Foix
FOIX
FOIX , formerly independent county, now part of Ariège department, southern France, with a capital town of the same name. During the Middle Ages there were Jews living in several localities of the county, notably in Foix itself, in Mazères, *Pamiers, and Troye-d'Ariège. In 1292, Roger-Bernard, count of Foix, obtained the agreement of Philip the Fair to exempt the Jews of the county from paying the royal poll tax. The count may also have protected the Jews in his domains from the French decree of expulsion of 1306. In 1321, several new Jewish communities are mentioned there which appear to have escaped the *Pastoureaux massacres. In 1394, the count refused to implement the decree of expulsion issued by Charles vi and at least succeeded in delaying its execution. At the end of the 14th century, four or five Jews figured among over 600 taxable inhabitants of the town of Foix.
bibliography:
Gross, Gal Jud, 438; G. Saige, Les Juifs du Languedoc (1881), passim; A. de Dufau de Maluquer, Rôle desfeux du comté de Foix (1901), 21.
[Bernhard Blumenkranz]