Guigues III (died 1203), also numbered Guigues IV , ^[1] nicknamed Branda , ^[2] was the count of Forez from 1199 until his death while on the Fourth Crusade .

Guigues succeeded his father, Guigues II , in 1199 ^[2] when the latter retired to the abbey of La Benisson-Dieu  [ fr ] . In 1202, he was at Lyon preparing to leave on crusade when he issued a charter in favour of his father's monastery. ^[3] According to Geoffrey of Villehardouin , he and Bishop Walter of Autun did not travel with the main army, but took ship at Marseille direct for the Holy Land . ^{[3] [4]} They were accompanied by an army of 300 knights and sergeants . ^[5] According to the Chronicle of Ernoul , he died shortly after his arrival in Acre in 1203. ^{[3] [2]} He was buried in the Hospitaller church of Saint John in Acre. In 1215, his brother, Archbishop Renaud of Lyon , donated money for an annual celebration on the anniversary of Guigues's death at the hospital of Montbrison , a family foundation. ^[6]

Guigues's first wife was Asiurra, with whom he had a daughter, name unknown, who married William the Old, lord of Baffie . He divorced his first wife and married Alix, with whom he had three children: Guigues IV , who succeeded him; Guigonne, who married Count Gerard II of Macon ; and Marquise, who married Guy VI, viscount of Thiers . ^[2]

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