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84-472: It includes three former historic French provinces in the north-east of the traditional Basque Country totalling 2,967 km (1,146 sq mi): Lower Navarre (French: Basse-Navarre ; Basque: Nafarroa Beherea ), until 1789 nominally Kingdom of Navarre , with 1,284 km (496 sq mi); Labourd ( Lapurdi ), with 800 km (310 sq mi); Soule ( Zuberoa ), with 785 km (303 sq mi). The population included in

168-461: A French department , and that is made up of a union of ten commonwealths and 157 of the 159 Basque communes, plus one Béarnese community. The oldest human remains that are known of in the territory of the current French Basque Country are approximately 150,000 years old. Some houses have been found on the terraces of the river Adour , in Ilbarritz ( Bidart ), Saint-Pierre-d'Irube and Mouguerre . In

252-579: A constant element during that last decades in elected posts for the main political parties, with representation from the French Socialist Party , The Republicans , and nationalist parties. 64% of Basque-French mayors support such a creation. The Association des Élus is an association that groups political posts such as regional councilors, general councilors and mayors of the French Basque Country, from both political spectrums, whose goal

336-436: A court, a university, a military post, a bishopric, a stock exchange, a fair, a hospital, etc. The protests of the towns which had always fulfilled one of these functions and which were thus deprived of their court of appeal, their arsenal, their university or their fair, prevented this plan from being completely implemented. In some cases, modern regions share names with the historic provinces; their borders may cover roughly

420-546: A cultural and linguistic identity. Borrowed from the institutions of the Roman Empire , the word first appeared in the 15th century and has continued to spread, both in official documents and in popular or common usage. Whatever the century or dictionary consulted, the definition of the word often remains vague, due to the coexistence of several territorial division systems under the Ancien Régime. Some geographers, even some of

504-615: A death toll of approx. 1,600 in Labourd . The Basques started to be forcibly recruited for the French army, with large numbers of youths in turn deciding to run away or defect among allegations of mistreatment, so starting a trend of exile and emigration to the Americas that was to last for more than a century. The mutual hostility and lack of trust between the new regime and the European monarchies led to

588-510: A different city from the capital. Areas that were not part of the Kingdom of France, though they are currently parts of Metropolitan France : Partial display of historical provincial arms: Socialist Party of France (1902) The Socialist Party of France ( Parti socialiste de France ) was a socialist political party . The party was founded in 1902 during a congress in Commentry by

672-639: A district thriving on whale hunting . In 1579, an important handbook for navigation was published by Martin Oihartzabal , the Navigational Pilot , offering guidance and useful landmarks found in Newfoundland and other Basque traditional fisheries. In 1677, it was translated to Basque by Pierre Etxeberri. However, during the 17 and 18th century, that activity saw a gradual decline as the English took over from

756-403: A formally independent state until 1620–24, when this separation was suppressed. In 1634, Axular , in his literary work Gero , gives a rough description of the extent of Basque at the time: The language comprised all the provinces now known as Basque Country "and [in] so many other places". After Axular's accomplished book, other Basque writing authors followed suit, especially in Labourd ,

840-446: A hundred individual peoples (300 according to Flavius Josephus), some with very different customs. Julius Caesar called each of these independent states civitas (city, without the word in this case referring to the idea of town or village), some of which were subdivided into pagi . Many of the smaller Gallic peoples were clients of their neighbors, and therefore dependent on them, sometimes paying them tribute. These confederations,

924-511: A matter of concern discussed by Napoleon Bonaparte and Dominique Garat . As of 1814, traditional cross-Pyrenean trade fell conspicuously, starting a period of economic stagnation. Eventually, trade across the Pyrénées border was cut off after the First Carlist War , with large numbers further departing to the Americas in search for a better life. In Soule, the emigration trend was mitigated by

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1008-404: A precise legal definition, clearly defined boundaries and codified administrative structures. The number of provinces, their organization and boundaries varied widely over the course of five centuries, and each was headed by a proconsul or propraetor . In addition to Provincia (Provence), which was already Roman, Caesar divided Gaul into three provinces: Aquitanica , Celtica and Belgica . Over

1092-465: A process of municipal meetings, on 2 May 2016, both conditions were met. On 1 January 2017, the Agglomeration Community of Basque Country , was created: an intercommunal cooperation movement (EPCI), which promotes a greater level of autonomy, with the French administrative categorization as an official territorial administrative structure with greater abilities than a pays , but fewer than

1176-478: A scholar of Basque-Irish origin, Antoine d'Abbadie (Anton Abbadia), followed by several more editions up to 1897. Other political and cultural events in fellow Basque districts to the south of the Pyrenees had an impact in the French Basque Country, especially in church-related circles (periodicals like Eskualduna , 1887), the only institution that still spoke to the people in their language. This could not prevent

1260-560: Is a bird bone with three holes in it in the shape of a txistu . Moving into the Mesolithic era, humans began to live outside of caves, despite the fact that these were still used until a much later date. Also, during this era, the artefacts of ceramics , agriculture , and raising livestock were discovered. During the Neolithic era (4000–3000 B.C.E.), new techniques for the use of metals and agriculture arrived. The present-day territory

1344-474: Is regulated and receives subventions from the Regional Council of Aquitaine . In 2012, the French government proposed the creation of a single commonwealth for all of the towns in French Basque Country, under two conditions: being approved by at least half of the 158 communes in the historic territory, and that at least half of the nearly 300,000 residents be represented within this historic territory. After

1428-692: Is to achieve the division of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department into Basque and Béarnese departments respectively (24 of the existing mainland departments have smaller populations than the French Basque Country). The Council of the Development of the French Basque Country was created in 1994, and in 1995 the Council of the Elected of the French Basque Country ( Association des Élus du Pays Basque )

1512-584: The Dax ). The three Basque provinces were then shaken by traumatic events after the intervention of the French Convention Army during the War of the Pyrenees (1793–95). Besides prohibiting the native Basque language for public use, with Bertrand Barère even declaring that "fanaticism speaks Basque", an indiscriminate mass-deportation of civilians followed resulting in the expulsion from their homes of thousands and

1596-631: The Arrondissement of Oloron-Sainte-Marie , and the Arrondissement of Pau . French Basque Country includes all of Bayonne and Canton of Montagne Basque in Oloron-Sainte-Marie. Additionally, it includes the following territories in Béarn : Esquiule , Aramits , Géronce , and Arette (in the Canton of Oloron-Sainte-Marie-1 ). The French Basque Country included three pre-existing historic territories before

1680-509: The Basque Eurocity Bayonne-San Sebastián Euroregion . It is a popular tourist destination and is somewhat distinct from neighbouring parts of the southern Basque Country, since it was not industrialized as Biscay or Gipuzkoa and remained agricultural and a beach destination. The department of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques is divided into three districts or arrondissements : The Arrondissement of Bayonne ,

1764-588: The French Revolution suppressed it radically, as it did elsewhere in France, eventually creating the department of Basses-Pyrénées , half-Basque and half-Gascon ( Béarn , a former sovereign territory). Louis XVI of France summoned the Estates General to discuss problems of state. This assembly united the three estates: nobles, clerics, and the common people (the third estate ). Third estate representatives of

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1848-683: The Middle Paleolithic era (700,000–100,000 years BP ), Neanderthals inhabited this area. At the beginning they lived in the open air and later in caves, like the one in Isturits . Cro-magnon people appeared during the Upper Paleolithic (9,000–50,000 years BP). Many artistic objects from the Magdalenian era (9,000–14,000 years BP) have been found in Isturits. The most well-known object found

1932-449: The night of 4 August , decided to establish a uniform division of the territory, the départements , and that this division would be the same for the different functions of the State: military, religious, fiscal, administrative, university, judicial, etc. The town chosen as the capital of each department would have to be the seat of each of these functions, and at the same time have a prefecture,

2016-487: The "former provinces of France". The list below shows the major provinces of France at the time of their dissolution during the French Revolution. Capital cities are shown in parentheses. Bold indicates a city that was also the seat of a judicial and quasi-legislative body called either a parlement (not to be confused with a parliament ) or a conseil souverain (sovereign council). In some cases, this body met in

2100-453: The 3rd century, when use of the name Aquitania was extended to cover the region up to the river Loire , as Novempopulania ( Aquitania Tertia ). Its name in Latin means the nine peoples , as a reference to the nine tribes that inhabited it: The region reached a high level of Romanization , as many of the toponyms with Latin or Celtic suffixes, such as -acum or -anum , demonstrate. In

2184-544: The 90 départements and their capital cities, although their ethnonyms have been replaced by names related to physical geography: rivers, mountains, coasts. Depending on their laws, customs and languages, the territory of the kingdom is divided into countries of written law (roughly south of a line from La Rochelle to Geneva) and countries of customary law (north of the same line). Each of these groups includes several parliaments, which are appeal courts whose jurisdictions form as many judicial provinces, and to which belong all

2268-674: The Basque Municipal Community amounts to 309,723 inhabitants distributed in 158 municipalities. It is delimited in the north by the department of Landes , in the west by the Bay of Biscay , in the south by the Southern Basque Country and in the east by Béarn (although in the Béarnese village of Esquiule , Basque is spoken), which is the eastern part of the department. Bayonne and Biarritz (BAB) are its chief towns, included in

2352-609: The Basque language from further receding, it becoming confined to local and domestic circles. In 1914, Basque ceased to be the trading language used by the local middle- and higher-class customers at the Mauleon marketplace (Soule). Basque young men could not avoid becoming entangled in World War I when they were drafted to the front. While across the border Gipuzkoa and Biscay thrived on their shipbuilding and steel processing industry supplying

2436-562: The Basque provinces attending the Estates-General of 1789 and the following national assemblies in Paris rejected the imposition of an alien political-administrative design, regarding the events with a blend of disbelief and indignation. The brothers Garat, representatives of Labourd, defended against a hostile audience the specificity of their province and that of the Basques, putting forward instead

2520-618: The Basques. The 16th century was probably the most tragic for the inhabitants of the French Basque Country in its history. The recurring French-Spanish conflict between 1512 and 1659 and the French Wars of Religion that lasted 30 years sowed terror and misery. On the other hand, the accusations made in the Parliament of Bordeaux motivated Labourd in sending the councilor Pierre de Lancre . He burned around 200 women, children and priests by forcing them to confess through torture. Pierre de Lancre

2604-529: The Duchy of Gascony disappeared in the 11th century, and the Duchy of Normandy was divided into two military governments. In modern times, the "thirty-six governments" corresponded to the provinces on which all the fiefs and arrière-fiefs depended, providing territorial districts for defense and marshaling, the raising of men-at-arms, the construction of squares, arsenals and castles, judges-at-arms, and therefore also all questions of nobility, armorial bearings, etc. At

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2688-529: The Duchy was created, the Frankish kings Theuderic II and Theudebert II exercised better military control over the area, including better tax collection and judicial administration, placing Duke Genial at the forefront. Later, between 635 and 638, King Dagobert I set out on a campaign to repress the Vascon inhabitants that eventually led to their submission. In the 8th century, a second autonomous Duchy of Gascony

2772-484: The European war effort, continental Basques under the age of 49 were required to travel to the front in north-east France. From the beginning and as the slaughter of the trenches wore on, thousands of Basques objected to military service, defected and fled to the south or the Americas. However, war took a heavy toll; 6,000 died at the front, equivalent to 3% of the French Basque population. It also produced strengthened

2856-419: The French Revolution, France was made up of territorial divisions resulting from history, geography and settlement, which differed according to the different powers that were exercised there, with different categories such as metropolises, dioceses , duchies , baronies, governments, states, elections, generalities, intendances, parliaments, countries, bailliages, seneschaussées, etc. Each of these categories took

2940-398: The Pyrénées. Since 963, the town Saint-Sever has been referred to as caput vasconiae , interpreted as meaning "the limit of Vasconia" or "prominence of Vasconia" (on account of its location on a hill overlooking the plains of Vasconia). The evangelization of the territory that today comprises French Basque Country was slow and precarious. Beginning in the 9th century, and in part due to

3024-475: The Voynet Law (LOADDT) from 25 June 1999. These are based on the notion of a country in the traditional sense, as a society belonging to a place, culture, etc., promoting the organization and development of the territory in a global manner. The creation of an institution of greater substance than what was represented by the geographical organization of pays and more specifically of a Basque department, has been

3108-504: The Wise and Richard Lionheart agreed to divide the country, Labourd remaining under Angevin sovereignty and Lower Navarre under Navarrese control. All vacant land, forests, and waters under this Viscounty belonged to the King and everyone had the right to use them, whether they were nobles or not. Nobles did not have any feudal rights and justice rested solely in the hands of the King. The Biltzar,

3192-520: The area was eventually incorporated as part of the independent Duchy of Vasconia in 602, a mixed ethnic polity stretching south of the river Garonne that broke up during the 8th to 9th centuries, following the Carolingian expansion, the pressure of Norman raids, and introduction of feudalism. At this time, the County of Vasconia was created, extending around the river Adour . According to Iñaki Bazán, after

3276-564: The area was made an official pays of France named Pays Basque , i.e., a representative body promoting several activities, but without its own budget. Neither Basque nor any of the other regional languages in France, such as Catalan, Breton or Occitan, have official recognition in France. According to the second article of the French Constitution, "the language of the Republic is French", and, despite several attempts to add "with respect to

3360-592: The best-known of which are those of the Arverni , Aedui and Armoricans , formed a kind of province before Roman reorganization. The Gallic cities, with their territory and the name given to their chief town, became dioceses under the Lower Empire; their status as "mainmorte", having escaped the division of patrimonial domains, explains why they remained almost intact until the end of the Ancien Régime. These divisions were subsequently taken over and partly regrouped to form

3444-485: The capital of Soule . A slow but continuous French institutional evolution has been produced as a response to the historical claims of the French Basque Country. By an order from 29 January 1997 from the prefect of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques , a "Basque Country" was recognized as a pays , according to the French administrative category, in accordance with the laws called: the Pasqua Law (LOADT) from 4 February 1995, and

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3528-641: The coast, where the largest cities are located, the predominant language is French, for example, in the Bayonne-Anglet-Biarritz agglomeration, Basque is spoken by 10% of the population. However, in the rural interior of the Northern Basque Country, Basque is the predominant language, spoken by the majority of the population. French province Under the Ancien Régime , the Kingdom of France

3612-536: The coast, with Biarritz the most noteworthy case, in a colonie de peuplement type of settlement (Manex Goihenetxe, Eneko Bidegain). Upper-class tourism gained momentum from 1854 onwards ( Kanbo , Saint-Jean-de-Luz , Biarritz , Hendaye, etc.), as the high nobility (e.g., Eugénie de Montijo ) chose to take healing baths at spa resorts and sought to be closer to nature. In 1851, the first Lore Jokoak took place in Urruña (restored floral games tradition) organized by

3696-428: The concept of province with that of generality. The concepts do occasionally coincide, when the extent of a generality more or less overlaps that of an older territorial entity, but they are not synonymous. These are the fiefs that depend directly on the crown (duchies, counties and marches) and owe it military aid. In addition to the Duchy of France, which became part of the royal domain, the first six major fiefs have

3780-515: The course of four centuries of Roman control, the number of provinces increased from three to eleven, due to both the expansion of the empire and the reduction in size of the original provinces: 1st and 2nd Germania , 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Lugdunensis , 1st and 2nd Aquitanica , 1st and 2nd Belgica , 1st and 2nd Narbonensis , Novempopulanie , Sequanorum , Viennensis , Alpes Cottiarum , Alpes Maritimae , Alpes Graiae et Poeninae . These provinces were subdivided into cities (civitas or civitates in

3864-659: The creation of the First Coalition against revolutionary France. At first, French Basque Country stayed at the margins of the conflict, since Spain stayed neutral, but in 1793, France declared war on Spain . The political situation after the mass-deportation of civilians improved when General Moncey led the French to a counterattack in June 1794, expelling the Spanish, and even entering Gipuzkoa . Jacques Pinet and Jean-Baptiste Cavaignac went to Spain to manage conquered territory, courting

3948-524: The departmental division of France in 1789, with a few modifications: The most important city in the territory is Bayonne (French: Bayonne , in Gascon and Basque: Baiona ). The ancient Roman Lapurdum , from which the toponyms Labourd and Lapurdi originate, is a part of the Biarritz-Anglet-Bayonne agglomeration community (BAB) alongside Biarritz and Anglet (Basque: Angelu ),

4032-718: The end of the Hundred Years' War , Labourd and Soule passed to the Crown of France as autonomous provinces ( pays d'état ). After the conquest of Upper Navarre by Castile in 1512–21, the still independent north Pyrenean part of Navarre took the lead of the Huguenot party in the French Wars of Religion . In this time, the Bible was first translated into the Basque language . Eventually, Henry III of Navarre became King of France but kept Navarre as

4116-466: The end of the Ancien Régime, not counting overseas territories such as the French islands of America, Pondicherry, Mauritius or New France (a province from 1663 to 1763, when it was ceded to Great Britain and Spain), there were thirty-six regions with a governor in charge of defense, called governments. Each had its own nobility. Together with the regions attached to France since 1791, these thirty-six governments correspond to what are usually known today as

4200-483: The establishment circa 1864 of a flourishing espadrille industry in Mauleon that attracted workers from Roncal and Aragon too. Others took to smuggling, a rising source of revenue. The mid-1800s were years of decay and yearning for the time before the French Revolution . The Basques were divided into Republicans, laicist Jacobins (but for a nuanced position held by Xaho ), and Royalists (traditional Catholics), with

4284-594: The establishment of a Basque department. However, eventually the brothers Garat from Labourd voted for the new design out of hopes to get a say in future political decisions. In 1790, the Lower Pyrenees department project arrived, uniting the ancient Basque countries with Béarn . The reorganization favored the Bayonne bishopric that included the entire department (up to the Lescar and Oloron coasts that disappeared, and part of

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4368-619: The fall of the Roman Empire, the ancient province began to be referred to as Wasconia according to texts by Frankish chroniclers, mainly Gregory of Tours and the Chronicle of Fredegar from the 6th century, and was differentiated from the trans-Pyrenean territories that later chroniclers in the Ravenna Cosmography called Spanoguasconia . In the year 418, the Visigoths moved to

4452-514: The first printed text in Basque. With the conquest of the castles of Mauléon and Bayonne in 1449 and 1451 respectively, Labourd and Soule were under the domain of the French crown. When Henry III of Navarre took the French throne at the end of the 16th century (as Henry IV ), Lower Navarre was incorporated into the French Royal patrimony (becoming the King of France and Navarre). The three Basque provinces still enjoyed considerable autonomy until

4536-524: The generalités, then the départements, but replacing their former ethnic names (e.g. Poitou for the country of Pictons, Auvergne for the country of Arverni, Rouergue for the country of Ruteni , Périgord for country of Pétrocores, etc.) with a physical geographic name (giving respectively the départements of Vienne , Puy-de-Dôme , Aveyron , Dordogne , etc.). The Latin etymology of the term provincia gives us an idea of its original meaning: pro vincere , conquered in advance. Each of Gaul's Roman provinces had

4620-506: The independent commander of Vasconia, but got involved in the Carolingian dynastic wars over succession after taking over Bordeaux (844), supporting the young Pepin II to the throne of Aquitaine. He became Duke of Vasconia after submitting to Charles the Bald (851). At this point, the Basque language was losing ground to Vulgar Latin and written Latin and was increasingly confined to the lands around

4704-410: The last third of the 6th century. Venantius Fortunatus ' chronicles cite the clashes with the Frankish king Chilperic I and the comes from Bordeaux , Galactorio, up until 580, while Gregory of Tours wrote about the incursions Duke Austrobald faced in 587 after the defeat of Duke Bladastes in 574 at Soule . After the Basque rebellions against Roman feudalism in the late 4th and 5th centuries,

4788-613: The later territory around the Nive (Errobi) and the coast. In 1020, Gascony ceded its jurisdiction over Labourd , then also including Lower Navarre , to Sancho the Great of Pamplona . This monarch made it a Viscounty in 1023 with its capital in Bayonne, which gave vassals to the King and Queen of Navarre until 1193. The area became disputed by the Angevin Dukes of Aquitaine until 1191 when Sancho

4872-433: The latter eventually prevailing in the area. Shepherding and small-scale mining and agriculture were the main economic activities, and were accompanied by the increased presence of customs officials, both locals and non-Basques. The railway arrived at Hendaye in 1864 (Mauleon in 1880), increasing the flow of freight and people from outside the Basque Country, resulting in the growth of the non-Basque population especially on

4956-403: The merger of the Marxist French Workers' Party led by Jules Guesde and the Blanquist Socialist Revolutionary Party of Édouard Vaillant . Unlike the French Socialist Party of Jean Jaurès , it refused to support bourgeois governments and so to take part in the Bloc des gauches coalition. However, the two parties merged in 1905 under the pressure of the Second International into

5040-442: The most famous, such as Onésime Reclus , have widely criticised the idea of provinces and provincial identity, sometimes denying that the word covers any tangible reality. In fact, the many lists and maps showing the provinces of France are neither perfectly superimposable nor exactly comparable. The fact remains, however, that the names of many of the territorial subdivisions of the Ancien Régime refer to Gallic civitates . Before

5124-421: The most populated urban space in the territory. It is the political capital of its subprefecture and economic capital of the largest region, which includes the French Basque country and the south of Landes. Other important places are Saint-Jean-de-Luz (Basque: Donibane Lohizune ), Hendaye ( Hendaia ), Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port ( Donibane Garazi ), the capital of Lower Navarre, and Mauleón ( Maule ),

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5208-423: The name of a province, without covering the same geographical area. For example, the jurisdiction of the parlement d'Artois did not correspond to the same territory as the gouvernement d'Artois or the intendance d'Artois. The Constituent Assembly of 1789 , having abolished all the rights and customs specific to the different regions (also known as privileges, such as those of the classes, nobility and clergy) during

5292-483: The name of an ancient Gallic people, also given to the diocesan capital. Dioceses were made up of parishes , groups of inhabitants who could gather in the same church, whose names and boundaries have been preserved in the 36,000 French communes. Ecclesiastical districts, by virtue of their mainmortal status, are the oldest and most stable territorial circumscriptions, from late antiquity to the general reorganization of 1802. Today, these 130 or so districts are grouped into

5376-431: The north of what is now French Basque Country, these (toponyms) become more frequent: e.g., Loupiac and Gaillan. However, in the southeast of the territory, the less Romanized area, toponyms with Basque suffixes are abundant: -ousse , -ous -ost , and -oz , such as Biscarrosse and Almandoz, for example; some inscriptions have words similar to those in Basque on them. After the Germanic invasions that caused

5460-573: The notion in the Basque psyche that it is an integral part of the French nation, fostered by the above weekly Eskualduna on the grounds that "God champions France." During World War II , the French Basque Country was part of Occupied France and the coast was fortified as part of the Atlantic Wall . Over the last 200 years, the territory has shown a slow demographic rise: 126,493 (in 1801); 162,365 (1851); 226,749 (1979) (79% in Labourd, 13% in Lower Navarre, 8% in Soule); 259,850 (1990) (81%; 13%; 6% respectively); 262,000 (1999 census). On 29 January 1997

5544-406: The only existing assembly, was in charge of distributing taxes and charges, and its delegates were chosen by the etxeko-jaun of the parishes. Furthermore, parish assemblies that administered the collective goods of each parish existed. In 1215, Bayonne separated from Labourd, ruling from that moment on through its council. From the end of the 12th century until the French Revolution , Ustaritz

5628-412: The peregrination to Santiago de Compostela , a stable and long-lasting ecclesiastic organization was established in the region. The most important trails leading to Santiago pass through the region, and this greatly influenced the development of the trails and the villas in the territory up to the present day. The lands to the south of the Adour became Labourd, encompassing initially a bigger region than

5712-439: The plural), the number of which rose from 33 to 113. Metropolises are territories under the jurisdiction of a metropolitan archbishop , also known as provinces because they originate from the Roman provinces administered by the first bishops after the fall of the Roman Empire. They are made up of the dioceses which, by the same process, succeeded the ancient civitas or romanized Gallic cities, and which almost always retained

5796-427: The possibility of annexing it to France. After the fall of Robespierre , General Moncey forced the removal of Pinet and Cavaignac, who had managed to have a falling out with the Gipuzkoans. Due to this, they threw themselves into a desperate guerilla war, an antecedent to that of 1808. On July 22, the Treaty of Basel was signed and the conflict ended, giving rise to a period of relative peace and prosperity. It became

5880-402: The region in accordance with a federation pact or foedus made with Rome, but they were forced to leave in 507 as a consequence of their defeat against the Merovingians led by King Clovis I at the battle of Vouillé . After Clovis I's death in 511, the heirs to his throne consolidated their northern possessions centered on Neustria and Austrasia , placing them under the direct control of

5964-476: The regional languages that are part of our heritage" by 44 deputies in 2006, the proposal was rejected by 57 votes against and 44 in favor. Basques continue to practice many Basque cultural traditions. The town of Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle (Senpere, in Basque) is well known for its Herri Urrats celebration. According to a 2006 survey, 22.5% were bilinguals (French-Basque), 8.6% were French speakers who understand Basque, and 68.9% were not Basque speakers. But

6048-417: The results were very different in the three zones. In the inner land (Lower Navarre and Soule), 66.2% speak or understand Basque. In the coast (Labourd), the figure stands at 36.9%. And in the B.A.B. urban zone (Bayonne- Anglet-Biarritz), only 14.2% speak or understand Basque (20% of B.A.B. can speak or understand Gascon ). The proportion of French-Basque bilinguals fell from 26.4% in 1996 to 22.5% in 2006. On

6132-590: The return to the crown of a former fiefdom, such as the Duchy of Burgundy , which had been held by Hugues Capet's brother. Others, such as the Duchy of Savoy , Corsica , Comtat-Vénessin and the County of Nice , were acquired from the Empire or the Holy See. Unlike the ecclesiastical provinces, their extent varies over the course of history according to the possessions of their holders, or to political reorganizations. For example,

6216-418: The royal jurisdictions, baillages (bailiwicks) and seneschaussées (seneschalties) . They are made up of several countries , each corresponding to a general custom, or even a particular custom corresponding to former vici that have retained local customs. For example, the seneschalty of Quercy is made up of five secondary bailiwicks, corresponding to five former vigueries . Some authors attempt to equate

6300-526: The same territory. It's worth noting that the old Gallic states retained their names, their boundaries and a kind of moral existence in people's memories and affections until very recently. Neither the Romans, nor the Germans, nor feudalism, nor monarchy destroyed these enduring units; they can still be found in the provinces and countries of present-day France. Gaul was occupied by fifty-four main peoples and more than

6384-561: The sovereign, while the rest of their territories were organized into autonomous entities led by powerful officials of the kingdom: counts, dukes, patricians, and vice chancellors, in accordance with the Merovingian tradition of decentralizing power. In Wasconia and the Pyrenean periphery in Vasconum saltus , armed incursions and confrontations with Merovingian potentates were frequent during

6468-453: The title of peerage: Their holders were considered electors of the King of France, along with six other ecclesiastical peers: The number of grand fiefs varies with history (inheritances, confiscations, conquests, losses, treaties) and increases with the definitive attachment of the County of Provence , the Duchy of Anjou , the Duchy of Burgundy , the Duchy of Brittany , the Duchy of Lorraine , and so on. Some of these provinces were simply

6552-430: Was called "province" by their contemporaries. However, later interpretations confused the term of "general government" (a military division) with that of a cultural province, since the general governments often used the names and borders of a province. It was not always the case, which causes confusion as to the borders of some provinces. Today, the term "province" is used to name the resulting regional areas, which retain

6636-556: Was created. On 15 January 2005, the Euskal Herriko Laborantza Ganbara (Chamber of Agriculture for the Basque Country), was created as a house for the representation and promotion of the interests of livestock farmers and agriculturists of the French Basque Country, promoted by the agrarian union, Laborarien Batasuna . Initially, this institution wasn't recognised, and its function was illegal. Now, its function

6720-505: Was created. By the end of the 9th century, Guillermo Sanchez was named the duke of all Vascons. Some years later, Guy Geoffroy united the duchies of Vasconia and Aquitania (with the Poitiers county). During this period, northern Basques very likely participated in the successive battles of Roncevaux against the Franks, in 778, 812 and 824. Count Sans Sancion detached from the Franks and became

6804-661: Was inhabited by the Tarbelli and the Sibulates , tribal divisions of the Aquitani. When Caesar conquered Gaul , he found all the region south and west of the Garonne inhabited by a people known as the Aquitani , who were not Celtic and are nowadays assumed to have been early Basques (see Aquitanian language ). In early Roman times, the region was initially known as Aquitania , but by the end of

6888-512: Was responsible for the witch hunt in Labourd . He believed women had a sinful nature, and that they were so dangerous that one judge alone could not judge a woman because men are weak. He said that a tribunal made up of several men was necessary to do so. However, after overcoming the disasters suffered, a sort of renaissance was lived during the 17th century. Among other things, Rabelais published his Gargantua and Pantagruel , and Etxepare wrote

6972-558: Was subdivided in multiple different ways (judicial, military, ecclesiastical, etc.) into several administrative units, until the National Constituent Assembly adopted a more uniform division into departments ( départements ) and districts in late 1789. The provinces continued to exist administratively until 21 September 1791. The country was subdivided ecclesiastically into dioceses, judicially into généralités , militarily into general governments. None of these entities

7056-574: Was the capital of Labourd. Bayonne continued to be the economic hub of the area until the 19th century. However, above all, it was the port of Navarre that connected it to the North of Europe. Meanwhile, Soule ( Zuberoa ) was constituted as an independent viscounty, generally supported by Navarre against the pretensions of the Counts of Béarn , though at times also it admitted a certain Angevin overlordship. With

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