| Aquitania novempopulana Akitania bederatzi lagun (Basque) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Province ofWestern Roman Empire | |||||||||
| 3rd century–626 | |||||||||
 Novempopulania around 600 | |||||||||
| Capital | Elusa (Eauze) | ||||||||
| Historical era | Antiquity | ||||||||
• Established | 3rd century | ||||||||
• Disestablished | 626 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | France | ||||||||
Novempopulania (Latin for "country of the nine peoples") was one of the provinces created byDiocletian (Roman emperor from 284 to 305) out ofGallia Aquitania, which was also calledAquitania Tertia.
The area of Novempopulania was first namedAquitania, as it was where theAquitani dwelt. The territory extended within the triangular area outlined by the RiverGaronne, thePyrenees and theBay of Biscay, as described byJulius Caesar in hisCommentarii de Bello Gallico forGallia Aquitania. In his work, Caesar describes the Aquitani as being different in language and body type from their northerly neighbours and more similar to theCeltiberians.[1] The province of Aquitania was enlarged byAugustus and began to signify a larger and more diverse territory.
The name Novempopulania stands for the nine peoples making up the original territory (Aquitania Tertia). It seems clear that at the time of the lower empire (2nd to 4th century),[2] the nine peoples were granted by the emperor the right to detach from theGauls proper (Celts) by means of themagister pagi Verus and, as a result, a celebrating altar was erected which was dedicated to the deity of thepagus. This fact is accounted for by the remains of the altar unearthed in the currentBasque town ofHasparren.
The newly acquired status may have affected not only the tax system but the conscription and military order too, since two separate bodies were created within Aquitania, i.e. the "Cohortes Aquitanorum" for old Aquitanians and "Cohortes Aquitanorum Biturigum" for those of properGaulish origin.[3]
The number of peoples went on to be twelve later, the tribes being identified with a corresponding capital town orcivitas, namely Civitas Ausciorum, Civ. Aquensium, Civ. Lactoratium, Civ. Convenarum, Civ. Consorannorum, Civ. Boatium, Civ. Benarnensium, Civ. Aturensium, Civ. Vasatica, Civ. Turba, Civ. Illoronensium and Civ. Elusatium. These civitas are in turn identifiable with present-day towns and cities as follows:Auch,Dax,Lectoure,Comminges,Couserans,Buch andBorn,Béarn orLescar,Aire-sur-l'Adour,Bazas,Tarbes,Oloron,Eauze.[4]Elusa (Eauze) remained the capital city of Novempopulania throughout most of its existence.
Wide evidence of stone inscriptions have been found scattered all over the area which constitutes Novempopulania. These recordings feature names of deities, persons and places with easily identifiable similarities to present-day Basque, a fact that provides, along with current and ancient place-names north of thePyrenees (e.g.Illiberris mentioned by Ptolemy on the eastern fringes of Novempopulania)[5] and traces of Basque in theGascon language (especially in theBéarnese dialect), the basis for an Aquitanianproto-Basque theory.
In 418, in the stir of the crumbling rule of the Roman Empire and its territories overrun by Germanic tribes, emperorHonorius allocated Aquitania to theVisigoths asfoederati, with their tribes settling on the fringes of Novempopulania at both banks of the RiverGaronne as far south asToulouse, where they established their seat. Other than this, their power tenure over Novempopulania may have been more nominal than real. Furthermore, after the 507Battle of Vouille, they were expelled from the area by theFranks.
Accounts of events taking place at that time on the territory of Novempopulania are confusing and blurred, and so are the names of the peoples and their geographical locations, who are as of now dubbedVascones,Wasconia,Guasconia (as opposed to theSpanoguasconia, according to theRavenna Cosmography) with no clear boundaries. At that point,Vascones had taken on an extended meaning arguably encompassing allBasque-language tribes, different from the more restricted definition provided at the time of Augustus.
The crisis of Late antiquity brought about much unrest and turmoil in Novempopulania, where thebagaudae and Vascon raids that occurred later on are often mentioned in various documents. Novempopulania was to become the core region of theDuchy of Vasconia, which was established by the Franks at the beginning of the 7th century with a view to holding back theBasques, but which often conducted a semi-autonomous governance of Basque-Aquitanian background. It later split into theDuchy of Gascony and theCounty of Vasconia.
