The Duchy of Vasconia: Extent and Organization

At the time of the Merovingian dynasty founded by the King of the Franks Clovis, a duke was a military commander appointed to the borderlands of the kingdom where a hostile people had been subdued, e.g. Frisians, Saxons, or Basques, so he was in charge of fighting them, but also of dealing with them in political and administrative terms. Therefore, the duke, cited as dux Wasconum, e.g. Lupus II in 769, was styled as ruling over a certain people, the Vascones, and not so much over a territory, while that also came into being, with the name of Vasconia.

However, that territory is not delimited clearly, and undergoes an initial expansion up to the mid-8th century followed by a gradual shrinking and disintegration period up to 1058—annexation by Aquitaine. The Frankish king Dagobert I made in 628 arrangements for his brother Charibert II to rule over the territories between the Loire and the Pyrenees (''limes Spaniae'') 'in the general area of Vasconia', including Saintes, Perigueux, Cahors, Agenais, etc.

Furthermore, in the following years, the same king is reported to have subdued the whole Vasconia, beyond the Pyrenees too. This period, late 620s to early 670s, bears witness to Saint Amandus' failed attempt to convert the Basques to Christianity and his visit to an episcopal see across the Pyrenees, thought to be Pamplona in Frankish hands. During the same period Basque raids descending from north of the Pyrenees are attested in Visigothic records, attacking even Saragossa. It's known too that no representative of Pamplona attended the Councils of Toledo from 589 until 684.

The Ravenna Cosmographer calls "Vasconia" to the whole territory extending north up to the Loire river during the years of Basque-Aquitanian independence (660-768), so do the Continuations of the Chronicle of Fredegar, suggesting that it lies right across the Loire river. Some authors have put down this expansion of the name so far north to the Frankish negative propaganda in order to disrepute Aquitaine, inasmuch as the Basques were regarded as rustic, non-Romanized people. It seems more plausible the existence of a significant Basque component in central Aquitaine besides Gascony, rather than a single territory to the south of the Loire inhabited by Basques or under their rule. Adding to the confusion, the Basque troops were at the core of the Aquitanian army and deployed all over Vasconia and Aquitaine, even darting out of the territory, e.g. expeditions against Peppin on the siege of Narbonne in 754 and Peppin's Burgundy and Narbonne in 762.

In another obscure citation, on the last years of Basque-Aquitanian independence the Frankish Continuations of the Chronicle of Fredegar make another reference to the Basques dwelling to the south of the Garonne, "qui antiquitus vocati sunt Vaccei." The Cosmographia (7-8th centuries) calls the Ile de Ré and Oleron, located off the Charente coast, the "Vacetae Insulae" or Vacetian Islands, where the Vacetae are Vascones by another name. That name is confirmed in the Continuations (''Pseudo-Fredegar'').

The Baigorri Valley in Lower Navarre lies on the southern fringes of the late Roman province of Novempopulania, but shared close ties with the valley of Baztan, probably also included in the Duchy of Vasconia at least until the turn of the millenium Credit: Iñaki LLM

At the time depicted (561), Novempopulania, here called with anticipation Vasconia, was uncharted territory for the Franks. Note that the dotted line over the Pyrenees remains just a geographical reference Credit: Maproom

In 587 duke of Toulouse Bladastes and Gallo-Roman duke Desiderius led an expedition against the Basques, they were defeated and killed Credit: Maproom

No clear boundary is cited on the north until 769, when the river Garonne is mentioned as setting the northern boundary for the Vascones at the end of the Franco-Aquitanian war, when the Basque lords and their duke Lupus crossed the Garonne to the Frankish fortress of Fronsac, near Bordeaux, to pledge allegiance to Charlemagne ("Ibi Vascones qui ultra Garonna commorantur ad eius praesentia venerunt"). Important is here the absence of a comma, in a text where commas are used. In the Vita Pardulfi, the author makes a distinction between Partes Aquitaniae and Vasconia for the mid-8th century, pinpointing Limoges in the former, but no other data are provided for other towns like Agen, Saintes, Perigord, or Bordeaux. From previous records, e.g. the 587 military campaigns, Toulouse is considered to lie out of Vasconia.

A conservative approach pinpoints the border of the Duchy on the Garonne before 769. However, based on the above leads and admittedly inferring my hypothesis ex silentio for some regions, it can be postulated that the general area of Vasconia, home to ethnic Basques or related peoples, may have included up to 768 a threshold at the north extending to the Ile de Ré and Oléron, Saintes, Bordeaux, Agenais, and possibly Perigord and Cahors. All that added to the rest of the lands south of the Garonne. Obviously, the demographic reality of those towns and their hinterland was not static, towns were probably awash in Gallo-Roman culture, and a receding Basque presence and progressive assimilation to the Gallo-Roman culture can be postulated until 768. After that year, they may have come to be considered numerically and politically irrelevant north of the Garonne river, and not mentioned anymore.

The Duchy of Vasconia comprised intermittently lands south of the Pyrenees, at least until the definite detachment of Pamplona from the Duchy in 824. It seems safe to assume that until the Carolingian penetration in Vasconia at the turn of the 9th century (778-806) the Basque duchy extended south across the Pyrenees onto its upper valleys, where it met the Andalusian military outposts. A southern buffer zone was provided on the pre-Pyrenean valleys by a fluctuating line of strongholds connecting Aibar, Leire, Jaca (-Loarre), Boltaña, Graus, Roda and Ager (upper Pallars). Cerdanya, probably inhabited by Basques in the early 8th century, is well known to have been in Uthman-ibn-Naissa's hands up to Abd ar-Rahman al Gafiqi's expedition in 731, when he defeated the former and subdued the region for the Umayyads. In 816 Basques, "qui trans Garonnam et circa Pyrineum montem habitant" rebelled on their territory against the deposition of their duke (according to Einhard). Aznar Sanchez, duke (count) of Hither Vasconia, was sent quash the rebellion in Pamplona in 824. It goes without saying, the fact that he was sent from the "hither" implies that there was a "thither", and that may have applied to the territory lying to the south-west of the Pyrenees (cf. unspecified "Hispani Vascones" on the 778 campaign to Saragossa).

Back in the 7th century, Basques are often cited in the territory of ancient Cantabria as fighting the Visigoths trying to subdue them. No dukes or warlords are cited leading them, and their political affiliation is not specified in the 6th and 7th centuries, but the archaeological lead—findings of Aldaieta, San Pelayo, "Visigothic" (sic!) cemetery of Pamplona, etc.—and scarce documental evidence point to a clear trans-Pyrenean, Merovingian connection. Not only that, as suggested by unearthed evidence the lands to the south of the Alavese Plains may have played host to a military buffer zone between the southern Visigoths and the Basques organized in an unspecified polity. This possibility confirms a west-east frontier line extending all the way to a fortification line in Navarre attested since the 9th-century, such as Monjardín—called "Deio" at the time of the first Navarrese kings—Olite, Aibar (Oibar), and on to the east into Cinco Villas in Aragon.

At the time of a Pamplonese rebellion against the Umayyad rule at the turn of the 9th century, a so-called Belasko al-Glaski (originary from present-day Gascony), "enemy of [Muslim] God", is cited as leading a pro-Frankish revolt taking over the Basque town. Ibn-Atsir clearly states that he was the son of Adalric, a Basque lord acting under command of the Duke of Vasconia in the vicinity of the river Garonne circa 785. 

The foundations of Vasconia's social structure lie on a blend of Basque primitive society and Roman influences. Urban centres, i>villae and mansions dotted the Vasconia, and it is thought that local Basque lords engaged in a synergy by which they provided for the defense of local Gallo-Roman or Hispano-Roman magnates and their holdings, while sticking to their separate autochthonous organization in the hinterland and mountains.

The Basque tribes shared common bonds and were organized in valleys interconnected by mountain passes and paths, commonly used by humans and cattle in their grazing and the seasonal migrations. The uplands were a safer place to live than down the valley, and that was the place where the Basques asserted their internal cohesion. Life among the Basques provided shelter, a sense of community and solidarity, and capacity to strike back when alien hosts or armies broke in.

The basic institution to a valley was the batzar or biltzar, a popular assembly held probably in a landmark of religious significance where current matters were discussed by all those attending. The assembly elected the most able person(s) to undertake a specific task. When wider regional action was required, the representatives attended meetings where provisions for military or economic arrangements were decided. When the meetings involved a few neighbouring valleys, the representatives may have met on mountains passes, probably on sites where significative megalithic monuments stood and the agreements could be sealed on the "presence" of common tribal ancestors. These representatives gradually became one and the same person, chieftains, who between the late 8th and 11-12th centuries would raise to become lords, amass some wealth and create a lineage. During this later period, these tribal leaders were linked to the foundation of monasteries, establishing an oath of allegiance to overlords, be they dukes, princes or kings, who in turn acknowledged his/her right over a holding—lands, orchards, mill, etc. Monasteries were basically extensions of certain political centre, and carriers of a culture and a aesthetic affiliation.

There is evidence in the 8th century of meetings where lords from northern regions of Vasconia gathered near Bordeaux to decide on matters that demanded shared decisions. At this point of history, ahead of Charlemagne's signature monastery foundations with the imprint of Benedict of Aniane, a layer of Christian ceremonial elements hid a synchretic pagan reality.

Unlike neighbouring regions, counts didn´t play a role in Vasconia's power share (7-8th centuries). Moreover, they were absent, and dukes are mentioned as the main figures of the Basques, immediately followed on the hierarchy by tribal chieftains and families who owed obedience to the duke, at least until the rise of the Carolingian dynasty. The grip of the Duke of Vasconia on the Basques was tighter or looser depending on the historic circumstances, with the extent of his rule sometimes being just nominal in the farther away areas, but a real one in the closest ones.

The salt pond terraces of Añana-Gesaltza. The technique and the landscape have remained almost unaltered since Roman times. Credit: Jsanchezes

Depiction in hindsight of the 9th century Añana-Gesaltza saltwork complex Credit: Fund. Valle Salado

1. Genesis

    3. CAROLINGIAN VASCONIA (769-864)
    4. VASCONIA TOWARDS GASCONY (864-1058)