Château La Tour Carnet: Jean de Foix
Gaston I and Marguerite had two daughters and a son, the latter being Jean de Foix, Comte de Benauges (1414 – 1485). It was this Jean de Foix (rather than the aforementioned more famous Jean I, Comte de Foix, who was his uncle) who is most relevant to this tale. Jean de Foix was more closely allied to the English crown than to the French, and he had a presence in the Bordeaux region, at this time English of course. It is widely documented that in 1427 the château and seigneurie at St-Laurent came into the hands of Jean de Foix. In 1453 he went with John Talbot (after whom Château Talbot is reputedly named) on behalf of Henry VI to retake the region for the English crown. John Talbot met his end at the battle that ensued, at Castillon, but Jean de Foix was captured and held prisoner. He remained incarcerated for seven years, before eventually agreeing to pay a huge fee to secure his release.
Although we might imagine Jean de Foix would flee once his time in prison was ended, nothing could be further from the truth. He remained in Bordeaux, and he married Margaret de la Pole, Countess of Kendal, this title being gallicised to Candale; his offspring were thus known as Foix-Candale, he and Margaret being the originators of this noble house. Jean de Foix, incidentally, also crops up in my profile of Château Mouton-Rothschild, either he or his immediate descendants having acquired this estate during the latter years of the 15th century.
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