Alfonso of Aragon and Foix

Alfonso de Aragón y Foix, also Alfonso I el Viejo de Gandía called ( probably * 1332, † March 5, 1412 ) was the eldest son of Pedro Infante of Aragon, Count of Ribagorza, Ampurias and Prades, and Jeanne de Foix; he was thus a grandson of King James ( Jaime ) II of Aragon and a cousin of King Peter ( Pedro ) IV

1355 he received the title of Count of Denia. When in 1366 the Castilian civil war between Peter the Cruel and Henry of Trastamara began, supported in the Aragon Henry, in command of the Catalan forces that had sent Peter IV of Aragon to the dethronement of Peter I of Castile. He led the soldiers to the south side of the river Júcar and reinforced by the defense of the city of Valencia against the attacks of the Castilian king. In 1367 he fought in the Battle of Nájera. The support brought him after the death of Henry (1379) 1382 the title of Marqués de Villena and a Conde Table de Castile through his son and successor John I of Castile. The hostility of the Castilian nobility prevented, however, that he could hold in this position for long. 1381 he had succeeded his father as Count of Ribagorza.

. During the invasion of the Count of Armagnac, he stood ( now back in service Aragón ) on the part of the Infante Martin, brother of King John I. As this 1395 succeeded him, he kept his powerful position; he participated in the Cortes of Saragossa in 1398 in part, assisted in the following year, at the coronation of the monarch, and was appointed in 1399 to the Duke of Gandia. When the Monarch 1410 he died without surviving sons, he laid claim to the succession, but died himself before the negotiators were able to make the choice in Compromise of Caspe.

From his marriage with Violante Eiximenis de Arenós, daughter of Gonzalo Ximénez and Timbor de Bellpuig, which he joined in 1355, he had seven children, including:

• Alfonso el Joven († 1425), 2nd Duke of Gandia, Count of Ribagorza and Denia; ∞ 1393 Maria Infanta of Navarre, daughter of Charles II, King of Navarre (House France Évreux )
• Pedro, X 1385, 2nd Marqués de Villena; ∞ 1378 Juana de Castilla, illegitimate daughter of Henry of Trastamara and Elvira de Vega (House Trastamara )
• Juana; ∞ 1377 Juan Ramón Folch, 1st Conde de Cardona, † 1442 (House Folch de Cardona )
• Leonor / Violante; ∞ Jaime de Prades, Baron de Caccamo, constable of Sicily ( her cousin ) (House Barcelona)