In 1208, Roger-Bernard married
Ermesinde, daughter and heir of
Arnau de Castellbò, viscountess of
Castellbò and a
Cathar. By his wife, he had a son,
Roger IV of Foix, and a daughter, Cecilia of Foix. Cecilia of Foix married
Álvaro, Count of Urgell. When his relations with his French sovereign allowed it, he concentrated on expansion and fortification southwards. He fortified the towns guarding the way to
Andorra and
Urgel, and fell into conflict with the
bishop of Urgel over the valley of Caboet in May 1233. He opposed the
Inquisition and got into even more conflict with the bishop in April 1239. He did not involve himself in the war of
Raymond Trencavel, though he did negotiate an honourable treaty in 1240.
Albigensian crusade He made his name famous in 1217 when, for six weeks, he defended the castle of
Montgrenier against the onslaught of
Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester. That same year, he distinguished himself at the
siege of Toulouse. In 1220, he assisted his father in the recapture of
Lavaur and
Puylaurens and was instrumental in helping his father retake his lost dominions. The resumption of
Mirepoix wasn't accomplished until his own reign, however. At the moment of his accession, he and the new
count of Toulouse,
Raymond VII, besieged
Carcassonne. On 14 September 1224, the
Albigensian Crusaders surrendered and the war came to an end, each southern lord making peace with the church. However, in 1226, the new
king of France,
Louis VIII, called
the Lion, renewed the conflict in order to enforce his royal rights in
Languedoc. Roger-Bernard tried to keep the peace, but the king rejected his embassy and the counts of Foix and Toulouse took up arms again. Roger-Bernard and a small contingent of his feudatories constituted a pocket of resistance in
Limoux from June 1226 to June 1227, but the war was largely a discontinuous series of skirmishes. In January 1229, Raymond of Toulouse signed the
Treaty of Meaux with Louis the Lion's successor,
Louis IX. Already excommunicated (since March or April 1227) and with his only ally gone and a new royal army in the field against him, Roger-Bernard sued for peace in June. By the ensuing treaty, he received back much of his land, but not Mirepoix, which he had previously fought so hard to reconquer.
Death Roger-Bernard ended his days at peace with the established church, having been excommunicated a second time in 1236. He took the
habit at the abbey of
Boulbonne, and was buried there in 1241. He was succeeded by his son
Roger IV, whom he had married to
Brunissende, the daughter of
Raymond Folc IV and heiress of
Viscounty of Cardona. ==Notes==