Foix

Foix, Gaston de, 1489-1512, duc de Nemours, French general in the Italian Wars; nephew of King Louis XII. As commander of the French army in Italy in 1512, he proved his outstanding ability, making his small army highly effective by the use of surprise and forced marches. He relieved Bologna, defeated the Venetians at Isola della Scala and Brescia, and successfully laid siege to Ravenna, where he was killed.

Foix, town (1990 pop. 10,466), capital of Ariège dept., S France, on the Ariège River at the foot of the Pyrenees. It is an administrative and tourist center with some small industry. It grew around an oratory founded by Charlemagne and became the capital of the countship of Foix. The most famous of the many powerful Foix counts was Gaston III. Foix was united with the crownland in 1607. Of interest are an imposing château (12th and 14th cent.; restored), which now houses a museum of prehistoric, Gallo-Roman, and medieval art; and the ancient St. Volusieu Church (reconstructed in the 14th and 17th cent.).

Historical region, southern France. It corresponds approximately to the modern département of Ariège in the région of Midi-Pyrénées. Foix was a quasi-independent power from the 11th to the 15th century. Bounded by Languedoc and by the territories of the counts of Roussillon and the kings of Aragon, it became part of the crown lands at the ascension of Henry IV as king of France (1589).

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Foix-Alajouanine syndrome is a disorder caused by an arteriovenous malformation of the spinal cord. The patients present with symptoms indicating spinal cord involvement (paralysis of arms and legs, numbness and loss of sensation and sphincter dysfunction) and the pathological examination reveal disseminated nerve cell death in the spinal cord and abnormally dilated and tortuous vessels situated on the surface of the spinal cord. Surgical treatment can be tried in some cases. If surgical intervention is contraindicated, corticosteroids may be used.