Gascony

 

(găs'kənē) , Fr. Gascogne, region of SW France. It is now coextensive with the departments of Landes, Gers, and Hautes-Pyrénées and parts of Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Lot-et-Garonne, Tarn-et-Garonne, Haute-Garonne, Gironde, and Ariège. The sandy and swampy Landes along the Atlantic coast, the majestic Pyrenees forming the border with Spain, and the hilly Armagnac region between the Adour and Garonne rivers are the main geographic areas of Gascony. Fishing, stock raising, wine making, brandy distilling, and the tourist trade are the chief industries. The historical capital is Auch; other important towns are Bayonne, Biarritz, Luchon (see Bagnères-de-Luchon), Tarbes, Dax, and Lourdes. Under the Romans the region was known first as Aquitania Propria and later as Novempopulana or Aquitania Tertia and was inhabited by the Vascones, or Basques, who since prehistoric times had lived in the lands N and S of the Pyrenees. Except in the region SW of the Adour, where the Basque language and customs have persisted to the present, Latin soon became the tongue of Novempopulana. Conquered by the Visigoths (5th cent.) and by the Franks (6th cent.), Novempopulana was invaded in turn by the Basque-speaking peoples (the Vascones) from S of the Pyrenees, who in 601 set up the duchy of Vasconia or Gascony. The duchy's borders fluctuated as the Basques fought the Visigoths, the Franks, and the Arabs throughout the Merovingian period. The duchy kept an independent spirit throughout its history, even when Charlemagne forced the duke of Gascony to recognize Louis the Pious, king of Aquitaine, as his suzerain (9th cent.). Invaded by Norsemen early in the 9th cent., Gascony fell into anarchy and split up into small counties and seigniories. In 1052, with the exception of lower Navarre and Béarn, which continued separate, the remainder of Gascony passed to the duchy of Aquitaine. Gascony shared the fate of Aquitaine, fell under English control in 1154, and was a major battleground in the Hundred Years War (1337–1453); it was completely recovered by France in 1453. Gascony was then not a political unit; most of its territory was held by the counts of Armagnac, the counts of Foix, and the lords of Albret. All these lands passed, through marriage and inheritance, to Henry of Navarre, who became king of France as Henry IV in 1589. The lands were united with the royal domain in 1607. The resulting province of Guienne and Gascony was divided under the jurisdictions of the parlements of Bordeaux and of Toulouse.

Gascony (French: Gascogne, pronounced /gaskɔɲ/ ; Gascon Occitan: Gasconha, pronounced /gasˈkuɲɔ/) is an area of southwest France that constituted a province of France prior to the French Revolution. It is currently divided between the Aquitaine région (départements of Landes, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, south and west of Gironde, and south of Lot-et-Garonne) and the Midi-Pyrénées région (départements of Gers, Hautes-Pyrénées, southwest of Tarn-et-Garonne, and west of Haute-Garonne).

Gascony was historically inhabited by Basque related people. It is home to the Gascon language. It is also the land of d'Artagnan, who inspired Alexandre Dumas's character in the Three Musketeers. It is also home of hero of the play Cyrano de Bergerac (but this character has not much in common with the real Cyrano de Bergerac, who was a Parisian).

Gascony is also famed for its douceur de vivre ("sweetness of life"): its food (Gascony is home to foie gras and Armagnac brandy), its medieval towns and villages locally called bastides nested amidst green rolling hills, its sunny weather, the beauty of its landscape, with the occasional distant views of the Pyrenees mountain range, all contribute to the popularity of Gascony as a tourist destination. Due to rural exodus, Gascony is one of the least populated areas of western Europe, and so it has recently become a haven for stressed urbanites of northern Europe (chiefly France, England, and the Benelux nations) who, in search of quiet and peace of mind, are increasingly buying second homes in Gascony.

History

See also: Duke of Gascony

Aquitania

In pre-Roman times, the inhabitants of Gascony were the Aquitanians (Latin: Aquitani), who spoke a language related to the Old Basque language (which predates the modern Basque language).

The Aquitanians inhabited a territory limited to the north and east by the Garonne River, to the south by the Pyrenees mountain range, and to the west by the Atlantic Ocean. The Romans called this territory Aquitania, either from the Latin word aqua (meaning "water"), in reference to the many rivers flowing from the Pyrenees through the area, or from the name of the Aquitanian Ausci tribe (whose name seems related to the Basque root eusk- meaning "Basque"), in which case Aquitania would mean "land of the Ausci".

In the 50s BC, Aquitania was conquered by lieutenants of C. Julius Caesar and became part of the Roman Empire.

Later, in 27 BC, during the reign of Emperor Augustus, the province of Gallia Aquitania was created. Gallia Aquitania was far larger than the original Aquitania, as it extended north of the Garonne River, in fact all the way north to the Loire River, thus including the Celtic Gallic people that inhabited the regions between the Garonne and the Loire rivers.

These Gallic people (with their Gaulish language) were quite different from the non-Indo-European Aquitanians. This was a deliberate policy of Rome, which sought to gather people from different ethnic backgrounds into a single province, in order to avoid the development of a regional identity.

In 297, as Emperor Diocletian reformed the administrative structures of the Roman Empire, long claims of the now Romanized descendants of the Aquitanians, who had long desired to be separated from the now also Romanized descendants of the Gallic people inhabiting north of the Garonne, were finally heard and Gallia Aquitania was split into three provinces.

The territory south of the Garonne River, corresponding to the original Aquitania, was made a province called Novempopulana (that is, "land of the nine tribes"), while the part of Gallia Aquitania north of the Garonne became the province of Aquitanica I and the province of Aquitanica II. The territory of Novempopulana corresponded quite well to what we call now Gascony.

From 297 on, the name "Aquitaine" was never used again for Gascony, despite it having been its original name, and instead became used only for territories north of the Garonne River.^{[citation needed]}

Novempopulana

Novempopulana suffered like the rest of the Western Roman Empire from the invasions of Germanic tribes, most notably the Vandals in 407-409. In 416-418, Novempopulana was delivered to the Visigoths as their federate settlement lands and became part of the Visigoth kingdom of Toulouse.

The Visigoths were defeated by the Franks in 507, and fled into Spain. Novempopulana then became part of the Frankish Kingdom like the rest of southern France. However, Novempopulana was far away from the home base of the Franks in northern France, and was only very loosely controlled by the Franks.

Wasconia

Main article: Duchy of Vasconia

It is then, around 600, that taking advantage of the power vacuum thus created, the Basque clans descended from their refuge in the western Pyrenees and established their hegemony over Novempopulana. This is why Novempopulana became known as Vasconia (that is, "land of the Vascones", the Latin word "Vasco" later evolving into the word "Basque"). The word Vasconia evolved into Wasconia, and then into Gasconia (w- often evolved into g- under the influence of Romance languages, cf. warrantee and guarantee, William and Guillaume).

Although the Basque clans dominated Gascony, the gradual abandonment of the Basque-related Aquitanian language in favor of a local vulgar Latin, a process which was well under its way, was not reversed. This local vulgar Latin later evolved into Gascon.

However, Gascon was heavily influenced by the original Aquitanian language (for example, Latin f- became h-, cf. Latin fortia, French force, Spanish fuerza, Occitan fòrça, but Gascon hòrça).

Viking invasions (840-982)

Viking raiders conquered several Gascon towns in 842-844, including Bordeaux and Bayonne, from where they were only expelled in 982-986.

Their attacks in Gascony may have helped the political disintegration of the Duchy. Their presence nevertheless left a mariner legacy that Basques and Gascons would later exploit in their cod-fishing and whale-hunting activities that would bring them as far as Newfoundland.

Geography

The most important towns are :

• Auch the historical capital
• Bayonne (Basque and Gascon identity)
• Bordeaux
• Dax
• Lourdes
• Luchon
• Mont-de-Marsan
• Pau
• Tarbes

Economy

Main industries are :

• fishing
• stock raising
• wine making
• brandy distilling
• tourism

External links

• Old flag. Given to the Gascons by Pope Clement III during the Third Crusade.
• This article incorporates some information taken from http://www.hostkingdom.net/ with permissionfrp:Gascogne

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