Guigues IV of Forez

Guigues IV of Forez (c. 1199–1241) inherited the county as a child in 1203, when his father Guigues III died on the Fourth Crusade; his uncle Renaud, archbishop of Lyon, acted as regent until 1218. He granted Montbrison a charter in 1223 and founded a collegiate church there the next year.

His marriage in 1226 to Matilda of Courtenay, countess of Nevers, made him count of Nevers. He joined the Barons' Crusade in 1239 and died at Castellaneta in Italy on his way home in 1241.