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medieval duchy of the Aquitaine region
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The Duchy of Gascony or Duchy of Vasconia was a duchy located in present-day southwestern France and northeastern Spain, an area encompassing the modern region of Gascony. The Duchy of Gascony, then known as Vasconia, was originally a Frankish march formed to hold sway over the Basques. However, the duchy went through different periods, from its early years with its distinctively Basque element to the merger in personal union with the Duchy of Aquitaine to the later period as a dependency of the Plantagenet kings of England.
Gascony was under continuous English rule for approximately 300 years, from 1152 to 1453. Charles VII of France reconquered the territory as a final act of the Hundred Years' War and the northern part of the territory was annexed by the Kingdom of France in 1453. The corresponding portion within the Iberian Peninsula became the Kingdom of Navarre.
Gascony was the core territory of Roman Gallia Aquitania. By the 2nd century this province was extended to include much of western Roman Gaul as far north as the Loire river. Thus, the name of the Aquitani came to be transferred to the territory of central-western France later known as the Duchy of Aquitaine. In 293, Diocletian re-created the original province of Caesar's Aquitania under the name of Novempopulania or Aquitania Tertia.
The Vascones were an Iberian people originally inhabiting a region between the Ebro and the southwestern Pyrenees during the Roman period, but by the end of the 6th century the Vascones defined a confederacy of native tribes with similar language and traditions on both sides of the Pyrenees who had not been culturally Romanized. The name 'Vascone' is the etymological origin of 'Gascon' and 'Basque'. Whether the Vascones spread significantly north of the Pyrenees is disputed, but the ruling Goths and Franks referred to the area between the Garonne and the Atlantic as Vasconia. Around 580, the Kingdom of the Franks launched major campaigns against the Vascones. In 587, Vascones are cited as raiding the plains of Aquitaine, maybe to the west of Toulouse. Chilperic I sent his duke Bladastes, who was stationed in Toulouse, to deal with the raids, but he was defeated. After taking the throne, Leovigild launched a series of military campaigns around the Iberian Peninsula, taking control from the Vascones ("partes Vasconiae") in the upper reaches of the Ebro (present-day Álava, possibly up to the north of Castile), and founded a fortress called Victoriacum (dubiously Vitoria-Gasteiz, possibly Iruña-Veleia).
This military push from a stronger centralized authority in Toledo placed more pressure on the Vascones to leave the Ebro's rich farmland. In this period (585), Galactorius, Count of Bordeaux, is described as fighting the Vascones, who are portrayed as hiding out in the mountains, as well as the Cantabrians.
In 602, the Merovingians created a frontier duchy to their southwest during the tripartite wars between Franks, Visigoths, and Basques. A certain Genial was then appointed dux wasconum as a way of better handling their relations with the Basques. At the same time, the Visigoths created the Duchy of Cantabria as a buffer against the Basques inhabiting west of current Navarre.
The boundary area of Vasconia (or Wasconia) was created with the purpose of controlling the Basques in Novempopulania, but it extended at this stage to the lands south and around the axis provided by the river Garonne between Bordeaux and Toulouse. Around this period Duke Francio is reported to have vowed allegiance to the Franks in Cantabria, an area inhabited by the Basques, but c. 612, the Gothic king Sisebut seems to have conquered the territory.
By the year 602, the Duchy of Vasconia, under Frankish overlordship, was consolidated in the areas around the Garonne but may have extended up to Cantabria, in the Frankish domain at the time of and before the creation of the duchy. In the years 610 and 612 respectively, the Gothic kings Gundemar and Sisebut launched attacks against the Basques. After a Basque attack in the Ebro valley in the year 621, Swinthila defeated them and founded the fortress of Olite.
In 626, the Basques rebelled against the Franks, with the Bishop of Eauze being exiled on the accusation of supporting or sympathising with the Basque rebels, while in 635 a gigantic Frankish expedition led by the duke Arnebert and nine other dukes launched an attack against the Basques, forcing them to retreat to the mountains, while Arnebert's column was defeated in Subola, maybe near Tardets. However, the Basques' relish was short-lived since they were brought to heel by Dagobert (Clichy, 636). By 626, it is certain that the duchy extended up to the Pyrenees and that Vasconia had replaced Novempopulania as a preferred name for the geographical area between the Pyrenees and the Garonne. In 643, there was another rebellion to the north of the Pyrenees and in 642 and 654 they battled against the Visigoths to the south, in Zaragoza. From 589 to 684, the Bishop of Pamplona was absent from the Visigothic Councils of Toledo, which is interpreted by some as a result of this city being under Basque or Frankish control.
In the year 660, Felix of Aquitaine, a patrician from Toulouse of Gallo-Roman stock, received the ducal titles of both Vasconia and Aquitaine (located between the Garonne and Loire rivers), effectively ruling independently over Vasconia and at least part of Aquitaine. Under Felix and his successors, Frankish overlordship over these lands became merely nominal, and Vasconia became a prominent regional power. The Ravenna Cosmography cites "Wasconia" as extending up to the Loire, although the actual geographical extent indicated by this name is contested; it further divides the territory into Guasconia (north of the Garonne) and Spanoguasconia (south of the Garonne).
Independent dukes Lupus, Odo the Great, Hunald and Waifer succeeded Felix in sequence, with the last three belonging to the same lineage. Their ethnicities and even their names are not certain, however, since historical records are not conclusive.
The Umayyad invasion of Iberia in 711 effected drastic shifts in political and cultural trends throughout southwestern Europe. Hitherto the duke Odo the Great had been independent, refusing to recognise the authority of either the Merovingian king or his mayor of the palace. In 714, Pamplona was captured by the Umayyads. In 721, Odo defeated the Arabian-African forces at the Battle of Toulouse. However, in 732 he was utterly routed at the Battle of the River Garonne near Bordeaux, after which Muslim troops under Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi plundered the country and captured Bordeaux. Only by Odo submitting to the authority of his Frankish archrival, the mayor Charles Martel, could the Christians of Western Europe achieve the military unity necessary to decisively defeat the Umayyad invaders, which they finally accomplished at the Battle of Tours. Aquitaine and its attendant marches were then nominally united with Francia, but Odo probably kept ruling the Duchy of Vasconia and Aquitaine more or less independently, about the same as before, until his death c. 735.
Odo's realm passed to his son Hunald, who, desiring the former independence which had been his father's, attacked Martel's successors, starting a war which lasted for two generations. In 743, the situation was further complicated by the arrival of Asturian forces attacking Vasconia from the west. In 744, Hunald abdicated to his son Waifer, who repeatedly challenged Frankish overlordship. After a campaign against the Umayyads in Septimania, the king Pepin the Short turned his attention to Aquitaine and Waifer, unleashing a devastating war on Aquitaine and Vasconia that was to have dire consequences on its population, towns and society. Waifer and his Basque troops confronted Pepin several times but were defeated thrice in 760, 762, and 766, after which Aquitaine and Vasconia pledged loyalty to Pepin. Waifer was eventually murdered by desperate followers, or possibly by someone bribed by Pepin.
Beginning in 778, Charlemagne appointed counts (Bordeaux, Toulouse, Fezensac) on the bordering lands of Vasconia along the banks of the river Garonne, undermining the influence of the dukes of Vasconia.
The Basques, however, found a pivotal ally in the south in the Basque Muslim realm of the Banu Qasi (early 9th century), and enjoyed some safety from the west as the Asturians were immersed in continuous dynastic conflicts.
The time of Charlemagne's reign was rife with conflicts between Pagan Basques, Christian Franks and Arab Muslims. Most famous is the Battle of Roncevaux in 778, during which Basques ambushed and slaughtered Charlemagne's rearguard after the Franks destroyed the walls of Pamplona. Heavily mythologised from the 11th century on as a clash between Christians and Muslims, this battle became one of the most celebrated events in the legendary Matter of France.
Muslims attacked Vasconia as well, taking possession of Pamplona for some time, but they were expelled by a rebellion in 798–801 that helped to create the Basque Muslim realm of the Banu Qasi around Tudela. In 806, Pamplona, still under Cordovan rule, was attacked by the Franks, and the Pamplonese, led by a certain Velasco, pledged allegiance to Charlemagne again, but his tenure proved short-lived. In about 814, an anti-Frankish faction led by Enecco, allied with the Banu Qasi, seems to have taken over again. A Frankish army was sent to quash the revolt, to little effect. Furthermore, on their way north through Roncevaux an ambush was attempted, but resulted in a stalemate as the Franks had taken Basque women and children hostage.
Northern Basques, organized in the Duchy of Vasconia, collaborated with Franks during campaigns such as the capture of Barcelona in 799 but after the death of Charlemagne in 814, uprisings started anew. The revolt in Pamplona crossed the Pyrenees north and in 816 Louis the Pious deposed the Basque Duke Seguin of Bordeaux for failing to suppress or sympathising with the rebellion. This started a widespread revolt, led by García Jiménez (according to late traditions, a near-kinsman of Íñigo Arista, to be the first monarch of Pamplona) and newly appointed duke Lupus Centule (c. 820). Meanwhile, in Aragon the pro-Frankish Count Aznar Galindo was overthrown by Enecco's allied Count Gartzia Malo, with Aznar Galindo in turn seeking refuge in Frankish-held territory. Louis the Pious received the submission of rebel Basque lords in Dax, but things were far from settled.
In 824, the second Battle of Roncevaux took place, when counts Eblo and Aznar Galindo (identified as Aznar Sánchez too), Frankish vassals and the latter appointed Duke of Gascony, were captured by the joint Pamplonese and Banu Qasi forces, strengthening the independence of Pamplona. In the early 9th century, the lands around the Adour river were segregated from the Duchy under the name of County of Vasconia. Count Aznar's successor, Sans Sancion, fought against Charles the Bald, as Charles didn't recognize him as legitimate.
In 844, Vikings invaded Bordeaux and killed Duke Seguin II. His heir William was killed trying to retake Bordeaux in 848, though some sources say he was only captured and later deposed by the king. By the year 853, Sans Sancion, the Basque leader, was recognised as duke by Charles the Bald. During that same year, Muza of Tudela, relative of the Basque princes, invaded Vasconia and made Sans prisoner. In 855, Sans died and was succeeded by Arnold, who died fighting against the Norse in 864.
Sancho III Mitarra (or Menditarra, cited in 864) appears to be the founder of a lineage of autochthonous independent dukes ruling Gascony up to Sancho VI William (died in 1032), with loose ties, if any, to the Frankish Kingdom.
The dukes had to face Viking inroads and unrest for over a century, an instability that brought about the destruction of existing monasteries in Gascony and a decayed urban life. The dukes of Gascony faced up against the Norsemen (Vikings), and a king of Navarre is cited as providing assistance against them near Bayonne. The Gascon ducal family became tied to the rising Kingdom of Navarre by matrimonial alliances at the end of the 10th century, eventually bringing Gascony suzerain to King Sancho III of Navarre ("the Great") for a short period up to 1035.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Duchy of Gascony”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.