Last modified: 2004-12-22 by ivan sache
Keywords: guyenne | aquitaine | gascogne | guyenne-et-gascogne | gascony | lion (yellow) | leopard (yellow) | lions: 2 (white) | lions: 2 (red) | sheaf | bigorre | rouergue |
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History of Guyenne (Aquitaine)
Aquitania (from Latin, aqua, water) was divided in
three provinces by the Romans.
Clovis incorporated it to the kingdom of the
Franks in 507 after his victory of
Vouilléover Alaric II, king of the Wisigoths. Aquitaine was
then a duchy, whose most famous duke was Saint Guillaume le Grand (c.
755-812), also count of Toulouse, who stopped the Moors and retired
in the abbey of Gellone he had founded and which is known today as
Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert. Guillaume became the hero of several
medieval chansons de geste, in which he is nicknamed Guillaume
au Court-Nez (with Short Nose).
Charlemagne made of Aquitaine a kingdom in 781, which lasted until
827. Aquitaine was later a duchy, ruled by the
Poitou dynasty (Guillaume III
Tête-d'Etoupe, 951-963 ; Guillaume IV Fièrebrace, 963-994 ;
Guillaume IX the Prince of the Troubadours, 1086-1127 ; Guillaume X,
1127-1137).
In 1137, crown prince of France Louis, later king Louis VII,
married Aliénor (Eleanor) d'Aquitaine and incorporated her
duchy to France. Aliénor was the unique daughter of Guillaume
X and brought France as her dowry not only Aquitaine but also
Périgord, Limousin,
Poitou,
Angoumois,
Saintonge, Gascony
and the suzereignty over Auvergne and the
county of Toulouse.
In 1152, Aliénor was repudiated by Louis VII, and remarried
with Henry II Plantagenet, count of Anjou
and later king of England (1154). Aquitaine was therefore
incorporated to the Anglo-Angevin Empire. The French Capetian kings
were able to reincorporate Aquitaine to their domain for only short
periods in 1294 (Philippe IV le Bel), 1324 (Charles IV le Bel) and
1369 (Charles V le Sage).
In 1345, the Hundred Years' War began in
Aquitaine. By the treaty of Brétigny (8 May 1360), Aquitaine
was given to the English, who called it Guyenne and created a
principality there in 1362. In 1380, the English possessions were
reduced to the area of Bordeaux and
Bayonne. In 1453, the Bureau brothers defeated the English troops led
by Talbot in Castillon-la-Bataille, near Bordeaux. This was the last
battle of the Hundred Years' War. In 1469, King Louis XI granted
Guyenne to his younger brother Charles as his
apanage. Guyenne was eventually
incorporated to the Crown in 1472.
Ivan Sache, 1 February 2003
Description of the flag of Guyenne
The banner of arms of Guyenne is:
De gueules au léopard d'or, armé et lampassé d'azur (GASO)
In English:
Gules, a lion passant gardant or (Brian Timms)
The origin of the arms of Guyenne remains mysterious. There is an hypothesis that it is related to the arms of England, but this is false. Other sources say that the leopard or was attributed to AliÈnor d'Aquitaine.
Ivan Sache & Pascal Vagnat, 1 February 2003
History of Gascony
The original name of Gascony was Vasconia. The Vascons
were an ancient Iberic people who settled between the
Pyrénées mountains and the river Ebre. They were
repelled by the Wisigoths and settled in the plains located north of
the Pyrénées. The Vascons gave their name to the
Gascons and the Basques, as well as to Gascony and Biscayne.
In 778, Charlemagne created the duchy of Aquitaine. In the south, the
duchy of Gascony was established in 872. The latter duchy was
rapidly dismembered into several feudal states, including the
counties of Armagnac, Fezensac, Astarac, Gaure and Pardiac, and the
viscounties of Fezensaguet and Lomagne.
In the XIth century, Gascony was incorporated into Aquitaine (or Guyenne) and formed with it the province of Guyenne-et-Gascogne. My sources do not agree on the process and year of incorporation. GASO says that Bernard d'Armagnac took the whole Gascony in 1069 but was defeated the next year by duke Guillaume VIII d'Aquitaine. The Grand Larousse Illustré du XXe Siècle says that when duke Béranger died in 1036, Gascony was transfered to his nephew Eudes, count of Poitou and duke of Aquitaine. The Guide Vert Michelin says that the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony merged in 1058.
Ivan Sache, 28 January 2003
Description of the flag of Gascony
The banner of arms of Gascony is:
Ecartelé : au premier et au quatrième d'azur au lion d'argent, au deuxième et au troisi&