Matthew I of Foix

Mateo I was Viscount of Castellbó and Lord of Montcada. He succeeded his father Roger Bernardo IV after his death in 1381.

Biography

He acceded to the government without foreseeing greater greatness but, in the same 1381, the assassination of Gastón, son of Gastón III Febus, left the Count of Foix and Viscount of Bearne without heirs. Although the King of France was designated his successor, Mateo, in close alliance with John I King of Aragon, prepared the claim for him. On the death of Gastón Febus, the marriage between Mateo and Juana de Aragón y de Armagnac, daughter of the King of Aragón (formalized in 1393), was announced, and the viscount traveled to the domains he claimed, where he confirmed and even extended the privileges and liberties of his subjects receiving the homage of the feudatories. The negotiations of the Aragonese court with the French were successful and Carlos VI of France renounced the agreement formalized with Gastón Febus (the Treaty of Tolosa) that made him heir. In a letter dated in Tours on December 20, 1391 the king French recognized Mateo I, who lent vassalage to him for his possessions in Foix and Bearn. The bastard sons of Gastón Febus also recognized Mateo.

After the death without issue of his father-in-law, the King of Aragon, declared his wife the legitimate heir to the Aragonese crown and claimed to be King of Aragon. He entered Catalonia and then Aragon with an army, but his claims were rejected by the Aragonese institutions, which proclaimed Martin I of Aragon, then regent of Sicily, as his legitimate heir. Mateo I went to Navarra and from there to Bearne. Martín finally arrived in Zaragoza to swear the Fueros and to be crowned King of Aragon.

Matthew I died suddenly in 1398, without having any descendants.

Titles

He bore the following titles:

• Vizconde de Castellbó
• Lord of Montcada and Castellvell
• Count of Foix
• Viscount of Bearn, Marsan, Oloron, Gabarret, Brulhes and Lautrec
• Lord of Andorra, Donasan (Donauzan) and Nebouzan.

Predecessor: Gaston III de Foix y X de Bearne «Febus»	Count of Foix and Viscount of Bearne 1391-1398	Successor: Isabel de Castellbó
Predecessor: Roger Bernardo IV de Castellbó	Vizconde de Castellbó 1381-1398	Successor: Isabel de Castellbó