1339) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| John II Count d'Armagnac and of Rodez († 1384) | John I Count of Fézensaguet († 1390) | Géraud II Count of Pardiac and of Fézensaguet († 1401) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| John III Count d'Armagnac and of Rodez († 1391) | Bernard VII Count d'Armagnac and Rodez († 1418) | John II Count of Pardiac and of Fézensaguet († 1402) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| John IV Count d'Armagnac and of Rodez († 1450) | Bernard Count of Pardiac and la Marche Duke of Nemours († 1462) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| John V Count d'Armagnac and of Rodez († 1473) | Charles I Count d'Armagnac and of Rodez († 1497) | Jacques Count of Pardiac and la Marche Duke of Nemours († 1477) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jean Count of Pardiac Duke of Nemours († 1500) | Louis Count of Pardiac and of Guise Duke of Nemours († 1503) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
These are lists of political office-holders in France.
The County of Armagnac, situated between the Adour and Garonne rivers in the lower foothills of the Pyrenées, was a historic county of the Duchy of Gascony, established in 601 in Aquitaine. In 960, the title of 'Count of Armagnac' was established, and thus the County of Armagnac was created. In 1751, following the death of childless Charles de Lorraine, Comte d'Armagnac, the county was absorbed into the Crown lands of France and the King, then Louis XV took the title of 'Count of Armagnac'. In 1791, following the Decree dividing France into departments, the county was disestablished, but remains an important natural region of France.
The County of Foix was an independent medieval fief in southern France, and later a province of France, whose territory corresponded roughly the eastern part of the modern département of Ariège.
Duke of Nemours was a title in the Peerage of France. The name refers to Nemours in the Île-de-France region of north-central France.
The County of La Marche was a medieval French county, approximately corresponding to the modern département of Creuse and the northern half of Haute Vienne.
Bernard VII, Count of Armagnac was Count of Armagnac and Constable of France. He was the son of John II, Count of Armagnac, and Jeanne de Périgord. He succeeded in Armagnac at the death of his brother, John III, in 1391. After prolonged fighting, he also became Count of Comminges in 1412.
Jacques d'Armagnac, duke of Nemours, was the son of Bernard d'Armagnac, count of Pardiac, and Eleanor of Bourbon-La Marche.
William García was a Count of Fézensac. He was the second son of García II of Gascony and Amuna.
The County of Fézensac was an 8th-century creation on the north-eastern fringes of the Duchy of Gascony following Charlemagne's policy of feudalisation and Frankish colonisation. The move was aimed at offsetting and undermining the authority of the duke of Gascony Lupo II after the setback suffered by the Franks at the Battle of Roncevaux in 778 and failure to restrain the Basques. That advance clearly displeased the Basques, with these policies sparking a stir on the banks of the Garonne.
John I of Armagnac, son of Bernard VI and Cecilia Rodez, was Count of Armagnac from 1319 to 1373. In addition to Armagnac he controlled territory in Quercy, Rouergue and Gévaudan. He was the count who initiated the 14th century expansion of the county.
John IV was a Count of Armagnac, Fézensac, and Rodez from 1418 to 1450. He was involved in the intrigues related to the Hundred Years' War and in conflicts against the King of France.
The Count of Pardiac was a title in the French nobility.
The crown lands, crown estate, royal domain or domaine royal of France were the lands, fiefs and rights directly possessed by the kings of France. While the term eventually came to refer to a territorial unit, the royal domain originally referred to the network of "castles, villages and estates, forests, towns, religious houses and bishoprics, and the rights of justice, tolls and taxes" effectively held by the king or under his domination. In terms of territory, before the reign of Henry IV, the domaine royal did not encompass the entirety of the territory of the kingdom of France and for much of the Middle Ages significant portions of the kingdom were the direct possessions of other feudal lords.
Castres-en-Albigenses was a dependence of the Viscount of Albi. The Viscounts of Albi granted Castres a city charter establishing a commune with the city, headed by consuls. During the Albigensian Crusade, the city quickly surrendered to Simon de Montfort, who gave it to his brother Guy de Montfort.
John II, the Hunchback,, Count of Armagnac, of Fézensac, Rodez (1371–1384) and Count of Charolais (1364–1384), Viscount Lomagne and Auvillars, he was the son of John I, Count of Armagnac, of Fezensac and Rodez, Viscount Lomagne and Auvillars and Beatrix de Clermont, great-granddaughter of Louis IX of France.
Charles d'Armagnac, born 1425, died June 3, 1497, in Castelnau-de-Montmiral at the age of 72 years, was Count of Armagnac and Rodez from 1473 to 1497. He was the son of John IV, Count of Armagnac and Rodez, and Isabella d'Évreux. His older brother, Count John V, was a leader of the League of the Public Weal against King Louis XI of France, causing Charles to be imprisoned for fifteen years. John was killed in a skirmish, allowing Charles to inherit the title of Count of Armagnac.
Bernard VI,, Count of Armagnac and Fezensac, was the son of Gerald VI, Count of Armagnac, and Mathe de Béarn.
Gerald V d'Armagnac, Count of Armagnac and Fézensac from 1215 to 1219, was the son of Bernard d'Armagnac, Viscount of Fézensaguet and Geralda of Foix.
Bernard d'Armagnac (1155–1202) was Lord of Firmacon then Viscount of Fezensaguet from 1182 to 1202. He was the son of Gerald, Count of Armagnac.
Roger I Armagnac was Viscount of Fezensaguet. He was the son of Bernard I, Viscount of Fezensaguet and Lomagne, and Geralda de Foix.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
