Duke of Gascony

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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 [1], 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.

Contents

[edit] List of dukes and counts

[edit] Dukes of Vasconia (Frankish vassals)

[edit] Dukes of Vasconia and Aquitaine

[edit] Independent Dukes of Vasconia

[edit] Dukes of Vasconia and Counts of Bordeaux (Frankish vassals)

[edit] Counts of Vasconia

Temporarily segregated from the Duchy. See: Northern Basque Country
  • Aznar Sans (??-836), conqueror of Jaca and therefore founder of the County of Aragon.
  • Sans II (836-855 or 864), fought against the Franks since 848 and eventually became Duke of Vasconia.

[edit] Late Independents Dukes of Vasconia

[edit] Independent Dukes of Gascony

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, Armagnac, Bigorre, Comminges, Nébouzan, Labourd and so on.

[edit] Nomenclature

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See also Duchy of Vasconia and Gascony

Before listing the names of the dukes and counts of Gascony (or Wasconia as it was then known), a long explanation is needed. This is because these names are recorded under a bewildering number of variants, which makes identification very difficult. These dukes and counts were leaders of the Basque clans that dominated Gascony, and so their native names were Basque. However, as the Gascon language gradually replaced Basque, their names are also recorded in Gascon. Indeed, eventually the dukes of Gascony probably adopted themselves Gascon, which is reflected in the declining use of authentically Basque names by the last dukes.

In written documents, their names were usually recorded in Latin, which was the favored written language at the time. Today, their names are also frequently found in their French version, and also sometimes in their Spanish version. One example: the Basque name Otsoa (meaning "wolf") was literally translated Lop in Gascon, Lupus in Latin, Loup in French, and Lobo in Spanish. Thus, Duke Otsoa II of Gascony can be known by any of these names, which confuses people not used to the local linguistic situation. Furthermore, even within a set language, there exist many different variants, such as Basque name Santxo (from Latin sanctus, meaning "holy"), which can be found in Basque documents written Antso, Sanzio, Santio, Sanxo, Sancio, and so on.

Usually, the dukes and counts of Gascony had two names, the first one being their given name, the second one being the given name of their father (for example, Duke Sans I Lop, which means this is Duke Sans I, son of Lop). This custom later generated the Spanish family names, with the adding of suffix -ez meaning "son of". E.g.: Juan Sanchez literally means "Juan, son of Sancho". For a few dukes of Gascony, the second name is not the given name of their father, but it is a nickname that they gained over time and that replaced the given name of their father, such as the famous duke Sans III Mitarra, where Mitarra is not the name of his father, but a nickname of Arab origin meaning "the Terror", a nickname given to him by the Moors after his resounding successes against them.

In the list below, the dukes and counts of Gascony are listed according to their Gascon names (based on the current spelling of Gascon, not the medieval spelling, which was fluctuating anyway). Basque was not chosen, as Basque names present too many variants, and anyway the later dukes adopted the Gascon language. In parenthesis appear the most frequently found versions of their names in other languages.

Although all the different names under which the dukes of Gascony are known are just different versions of the same names in different languages, it should be noted that there is one duke of Gascony known by two names that are completely different names, and not merely two versions of the same name: Duke Semen (also known as Duke Siguin). Semen is a Basque name (sometimes written Semeno, Xemen, Ximen, etc., which gave the Spanish family names Ximenez and Jimenez). Nobody knows for sure if Semen is either the Basque version of the biblical name Simon, or a native Basque name based on the Basque word seme (meaning "son"). On the other hand, Siguin (modern Gascon Seguin) is a name of Germanic origin (Sig-, that is, "victory", cf. modern German Sieg, and -win, that is, "friend", related to modern English win). At the time of writing this article, it was not possible to determine which of these two names is the correct name of duke Semen/Siguin. Both are found.But given the many other relatives names in the close dynasties being in their mayority corruptions of germanic,from Garsinde,Garsean,Centulle(Gendolf/Centulus?)Aighuin,Enneko(short form of Aginald/Hunnald even in today Holland)Aznar(Aginard?)Velsquita(Belasgytta/Wallagota),Velasco(samewise Belasgutho)Arnaud(Arnoald)Toda(Theuda)Dedadils(Theudahilde)plus a few others of latin derivated,make them seem of gothic-hispanic magnates background either adopted or ethnic,what later relations of intermarriage with Ebro or Garonne clans show of long standig use or norm.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e Ducado de Vasconia (Auñamendi Encyclopedia)

[edit] Sources

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