Dictionary: Gas·co·ny :
A historical region and former province of southwest France. Settled originally by Basque peoples, it was conquered by the Romans and later by the Visigoths and Franks. A new wave of Basque
invaders from south of the Pyrenees established the duchy of Vasconia in the sixth century A.D. In 1052 Gascony passed to the duchy of Aquitaine, and after serving as a major
battlefield during the Hundred Years' War, it finally became part of the French royal domain in 1607.
Britannica Concise
Encyclopedia: Gascony
Historical and cultural region, southwestern France. It encompasses portions of the southwestern French
régions of
Aquitaine and Midi-Pyrénées. Historically, it
consisted of the northern foothills of the
Pyrenees and extended east from the
Basque Country along the France-Spain border to
Toulouse on the upper
Garonne River. Under Roman rule it was the province of Novempopulana. Taken by the Visigoths in the 5th
century and by the Franks in 507, it was overrun from 561 by the Basques, or Vascones; in 602 the Frankish kings recognized Vasconia, or Gascony, as a duchy. In 1052 it was conquered by Aquitaine,
and in the 12th century it passed to the
Plantagenet kings of England. In the
Hundred Years' War, Gascony retained English allegiance until the French reconquest in the mid-15th century.
British History:
Gascony
French region lying between the river Garonne and the Pyrenees. In the 11th cent. it was acquired by the dukes of Aquitaine; the 1152 marriage of
Eleanor of Aquitaine to Henry II meant that it passed into
the hands of the kings of England. As a result of military defeats suffered in John's reign, from the early 13th cent. onwards the duchy of Aquitaine generally consisted of little but Gascony. The
total disarray of Henry VI's government in 1450 allowed the triumphant Charles VI of France to walk into Gascony virtually unopposed.
Columbia
Encyclopedia: Gascony
Gascony (
găs'kənē) , Fr.
Gascogne, region of SW France. It is now
coextensive with the departments of Landes, Gers, and Hautes-Pyrénées and parts of Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Lot-et-Garonne, Tarn-et-Garonne, Haute-Garonne, Gironde, and Ariège. The sandy and swampy
Landes along the Atlantic coast, the majestic
Pyrenees forming the border with Spain, and the hilly
Armagnac region between the Adour and Garonne rivers are the main geographic areas of Gascony. Fishing, stock raising, wine making, brandy distilling, and the tourist trade are the
chief industries. The historical capital is
Auch; other important towns are
Bayonne,
Biarritz, Luchon (see
Bagnères-de-Luchon),
Tarbes,
Dax, and
Lourdes. Under the Romans the region was known first as Aquitania
Propria and later as Novempopulana or Aquitania Tertia and was inhabited by the Vascones, or
Basques, who since prehistoric times had lived in the lands N and S of the Pyrenees. Except in the region SW of the Adour, where the Basque
language and customs have persisted to the present, Latin soon became the tongue of Novempopulana. Conquered by the Visigoths (5th cent.) and by the Franks (6th cent.), Novempopulana was invaded
in turn by the Basque-speaking peoples (the Vascones) from S of the Pyrenees, who in 601 set up the duchy of Vasconia or Gascony. The duchy's borders fluctuated as the Basques fought the
Visigoths, the Franks, and the Arabs throughout the
Merovingian period. The duchy kept an independent spirit throughout its history, even when Charlemagne forced the duke of Gascony to recognize Louis the Pious, king of
Aquitaine, as his suzerain (9th cent.). Invaded by Norsemen early in the 9th cent., Gascony fell into anarchy and split up into small counties and seigniories. In 1052, with the exception of
lower
Navarre and
Béarn, which continued separate, the remainder of Gascony passed to the
duchy of
Aquitaine. Gascony shared the fate
of Aquitaine, fell under English control in 1154, and was a major battleground in the Hundred Years War (1337–1453); it was completely recovered by France in 1453. Gascony was then not a
political unit; most of its territory was held by the counts of Armagnac, the counts of
Foix, and the lords of
Albret. All these lands passed, through marriage and inheritance, to Henry of Navarre, who became king of France as Henry IV in 1589. The
lands were united with the royal domain in 1607. The resulting province of Guienne and Gascony was divided under the jurisdictions of the parlements of Bordeaux and of Toulouse.
Copyrights:
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Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright
© 2007
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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006
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British History. A Dictionary of British History. Copyright © 2000
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