Duke of Gascony
Encyclopedia
The Duchy of Vasconia
(sometimes Wasconia), later known as Gascony
, was a Merovingian creation: a frontier duchy
on the Garonne
, in the border with the rebel Basque
tribes. During the collapse of Frankish authority in the region in the year 660, it gained de facto and possibly de jure independence, in personal union with the Duchy of Aquitaine (north and east of the Garonne
).
After Muslim
invasions and Carolingian
restoration of the Frankish Kingdom, the Duchy, separated from Aquitaine, suffered some fragmentation, specially in the south, where the Kingdom of Pamplona and the County of Vasconia
arose as separate states in the 9th century, when it came to be known as Duchy of Gascony, as Gascon Romance
was already replacing Basque
in most of the region.
After a period of obscurity, it reemerged in the early eleventh century as a close ally (possible even vassal) of the Kingdom of Navarre
. In 1032, it was inherited by the heir of Aquitaine and became personally united
to that duchy thereafter. It thus became a part of the Angevin Empire
. The ducal title was reemployed by Edward Longshanks and it formed a base of support for the English during the Hundred Years' War
. It has been called England's first foreign colony.
The unity of Gascony had disappeared already in the 10th century, and so those wishing to learn more about the history of Gascony should look at the particular histories of Béarn
, Armagnac
, Bigorre
, Comminges
, Nébouzan
, Labourd
and so on.
Duchy of Vasconia
The Duchy of Vasconia , or Wasconia, was originally a Frankish march formed by 602 to keep the Basques in check. It comprised the former Roman province of Novempopulania and, at least in some periods, also the lands south of the Pyrenees centred on Pamplona.In the ninth century, civil war within...
(sometimes Wasconia), later known as Gascony
Gascony
Gascony is an area of southwest France that was part of the "Province of Guyenne and Gascony" prior to the French Revolution. The region is vaguely defined and the distinction between Guyenne and Gascony is unclear; sometimes they are considered to overlap, and sometimes Gascony is considered a...
, was a Merovingian creation: a frontier duchy
Marches
A march or mark refers to a border region similar to a frontier, such as the Welsh Marches, the borderland between England and Wales. During the Frankish Carolingian Dynasty, the word spread throughout Europe....
on the Garonne
Garonne
The Garonne is a river in southwest France and northern Spain, with a length of .-Source:The Garonne's headwaters are to be found in the Aran Valley in the Pyrenees, though three different locations have been proposed as the true source: the Uelh deth Garona at Plan de Beret , the Ratera-Saboredo...
, in the border with the rebel Basque
Basque people
The Basques as an ethnic group, primarily inhabit an area traditionally known as the Basque Country , a region that is located around the western end of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and straddles parts of north-central Spain and south-western France.The Basques are known in the...
tribes. During the collapse of Frankish authority in the region in the year 660, it gained de facto and possibly de jure independence, in personal union with the Duchy of Aquitaine (north and east of the Garonne
Garonne
The Garonne is a river in southwest France and northern Spain, with a length of .-Source:The Garonne's headwaters are to be found in the Aran Valley in the Pyrenees, though three different locations have been proposed as the true source: the Uelh deth Garona at Plan de Beret , the Ratera-Saboredo...
).
After Muslim
Muslim conquests
Muslim conquests also referred to as the Islamic conquests or Arab conquests, began with the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He established a new unified polity in the Arabian Peninsula which under the subsequent Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates saw a century of rapid expansion of Muslim power.They...
invasions and Carolingian
Carolingian
The Carolingian dynasty was a Frankish noble family with origins in the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD. The name "Carolingian", Medieval Latin karolingi, an altered form of an unattested Old High German *karling, kerling The Carolingian dynasty (known variously as the...
restoration of the Frankish Kingdom, the Duchy, separated from Aquitaine, suffered some fragmentation, specially in the south, where the Kingdom of Pamplona and the County of Vasconia
County of Vasconia
The County of Vasconia was a small medieval realm segregated c.830 from the Duchy of Vasconia in the lands around the Adur river in what is now known as the Northern Basque Country....
arose as separate states in the 9th century, when it came to be known as Duchy of Gascony, as Gascon Romance
Gascon language
Gascon is usually considered as a dialect of Occitan, even though some specialists regularly consider it a separate language. Gascon is mostly spoken in Gascony and Béarn in southwestern France and in the Aran Valley of Spain...
was already replacing Basque
Basque language
Basque is the ancestral language of the Basque people, who inhabit the Basque Country, a region spanning an area in northeastern Spain and southwestern France. It is spoken by 25.7% of Basques in all territories...
in most of the region.
After a period of obscurity, it reemerged in the early eleventh century as a close ally (possible even vassal) of the Kingdom of Navarre
Kingdom of Navarre
The Kingdom of Navarre , originally the Kingdom of Pamplona, was a European kingdom which occupied lands on either side of the Pyrenees alongside the Atlantic Ocean....
. In 1032, it was inherited by the heir of Aquitaine and became personally united
Personal union
A personal union is the combination by which two or more different states have the same monarch while their boundaries, their laws and their interests remain distinct. It should not be confused with a federation which is internationally considered a single state...
to that duchy thereafter. It thus became a part of the Angevin Empire
Angevin Empire
The term Angevin Empire is a modern term describing the collection of states once ruled by the Angevin Plantagenet dynasty.The Plantagenets ruled over an area stretching from the Pyrenees to Ireland during the 12th and early 13th centuries, located north of Moorish Iberia. This "empire" extended...
. The ducal title was reemployed by Edward Longshanks and it formed a base of support for the English during the Hundred Years' War
Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War was a series of separate wars waged from 1337 to 1453 by the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet, also known as the House of Anjou, for the French throne, which had become vacant upon the extinction of the senior Capetian line of French kings...
. It has been called England's first foreign colony.
Dukes of Vasconia and Aquitaine
- FelixFelix of AquitaineFelix was a patrician of Toulouse Duke of Aquitaine from 660 until his death. He had his seat at Toulouse and he is considered the first independent Duke of Aquitaine, i.e. formally vassal of the Franks but detached de facto from the Frankish central power base. He united under his rule the...
(660-670) - Lupus ILupus I of AquitaineLupus I was the Duke of Gascony and Aquitaine from about 670. His reign may have lasted a few years or longer...
(670-676 or until 710 in Vasconia only) - Odo the GreatOdo of AquitaineOdo the Great , Duke of Aquitaine, obtained this dignity by 700. His territory included the Duchy of Vasconia in the south-west of Gaul and the Duchy of Aquitaine , a realm extending from the Loire to the Pyrenees, with capital in Toulouse...
(or Eudes) (688-735 - his reign commenced perhaps as late as 692, 700, 710 or 715, unclear parentage. - Hunald IHunald of AquitaineHunald , Duke of Aquitaine , succeeded his father Odo the Great in 735....
(735-748), son of previous, abdicated to monastery, may have returned later (see below). - WaiferWaifer of AquitaineWaifer was the duke of Aquitaine from 748 to 768, succeeding his newly-monastic father Hunold....
(or Gaifier) (748-767), son of previous. - Hunald IIHunald of AquitaineHunald , Duke of Aquitaine , succeeded his father Odo the Great in 735....
(767-769), either Hunald I returning or a different Hunald, fled to Lupus II of Gascony and was handed over to Charlemagne.
Independent Dukes of Vasconia
- Lop IILop II of GasconyLupo II is the third-attested historical duke of Gascony , appearing in history for the first time in 769...
(768 or 770-778 or 801) - Sans I (778 or 801-812)
- Seguin I (812-816)
- Gassia I (816-818)
- Lop III Centullo Wasco (818-819 or 819-823)
Dukes of Vasconia and Counts of Bordeaux (Frankish vassals)
- Seguin IISeguin II of GasconySeguin II , called Mostelanicus, was the Count of Bordeaux and Saintes from 840 and Duke of Gascony from 845. He was either the son or grandson of Seguin I, the duke appointed by Charlemagne....
(??-846), the beginning of his rule is uncertain - William IWilliam I of GasconyWilliam I was the Duke of Gascony, appointed in 846 following the death of Seguin II in battle with the Norse assaulting Bordeaux and Saintes. He himself had to fight the Vikings and died during an attack on Bordeaux in 848. He was the last Frankish-appointed duke...
(846-848 or 852)
Counts of Vasconia
- Temporarily segregated from the Duchy. See: Northern Basque CountryNorthern Basque CountryThe French Basque Country or Northern Basque Country situated within the western part of the French department of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques constitutes the north-eastern part of the Basque Country....
- Aznar Sans (820-836)
- Sans II (836-855 or 864), fought against the Franks since 848 and eventually became Duke of Vasconia.
Late Independents Dukes of Vasconia
- Sans II (848 or 852-855 or 864)
- Arnold (855-864 or only 864)
Independent Dukes of Gascony
- Sans III (864-893)
- Gassia II (893-930)
- Sans IV (930-c.950)
- Sans V (c.950-c.961)
- Guilhem II (c.961-996)
- Bernat I (996-1009)
- Sans VI (1009–1032)
- BerengarBerengar of GasconyBerengar was the eldest son of Alausia, daughter of Sancho VI of Gascony, and Hilduin, Count of Angoulême. He succeeded to the Duchy of Gascony on Sancho's death in 1032.He was either opposed immediately by his cousin Odo or acted as regent on his behalf...
(1032–1036) - EudesEudes of AquitaineOdo was Duke of Gascony from 1032 and then Duke of Aquitaine and Count of Poitou from 1038.He was a member of the House of Poitiers, the second son of William V of Aquitaine, the eldest by second wife Prisca, daughter of William II of Gascony and sister of Sancho VI.The Chronicle of Saint-Maixent...
(1036–1039) - Bernat IIBernat II Tumapaler of ArmagnacBernard II Tumapaler was Duke of Gascony from 1039 to 1052 and Count of Armagnac from 1020 to 1061....
(1039–1052) - Guy GeoffreyWilliam VIII of AquitaineWilliam VIII , born Guy-Geoffrey , was duke of Gascony , and then duke of Aquitaine and count of Poitiers between 1058 and 1086, succeeding his brother William VII ....
(1052–1086)
- United to Duchy of Aquitaine in 1058.
The unity of Gascony had disappeared already in the 10th century, and so those wishing to learn more about the history of Gascony should look at the particular histories of Béarn
Béarn
Béarn is one of the traditional provinces of France, located in the Pyrenees mountains and in the plain at their feet, in southwest France. Along with the three Basque provinces of Soule, Lower Navarre, and Labourd, the principality of Bidache, as well as small parts of Gascony, it forms in the...
, Armagnac
Armagnac (region)
The hilly countship of Armagnac , in the foothills of the Pyrenées between the Adour and Garonne rivers, is a historic countship of the Duchy of Gascony, established in 601 in Aquitaine...
, Bigorre
Bigorre
Bigorre is region in southwest France, historically an independent county and later a French province, located in the upper watershed of the Adour, on the northern slopes of the Pyrenees, part of the larger region known as Gascony...
, Comminges
Comminges
The Comminges is an ancient region of southern France in the foothills of the Pyrenees, corresponding closely to the arrondissement of Saint-Gaudens in the department of Haute-Garonne...
, Nébouzan
Nébouzan
Nébouzan was a small province of France located in the foothills of the Pyrenees mountains, in the southwest of France. It was not a contiguous province, but it was made up of several detached territories, approximately half of them around the town of Saint-Gaudens in the south of the present-day...
, Labourd
Labourd
Labourd is a former French province and part of the present-day Pyrénées Atlantiques département. It is historically one of the seven provinces of the traditional Basque Country....
and so on.
Sources
- Auñamendi Encyclopedia: Ducado de Vasconia.
- Sedycias, João. História da Língua Espanhola.
- Foundation for Medieval Genealogy: Gascony.
- Monlezun, Jean Justin. Histoire de la Gascogne. 1846.
- Charles OmanCharles OmanSir Charles William Chadwick Oman was a British military historian of the early 20th century. His reconstructions of medieval battles from the fragmentary and distorted accounts left by chroniclers were pioneering...
, The Dark Ages 476-918. Rivingtons: London, 1914. - Collins, Roger. The Basques. Blackwell Publishing: London, 1990.
- Higounet, Charles. Bordeaux pendant le haut moyen age. Bordeaux, 1963.
- Lewis, Archibald R. The Development of Southern French and Catalan Society, 718–1050. University of Texas Press: Austin, 1965.
- Pertz, G, ed. Chronici Fontanellensis fragmentum in Mon. Ger. Hist. Scriptores, Vol. II.
- Pertz, G, ed. Chronicum Aquitanicum in Mon. Ger. Hist. Scriptores, Vol. II.
- Waitz, E, ed. Annales Bertiniani. Hanover: 1883.