Guigues VII of Forez

Guigues VII (c. 1299–1358), from a cadet branch of the house of Albon and a grandson of Humbert I of Viennois through his mother, became count of Forez in 1333 and kept up his father John I's administrative reforms as the Hundred Years' War began.

He stayed loyal to Philip VI of Valois against Edward III in the Flemish campaigns of 1338–1340, and the king's trust brought him command of royal armies in the Midi from 1345 to 1349 and the post of lieutenant-general in western France. In 1349, after France bought the province, he did homage to the Dauphin for his mother's Viennois fiefs.

In 1357, after the Black Prince's raids, he led 400 lances against Robert Knolles's English to help the hard-pressed Béraud II of Auvergne. He died in 1358, and the pillaging reached the heart of Forez; his eldest son Louis I succeeded.