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| Capital (and largest city) |
Bordèu | ||||
| Language | Gascon Occitan | ||||
| Annexation | to France | ||||
| date | 1835 | ||||
The Duchy of Aquitaine, Aquitaine, was a former constitutional monarchy in south-west Francia. Following its split from Carolingian Francia it would enjoy nine centuries of independence.
Once the Roman province of Gallia Aquitania, Aquitaine formed part of a 5th century Visigothic kingdom which stretched from the Loire to the Straits of Gibraltar. War between the Visigoths and Franks left Aquitaine, and Vasconia/Gascony, in Frankish hands. Duke Odo the Great, ruling both entities in union, as well a portion of northern Hispania, operated more or less independently from his nominal Meregovinian overlords but was forced to more or less accept Frankish suzerainty when invaded by the Muslim army of Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi in 732.
Despite frequent wars against its overlords it was now firmly a Frankish/Francian duchy rather than a separate kingdom but as the central Francian authority collapsed so to did the Dukes'. This seems to have been acerbated by Norse raids and split inheritances and, in the general chaos of the years around 900, the southern Hispanic march firmly split away, and much of south-east which formed the semi-vassalised lordships of Armagnac, Zuberoa, Bigorre, and Comminges and Bearn (see Confederation of the Pyrenees) which remained independent-minded lordships. Much of the north-east was seized by Auvergne. The polity left behind was still called Aquitaine, and had designs over its old territory, but essentially just controlled the old Gascon coastline from Bordèu to the disputed Basque lands.
In the fragmented Francia which emerged from the post-Carolingian collapse Aquitaine proved to be one of rump Royal France's only allies. The dukes made sure to be rewarded heavily for their involvement in France's wars, even if it was only to allow passage through their territory. Most of its own wars were against Navarre and Castile for the Basque coast or against Toulouse (which itself had fallen apart and was slowly being consumed by Aragon). Following the debacle of the French-Aquitainian war against Peter III in 1304-05 direct support for French expansion waned and instead the dukes attempted to keep the French kings boxed into northern Francia. Though successful it served only to isolate Aquitaine.
In 1568 the Taino island of Xaymaca was claimed for the crown as part of the general scramble for safe ports in the Taino and Carib seas. The dukes soon found the island utterly ungovernable as the Basque and Occitan farmers and settlers made appalling abuse of the local people. Dismissive of the local peoples and their customs the Taino were pushed into the rural areas and treated as second class citizens or worse, slaves, which bred revolt. The island had also been a hotbed of piracy and the cash-strapped navy was almost powerless to stop them operating. The island was soon dubbed 'Aquitaine's ruin' as it sapped man-power and political energies which the duchy could ill-afford.
The inability to deal with piracy was one of the causes of the War of the League of Arcachon (1743-1752) in which Mexica systematically targeted the European holdings in the Taino and Carib seas. The articles of the alliance would be signed in the small Aquitainian fishing village of Arcachon but it came too late to stop the fall of Xaymaca to Mexican forces. Aquitaine forces made little impact on the war itself; it would be Portugal which liberated Xaymaca, in 1751 but damage to Atlantic trading links further eroded the economy. An alliance with Castile served up the duchy's absolute nadir with the utter defeat against Aragon in the (San Javier War, 1762-1767)
The penniless and heirless Duke Robert VII died in 1824 and the duchy was seized by the then triumphant Enrique del Olmo and added to the ever-growing Hispania. It would be governed, at least in name, by his French wife Catherine of Evry, but like all captured territory was treated heavily by the occupying forces to feed the constant cycle of wars.
At the Congress of Milan in 1835, now that Hispania had been defeated and divided, the question of what to do with Aquitaine was high on the agenda. Resurrection as an independent nation was not deemed possible considering the lingering debts and poor state of the state's infrastruture. France was eventually handed the duchy, and Xaymaca, for its efforts during the war and in return signed various treaties giving up all claims to other European land. Aquitaine was run as an autonomous province until the political reforms of 1961 which restructured the government of France.
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