Foix, located at the junction of the Arget and Ariege rivers in the foothills of the Pyrenees, and, from the eleventh century, the capital of the powerful counts of Foix, had resisted attack during the crusade against the Albigenses but in the smooth and peaceful absorption of the counties of Toulouse, Poitiers, and Auvergne into the French state effected by King Philip III, finally becomes part of the French royal demesne in 1272.