Aquitania

Empire of Aquitania

Empèri Aquitània (Occitan)

Flag: Diagonal cross in burgundy filled with golden Jerusalem crosses and outlined with a thin golden and a burgundy line to isolate the metal from the metal. Circular Gellona crest with Roman eagle pointing west in center. White background.

Aquitania (Occitan: Aquitània) is a large great power being governed by the Gellona dynasty as an administrative feudal monarchy located in Southern Europe alongside controlling an extensive colonial empire in the new world.

## History

### Ancient history

There are traces of human settlement by prehistoric peoples, especially in the Pèrigord, but the earliest attested inhabitants in the south-west were the Aquitani, who were not proper Celtic people, but more akin to the Iberians (see Gallia Aquitania). Although a number of different languages and dialects were in use in the area during ancient times, it is most likely that the prevailing language of Aquitania during the late pre-historic to Roman period was an early form of the Basque language. This has been demonstrated by various Aquitanian names and words that were recorded by the Romans, and which are currently easily readable as Basque. Whether this Aquitanian language (Proto-Basque) was a remnant of a Vasconic language group that once extended much farther, or whether it was generally limited to the Aquitania/Basque region is not known. One reason the language of Aquitania is important is because Basque is the last surviving non-Indo-European language in western Europe and it has had some effect on the languages around it, including Castelhan and, to a lesser extent, Occitan.

The original Aquitania (named after the inhabitants) at the time of Caesar's conquest of Gaul included the area bounded by the Garona River, the Pirineus and the Atlantic Ocean. The name may stem from Latin 'aqua', maybe derived from the town "Aquae Augustae", "Aquae Tarbellicae" or just "Aquis" (Dax, Akize in modern Basque) or as a more general geographical feature.

Under Augustus' Roman rule, since 27 BC the province of Aquitania was further stretched to the north to the River Léger, thus including proper Gaul tribes along with old Aquitani south of the Garona (cf. Novempopulania and Gasconha) within the same region.

In 392, the Roman imperial provinces were restructured as *Aquitania Prima* (north-east), *Aquitania Secunda* (centre) and *Aquitania Tertia*, better known as *Novempopulania* in the south-west.

### Early medieval

Accounts of Aquitania during the Early Middle Ages are a blur, lacking precision, but there was much unrest. The Visigoths were called into Gaul as *foederati*, legalizing their status within the Empire. Eventually they established themselves as the *de facto* rulers in south-west Gaul as central Roman rule collapsed. Visigoths established their capital in Toulouse, but their tenure on Aquitania was feeble. In 507, they were expelled south to Hispania after their defeat in the Battle of Vouillé by the Franks, who became the new rulers in the area to the south of the Loire.

The Roman Aquitania Tertia remained in place as Novempopulania, where a duke was appointed to hold a grip over the Basques (Vascones/Wascones, rendered *Gascons* in English). These dukes were quite detached from central Frankish overlordship, sometimes governing as independent rulers with strong ties to their kinsmen south of the Pirineus. As of 660, the foundations for an independent Aquitania/Vasconia polity were established by the duke Felix of Aquitania, a magnate (*potente(m)*) from Tolosa, probably of Gallo-Roman stock. Despite its nominal submission to the Merovingians, the ethnic make-up of new realm Aquitania wasn't Frankish, but Gallo-Roman north of the Garona and main towns and Basque, especially south of the Garona.

Situation in the duchies of Vasconia and Aquitania (760)

A united Basque-Aquitanian realm reached its heyday under Odo the Great's rule. In 721, the Aquitanian duke fended Umayyad troops (*Sarracens*) off at Toulouse, but in 732 (or 733, according to Roger Collins), an Umayyad expedition commanded by Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi defeated Odo next to Bordeu, and went on to loot its way up to Poitiers. Odo was required to pledge allegiance to the Frankish Charles Martel in exchange for help against the advancing Arabic forces. Basque-Aquitanian self-rule temporarily came to a halt, definitely in 768 after the assassination of Waifer.

In 781, Charlemagne decided to proclaim his son Louis King of Aquitaine within the Carolingian Empire, ruling over a realm comprising the Duchy of Aquitaine and the Duchy of Vasconia. He suppressed various Basque (*Gascon*) uprisings, even venturing into the lands of Pamplona past the Pyrenees after ravaging Gasconha, with a view to imposing his authority also in the Vasconia to south of Pirineus. According to his biography, he achieved everything he wanted and after staying overnight in Pamplona, on his way back his army was attacked in Roncevau in 812, but narrowly escaped an engagement at the Pirineus passes.

Seguin (Sihiminus), count of Bordeu and Duke of Vasconia, seemed to have attempted a detachment from the Frankish central authority on Charlemagne's death. The new emperor Louis the Pious reacted by removing him from his capacity, which stirred the Basques into rebellion. The king in turn sent his troops to the territory, obtaining their submission in two campaigns and killing the duke, while his family crossed the Pirineus and continued to foment risings against Frankish power. In 824, the 2nd Battle of Roncevau took place, in which counts Aeblus and Aznar, Frankish vassals from the Duchy of Vasconia sent by the new King of Aquitania, Pepin, were captured by the joint forces of Iñigo Arista and the Banu Qasi.

Before Pepin's death, emperor Louis had appointed a new king in 832, his son Charles the Bald, while the Aquitanian lords elected Pepin II as king. This struggle for control of the kingdom led to a constant period of war between Charles, loyal to his father and the Carolingian power, and Pepin II, who relied more on the support of Basque and Aquitanian lords.

#### Ethnic make-up in the Early Middle Ages

Despite the early conquest of southern Gaul by the Franks after the Battle of Vouillé in 507, the Frankish element was feeble south of the Léger, where Gothic and Gallo-Roman Law prevailed and a small Frankish settlement took place. However scarce, some Frankish population and nobles settled down in regions like Albigeois, Carcassona (on the fringes of Septimania), Tolosa, and Proven*ç*a and Lower Ròse (the last two then not in Aquitaine). After the death of the king Dagobert I, the Merovingian tenure south of the Loire became largely nominal, with the actual power being in the hands of autonomous regional leaders and counts. The Franks may have become largely assimilated to the preponderant Gallo-Roman culture by the 8th century, but their names were well in use by the ruling class, like Odo. Still, in the Battle of Tolosa (721), the Aquitanian duke Odo is said to be leading an army of Aquitanians and Franks.

On the other hand, the Franks didn't mix with the Basques, keeping separate paths. In the periods before and after the Muslim thrust, the Basques are often cited in several accounts stirring against Frankish attempts to subdue Aquitania (stretching up to Tolosa) and Vasconia, pointing to a not preponderant but clearly significant Basque presence in the former too. Recorded evidence points to their deployment across Aquitania in a military capacity as a mainstay of the Duke's forces. 'Romans' are cited as living in the cities of Aquitania, as opposed to the Franks (mid 8th century).

### Aquitania after the Treaty of Verdun

After the 843 Treaty of Verdun, the defeat of Pepin II and the death of Charles the Bald, the Kingdom of Aquitania ( initially subsumed into West Francia) temporarily ceased to have any relevance and the title of King of Aquitania took on a nominal value. Most of the Karling successor realms, including West Francia, fell into a long period of civil war and internal conflict, resulting in the Aquitanian royal title being restored to relevance. The resulting weakening of the Karling realms, gave rise to the already previously powerful Gellona dynasty (then dukes of Barcelona and holding substantial territory in central Gaul), ascending to the throne of Aquitania in 1050 and dominance in the south of West Francia, including Aquitania itself, something made possible due to the Gellona reluctance to take an active role in supporting their Karling liege against other Karling pretenders, thus preserving the Gellona armies and treasury intact, at least long enough to depose the weak king of Aquitania before the bulk of the Gellona armies, much like that of other European armies, were scattered and destroyed by the great plague of (insert year of the first black plague).

### Basic details

* Population: Estimated at 20-25 (debatable) million in 1600 AD excluding colonies and overseas territories.
* Territorial extent in Europe: In southern Gaul from the Léger valley to Borgonha, from Borgonha along the alps to Liguria, from Corsèga to the Balearic islands, from the Balearic islands to Alcante and Navarra and Castelha, from Castelha to Nantas.
* Area: ?
* Capital: Bordeu.
* Largest cities: Barcelona, Bordeu - (more information needed).
* Official religion: Roman Catholic.
* Official court languages: Occitan and Latin.
* Primary languages: Occitan (Estimated to 70% of the population), Catalan Occitan, Castilian, Basque, Frankish, Breton, Aquitanian French, Gascognian, Burgundian, Aragonese, Hebrew, Judeo-Occitan, Andalusian Arabic and Italian.
* Ethnic groups: Occitan, Catalan Occitan, Aragonese, Basque, Castilian, Frankish, Burgundian, Ligurian, Gascognian, Jewish, Provencal, Breton, Moors.
* Currency: Gellonaur (rare very high purity heavy gold coins adorned with small exotic gems forming a Gellona crest on one side found mainly in the posession of the wealthiest merchants, foreign dignitaries, high nobility and royal family, symbolizing having close connections to the Gellona dynasty and political power, valuable enough to purchase a small country), Liura (gold coin, also referred to as Aquitanian pound in Albion), Dinar (silver coin, referred to as Northern dinar in Al-Andalus), local copper and silver coins from individual regions of differing value, name and mass.
* Founding: Duchy of Aquitania founded in 555 AD by Chramn, son of Chlothar I of the Franks. Kingdom of Aquitania founded by Charles the Great, 778 AD. Gellona ascension to the throne of an independent kingdom of Aquitania in 1050 AD after a long period of brutal civil wars between Karling claimants and a short period of Italian and French rule. Claimant to the Roman Empire between 11xx AD (when did the war of the eagles end?) and 1499 AD with the Compact of Rome, when the Empire of Aquitania gained international recognition as the primary title of the ruler of Aquitania after signing off their claim to the Roman Empire.