Duchy of Vasconia

The Duchy of Vasconia (Basque: Baskoniako Dukerria, Spanish: Ducado de Vasconia, French: Duché de Vasconie), or Wasconia, was originally a Frankish march formed by 602 to keep the Basques (Vascones) in check. It comprised the former Roman province of Novempopulania and, at least in some periods, also the lands south of the Pyrenees centred on Pamplona.

In the ninth century, civil war within the Frankish realm led to the permanent loss of control over the transpyrenean territories and several competing claimants to legal authority in Vasconia. After the chaos of Viking raids affecting the whole Basque area from Bordeaux to the coastal areas of Biscay and the decline of central Carolingian power, a strong regional political dynamics developed that was to become Gascony when the territories south of the Pyrenees shook off Frankish suzerainty (Pamplona) and other counties were created in the Pyrenees.