In the mid 15th century, Soule finally recognizes the King of France as its own, with the Basque district becoming the smallest province and exclave of the kingdom and the most distant from the centre of power, Paris. It came to be surrounded by the sovereign Kingdom of Navarre on the south and west and the independent principality of Viscounty of Béarn on the east. In 1511, King Francis I of France urged the Souletins to set down their institutional and legal framework on paper, which they did in Bearnese, the administrative written language up to that point. In 1539, an amendment to their region specific laws went on to be written in French, the new official language as decreed by King Francis I. Despite numbering more than fifty towns and villages, Soule was populated by fewer than 4,000 people. The only town was Mauléon, with a population totalling fewer than 350 people. As of 1512, given its proximity to France and its particular geographic situation surrounded by the Kingdom of Navarre-Bearn and the recently invaded Navarre to the south, Soule became ensnared in the political, religious and military manoeuvres derived from its shaky position, with the French Wars of Religion affecting the province tremendously.