Dukes of Gascony

Dukes Of Gascony

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, 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.