# Question regarding the medieval French title of Jean III, capital de Buch..Blanch de Foix **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 17, 2022, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-regarding-the-medieval-french-title-of-jean-iii-capital-de-buch-blanch-de-foix/969796 "2022-08-17T02:14:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2022, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-regarding-the-medieval-french-title-of-jean-iii-capital-de-buch-blanch-de-foix/969796/1 "2022-08-17T02:14:54Z")
I have searched for the titles ‘capital’ and ‘blanch’. I believe ‘capital’ means ‘lord’ but could not verify that. What about ‘Blanch’. Is it a title? it certainly looks like one, but I haven’t been able to verify what it means. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2022, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-regarding-the-medieval-french-title-of-jean-iii-capital-de-buch-blanch-de-foix/969796/2 "2022-08-17T02:24:55Z")
It looks more like the name of someone. Assuming this is who you are referring to (from Wikipedia)… **Jean III de Grailly** (aka. **John De Grailly** , died 7 September 1376), [Captal de Buch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captal_de_Buch), [KG](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knight_of_the_Order_of_the_Garter), was a [Gascon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gascony) nobleman and a military leader in the [Hundred Years’ War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred_Years%27_War), who was praised by the chronicler [Jean Froissart](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Froissart) as an ideal of chivalry. It goes on to say… He was the son of Jean II de Grailly, Captal de Buch, Vicomte de Benauges, and of Blanch de Foix, a cousin of the [counts of Foix](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counts_of_Foix). ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2022, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-regarding-the-medieval-french-title-of-jean-iii-capital-de-buch-blanch-de-foix/969796/3 "2022-08-17T02:29:12Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > It looks more like the name of someone. It does, indeed. And, “Blanche” is a woman’s name in French (it translates as “white”), which fits with that sentence in Jean III de Grailly’s Wikipedia entry, where it is giving the names of his parents. (Bear in mind that, until relatively recent history, spelling of people’s names was rather variable.) ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2022, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-regarding-the-medieval-french-title-of-jean-iii-capital-de-buch-blanch-de-foix/969796/4 "2022-08-17T02:36:20Z")
Wikipedia entry [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captal). It seems to have been exclusive to (parts of) Gascony. I first came across the title when reading about the Plantagenets many years ago (Jean III spent much of his career as a retainer of Edward, the Black Prince). My understanding from that is that it was something along the lines of a modifier, indicating a particularly illustrious Count or Viscount. ---
**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2022, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-regarding-the-medieval-french-title-of-jean-iii-capital-de-buch-blanch-de-foix/969796/5 "2022-08-17T03:11:29Z")
So ‘Capital’ and "Blanch’ are names rather than. titles. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2022, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-regarding-the-medieval-french-title-of-jean-iii-capital-de-buch-blanch-de-foix/969796/6 "2022-08-17T03:54:23Z")
> [@Octagon](#): > > So ‘Capital’ and "Blanch’ are names rather than. titles. Captal (under various spellings) was a title. There’s even a Wikipedia entry on “Captal de Buch.” But, yes, I strongly suspect that Blanch was his mother’s given name. > [@](#): > > **Captal de Buch** (later **Buché** from Latin _capitalis_, “first”, “chief”) was a medieval feudal title in [Gascony](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gascony) held by [Jean III de Grailly](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_III_de_Grailly,_captal_de_Buch) among others. > > According to Du Cange, the designation _captal_ (_capital, captau, capitau_) was applied loosely to the more illustrious nobles of Aquitaine, counts, viscounts, &c., probably as _capitales domini_, “principal lords”, though he quotes more fanciful explanations. As an actual title, the word was used only by the seigneurs of Trene, Puychagut, Epernon and Buch. > **[Captal de Buch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captal_de_Buch)** > > Captal de Buch (later Buché; from Latin capitalis, "first", "chief") was a medieval feudal title in Gascony held by Jean III de Grailly among others. > According to Du Cange, the designation captal (capital, captau, capitau) was applied loosely to the more illustrious nobles of Aquitaine, counts, viscounts, &c., probably as capitales domini, "principal lords", though he quotes more fanciful explanations. As an actual title, the word was used only by the seigneurs of Trene, Puychagut, Epernon and B... ---
**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2022, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-regarding-the-medieval-french-title-of-jean-iii-capital-de-buch-blanch-de-foix/969796/7 "2022-08-17T04:01:09Z")
Thanks kenobi\_65 for the clarification. ---
**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2022, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-regarding-the-medieval-french-title-of-jean-iii-capital-de-buch-blanch-de-foix/969796/8 "2022-08-17T04:03:56Z")
I see it’s anglicized as ‘lord’ Jean III de Grailly, _lord de Buch_, (died 1376/77, Paris, France), vassal in _Gascony_ under King Edward III of England and his son Edward, … ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2022, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-regarding-the-medieval-french-title-of-jean-iii-capital-de-buch-blanch-de-foix/969796/9 "2022-08-18T16:07:30Z")
Since “capo” means head, I suspect that name or title, it implies head of something - Buch? Implies the question of what Buch is - a locale, a family name? (just as the capital city is where the government of the country comes from). ---
**Author:** ![FrenchDunadan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frenchdunadan/32/5449_2.png) [@FrenchDunadan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrenchDunadan)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2022, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-regarding-the-medieval-french-title-of-jean-iii-capital-de-buch-blanch-de-foix/969796/10 "2022-08-18T22:03:39Z")
Captal was used in the south of France and yes comes from the latin “caput”. Buch was a zone near the actual Arcachon. Some communes retains the name now (as “la teste de Buch”) And Blanche was his mother, the Grailly family married and inherited the captalat when Pierre II married Assahilde of Bordeaux in 1307. Their son Jean II married Blanche de Foix who was a descendant of the French king Louis VIII. Their son, Jean III, was a vassal of the king of England, duke of Aquitaine and fought alongside the English at Poitiers.