Gascony
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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, père's character in the Three Musketeers.
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.
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[edit] History
- See also: Duke of Gascony
[edit] 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 background into a single province, in order the 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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, 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).
[edit] 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.
[edit] Geography
The most important towns are :
- Auch the historical capital
- Bayonne (Basque and Gascon identity)
- Bordeaux
- Dax
- Lourdes
- Luchon
- Mont-de-Marsan
- Pau
- Tarbes
[edit] Economy
Main industries are :
- fishing
- stock raising
- wine making
- brandy distilling
- tourism
[edit] 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 permission
