Misplaced Pages

#604395

49-588: Their affiliation with the Vascones is disputable, as they inhabited an area in the high Aragon river valley (today's northwestern corner of Aragon ). Strabo mentions Iacetani in his Sertorius chronicles as people independent from the Vascones, although another Greek historian, Ptolemy identified them with the Vascones. According to some theories, they may have originated from the Aquitanians who crossed

98-482: A Basque hailing from present-day Gascony. Some decades later, in 824, a second battle of Roncevaux took place that led to the establishment of the Kingdom of Pamplona , founded with Eneko Arista as head of the new polity, presented by Arab sources as leader of the Vascones ( al-Baskunisi ). However, the 824 Carolingian expedition itself included two different columns made up of Frankish and Vascones (Gascons). After

147-482: A language that linguists identify as the precursor of the modern Basque language , sometimes referred to as Proto-Basque language or Aquitanian language . However, as pointed out by Henrike Knörr (1947-2008) the origin and kinship of the Basque language is still a mystery and an object of research. There are several theories about its origin; the Basque linguistic Koldo Mitxelena argues that an "in-situ" origin

196-620: A pre- Roman tribe settled in the north of the Iberian Peninsula , in what today is the western region of the Basque Country . Their historical territory corresponds with the current Basque area; however, it is not entirely clear whether the Varduli were actually Aquitanians , related to the Vascones , or Celtized tribes, related to Cantabri or Celtiberians which later underwent Basquisation . It seems probable

245-468: Is the most likely, and thus explains the current dialectical classification while other theories advocate for a proposed kinship between the Basque language and other language families, like the languages of the Caucasus or a relation between Basque and the extinct Iberian language . So far, possible connections between Basque and other languages have remained unproven. Another problem that arises in

294-519: The Basque language . However, research during last decades has called into question the possibility of an expansion northwards (J. J. Larrea). The inroad of the Vascones onto the plains of Aquitaine in 587 seems to be short-lived—they make their way back to the mountains—and archaeological findings in Eauze or Auch do not reveal instability or destruction during the alleged expanding period up to

343-528: The Caristii , not a single toponym related to the Aquitanian - Basque languages has been found, further supporting the theory of their Celtic origin and possible late Basquisation . However, apart from a few exceptions ( Deba , Zegama , Arakama ) present-day place-names show a clear prevalence of the Basque linguistic element (sometimes mixed with Latin/Romance lexical roots). The last reference to

392-513: The Iberian Peninsula . The Vascones are often considered ancestors of the present-day Basques to whom they left their name. The description of the territory which the Vascones inhabited during ancient times appears in texts of classical authors, between the 1st century BC and the 2nd century AD, such as Livy , Strabo , Pliny the Elder and Ptolemy . Although these texts have been studied as sources of reference, some authors have pointed out

441-515: The Pyrenees and composed a united society. The defeat of the Cantabri by Augustus did not have any effect on the Varduli, as they had not joined the wars. The Varduli served in cohorts in the invasion of Britannia : Varduli are mentioned in an inscription on a Roman altar at Rochester, (Roman Bremenium) and at Milecastle 19 along Hadrian's Wall , where an altar inscription made by members of

490-527: The Pyrenees and settled in the southern slopes of the mountains along with the Vascones (they could be related peoples or tribes with a common origin but not the same people). These mountain people were bordered to the south by the Suessetani of the plains, who were often looted by the inhabitants of Iaca. The Iacetani were defeated by the Romans in 195 BC when Cato the Elder took their capital with

539-635: The Pyrenees , neighbors of the Varduli and extended to the mountains of Oiarso and into the coasts of the Bay of Biscay , in an area he called Vasconum saltus . The Greek geographer Strabo , in the times of Augustus (63 BC – AD 14) refers to the Vascones (in Ancient Greek : Ούασκώνων ) placing their main city, or polis , in Pompaelo and as well Callagurris . Both cities, Kalágouris, one of

SECTION 10

#1732782370605

588-692: The Vardulii , the Caristii and the Autrigones , tribes who, later Roman sources, grouped under the name Varduli; this would explain later events in this region, for example, why, once the Caristii and Varduli were moved out of their original territories by the Vascones in the Early Middle Ages, these groups lost their names and were grouped together with the Varduli in the territory of

637-543: The 1st century BC was found in 2022. It is also believed that the Iberian language has left some traces on the Basque language, as with the Iberian term ili , adopted in Basque as hiri with the meaning of town or city, and present in the Vasconic name for the city of Pompaelo : "Iruña", as well as in other names of cities and towns. The epigraphic and archaeological testimonies have allowed experts to determine some of

686-459: The 9th century, the Vascones ( Wascones , Guascones ) come to be more closely identified in the records with the current territory of Gascony, at the time still a Basque-speaking territory but progressively being replaced by the new rising Romance language, Gascon . Several authors point out that prior to the Roman arrival and alike other peoples that inhabited the near region, the Vascones spoke

735-772: The Autrigones. The tribes took refuge in their coastal areas behind the mountains from the Islamic military depredations of the new powers down the Ebro in Al-andalus. Eventually, after a century of resettlement, this area, along with the Meseta plains, became a frontier march or county of the Kingdom of Asturias in the middle years of the 8th century, the original core of the territory which would become Castile. The union, whatever

784-451: The Basque depression ) published in 1972 expanded upon this hypothesis, relying on linguistic analysis: when invading the territories of what today is Biscay , Gipuzkoa and Álava displaced to Castile part of the Caristii , Varduli and Autrigones , who took refuge in the mountains; the ones who had not been displaced were " Basquized " , while perhaps the Caristii, Varduli and Autrigones already spoke languages similar or related to

833-951: The First Cohort of Varduli cavalrymen is one of the few dedications to the Matres , or mother goddesses , found in Roman Britain. The First Cohort of the Varduli are also mentioned in inscriptions at the Antonine Wall , Longovicium in Durham, Bremenium and Corstopitum in Northumberland and on the Dere Street in Cappuck in the Scottish Borders. As with the Caristii , it is not totally clear whether

882-657: The Pyrenees, in Aquitaine . Schulten interprets that by this time the Vascones had already retreated from their territories in Roman times and started occupying lands in the north, what in the future would make the Southern Basque Country and northern Navarre . Schulten also quotes the chronicle from Einhard , Vita Karoli Magni , dated in 810, where for the first time is used the term navarrese to define

931-669: The Roman frontier. This event happened shortly after Decimus Brutus defeated Domitius' fleet in the war against the Veneti and increased Caesar's reputation among the natives prompting the Iacetani to begin sending envoys and even agreed to supply him with corn. In 19 BC their territory was incorporated into the Roman Empire, in the aftermath of the Cantabrian Wars , as vassals of Rome . This meant that they did not enjoyed

980-593: The Varduli appears on a chronicle from Hydatius , in which he narrates the devastations that the Heruli suffered when, in the year 400, they attacked the Cantabrian coast and again in 456 after attacking Bardulia . Ad sedes propias redeuntes, Cantabriarum et Vardaliarum loca maritima crudelissime deproedatio sunt. Later in the next century, Saxons established on the Bordeaux estuary also were known to raid along

1029-573: The Varduli were an Aquitanian tribe or a Celtized one, related to the Cantabri and Celtiberians . Some of their Toponyms were clearly of Indo-European origin (probably in the Proto-Celtic language ), as Uxama (comes from Upsama , meaning "the highest"), Deobriga (comes from Deiuo-Briga , meaning "holy hill"), Tullonium (comes from Tullo , meaning "valley"), among others. Hydronyms , such as Deva ( Deua or Deba for "Goddess") were also considered of Indo-European etymology . As with

SECTION 20

#1732782370605

1078-508: The Vascones in a story about the foundation of the city of Victoriacum by the Visigoth king Liuvigild and Gregory of Tours (538–594) mentions the incursions of Wascones in Aquitaine during the year 587. From these extracts and being the neighboring tribes absent in the historiography, Adolf Schulten (1870–1960) proposed the theory according to which, at some point between the mid-2nd century and late 4th century, an enlargement of

1127-454: The apparent lack of uniformity and also the existence of contradictions within the texts, in particular with Strabo. The oldest document corresponds to Livy (59 BC – AD 17), who in a brief passage of his work about the 76 BC Sertorian War relates how after crossing the Ebro and the city of Calagurris Nasica , they crossed the flatlands of the Vascones, or Vasconum agrum until reaching

1176-517: The border of their immediate neighbors, the Berones . Comparing other sections of this same document, it is deduced that this border was located to the west, while the southern neighbors of the Vascones were the Celtiberians , with their city, Contrebia Leucade . Pliny the Elder , on his work Natural History , mentioned a text prior to 50 BC that located the Vascones at the western end of

1225-454: The city of Calagurris . During this period, after the time of Ptolemy and contemporary to the times of instability caused by the Germanic invasions , the documents about the Vascones and other tribes of the northern Iberian Peninsula are scarce, and as a result there is little information about the Vascones during this time. The chronicler John of Biclaro (c. 540 – after 621) mentions

1274-514: The coast. Some studies theorize that the Varduli underwent a late Basquisation process, as a result of the continuous presence of the Vascones on their territory. They are mentioned again in the Early Middle Ages in the area considered to be the precursors of the modern Basque province of Gipuzkoa . Other authors guessed, following Classical references, the existence of some degree of ethnic, cultural or political affinity between

1323-593: The full Roman citizenship status, and their situation was precarious when compared to other peoples of the region, such as the Sedetani . Vascones The Vascones were a pre- Roman tribe who, on the arrival of the Romans in the 1st century, inhabited a territory that spanned between the upper course of the Ebro river and the southern basin of the western Pyrenees , a region that coincides with present-day Navarre , western Aragon and northeastern La Rioja , in

1372-507: The garrisons) during the 4th and 5th centuries that have been linked by many historians to the Bagaudae rebellions against feudalization , but also to the depredations of migrating Germanic and Asian tribes—Vandals, Alans, Sueves, Visigoths, possibly Heruls—into Hispania. In AD 407 Vascon troops fought on the orders of Roman commanders Didimus and Verinianus , repelling an attack by Vandals , Alans and Suebi . In 409,

1421-474: The group shared the proto-Basque cultural-ethnic identity of the people of this region. Their ethnonym Varduli is connected with an area that is referred to in documents from the early Middle Ages as Bardulia , which is mentioned as the cradle of Old Castile , following the decline of the Navarrese Kingdom . Julio Caro Baroja , a Basque anthropologist and linguist asserted in his works that

1470-587: The interior; while Tritium Tuboricum , a little west of the Deba river ( Deva , Deua or Deba = Goddess), Menosca and Morogi or Morosgi , were on the Atlantic coast (on the south coast of the Bay of Biscay ). In 114 BC, Gaius Marius had a personal guard composed of Varduli people, (who were called Barduaioí ) as slaves in Rome . By the year 44, according to Pomponius Mela, the Varduli inhabited lands close to

1519-568: The introduction of writing among the Vascones in the 2nd century. Among them, the oldest are the numismatic evidence coming from both Vasconic mints and others located nearby. A great importance is given to a funerary stele found in the Hermitage of Santa Bárbara in Lerga , which was considered to be the oldest known written testimony of the Proto-Basque language until an inscription from

Iacetani - Misplaced Pages Continue

1568-470: The main cities of the ouáskones ,... This same region is crossed by the road that comes from Terrakon and goes to the ouáskones , in the border of the Ocean, to Pompélon and Oiáson, city built above the very same Ocean. This information is found again in the works of Ptolemy , who lived during the 1st and 2nd Century AD. In his book, Geōgraphikḕ Hyphḗgēsis , chapter 6, he relates the names of 15 cities inside

1617-553: The medieval name points to a much wider reality than Strabo's former tribal definition, this time encompassing all Basque-speaking tribes. The independent Vascones stabilised their first polity under the Merovingian Franks: the Duchy of Vasconia , whose borders to the south remained unclear. This duchy would eventually become Gascony . During the reincorporation of Vasconia into Francia after 769, Charlemagne destroyed

1666-506: The mid-7th century. Another theory suggests a contemporary identification made by the Goths and the Franks of the Vascones (the most dynamic tribe) with all Basque speaking, Basque-related, or non-Romanized tribes. Starting in the 7th century, historians differentiate between Spagnovasconia , located southwestern of the Pyrenees , inside the Iberian Peninsula and Guasconia , northwestern of

1715-457: The mountainous Saltus , where evidence of Roman civilization appears only in mining places, harbours, roads, and milestones, e.g. Oiasso . The territory was also important for Romans as a communication knot between northern Hispania and southwestern Gallia , who took good care to station detachments in different spots of the main communication lines. The Vasconian area presents indications of upheaval (burnt villas, an abundance of mints to pay

1764-703: The orders of Augustus . According to Pliny the Elder , the main Vardulian settlement was Tullonium , that was in the present-day Zadorra river basin, on a main Roman road from Virovesca (capital of the Autrigones ), to Pompaelo ( Pamplona or Iruña ) in Vasconian land. According to several authors in Classical antiquity , such as Ptolemy , Pliny the Elder and Pomponius Mela other Vardulian cities were Alba and Gebala (today's Gebara ), in

1813-560: The passage of the Germanic peoples and Sarmatians toward Hispania went unhindered. The Roman reaction to this invasion and unrest related to the Bagaudae was to give Gallia Aquitania and Hispania Tarraconensis to the Visigoths in return for their services as allies by treaty ( foederati ). The Visigoths soon managed to expel the Vandals to Africa. After chronicler Hydatius´s death in 469, no contemporary source exists reporting on

1862-525: The people living in the former territories of the Vascones near the Ebro . Unlike the Aquitanians or Cantabrians , the Vascones seemed to have negotiated their status in the Roman Empire . In the Sertorian War , Pompey established his headquarters in their territory, founding Pompaelo . Romanization was rather intense in the area known as Ager Vasconum (the Ebro valley) but limited in

1911-433: The religious practices that were present among the Vascones since the Roman arrival and the introduction of writing. According to research done on this topic, religious syncretism lasted until the 1st Century; from that moment onwards and until the adoption of Christianity between the 4th and 5th centuries, Roman mythology was predominant. Vasconic theonyms have been found on tombstones and altars, which further proves

1960-458: The social and political situation in the Vasconias , as put by himself. At the beginning of the fourth century, Calagurris is still cited as a Vascon town. During the fifth and sixth centuries, the gap between town and the rural milieu widened, with the former falling much in decay. Between 581-7, chronicles start to mention the Vascones again, this time hailing from the wilderness, as opposed to

2009-473: The study of the language of the Vascones is the lack of direct classic records regarding the language spoken by this people, with the exception of a vague description by Strabo and Pomponius Mela , or the description made by Julius Caesar on the language of the Aquitanians in his work Commentarii de Bello Gallico . The study of epigraphic documents has been of greater interest, as some of them date

Iacetani - Misplaced Pages Continue

2058-540: The support of the Suessetani , which distracted the Iacetanian army. Coins minted with the inscription "IACA" in northeastern Iberian script are coincident with their being mentioned by Strabo, dating between the 1st century BC and early in the 1st century AD. Julius Caesar cited the Iacetani as one of the tribes that changed allegiances to him alongside the Ausetani and Illurgavones during his campaign extending

2107-546: The syncretism between the pre-Christian Roman systems of beliefs and the Vasconic religions. Two altars have been found in Ujué , one dedicated to Lacubegi , identified as the God of the lower world and another one dedicated to Jupiter , although it has not been possible to date them. In Lerate and Barbarin two tombstones have been found, both dedicated to Stelaitse and dated in the 1st century. Varduli The Varduli were

2156-520: The term Varduli was not of Basque origin. The Varduli are mentioned for the first time during Roman times, by Strabo , who called them Bardyetai , and placed them on the Basque coast, between the Cantabri and Vascones ; they are also mentioned by the geographer Ptolemy , who placed them roughly in present-day Gipuzkoa , and by Roman historians, notably Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia , where he reported that Amanum Portus (Roman name: Flaviobriga ), present-day Castro Urdiales ,

2205-545: The territory of the Vascones took place, first in the west, occupying the lands of the Caristii , Varduli and Autrigones , and later in the north in Aquitaine . Schulten considers this to be the reason for the adoption of the name Gascony , which derives from Gascon , which comes from Vascon , and used to denominate a region that includes the present-day Northern Basque Country . Claudio Sánchez Albornoz , Spanish historian (1893–1984), on his work "Los vascones vasconizan la depresión vasca" ( The Vascones "basquize"

2254-463: The territory of the Vascones, besides Oiarso : Iturissa , Pompaelo , Bituris , Andelos , Nemanturissa , Curnonium , Iacca , Graccurris , Calagurris , Cascantum , Ercavica , Tarraga , Muscaria , Seguia and Alavona . The territory of the Vascones during the Roman republic and Roman empire corresponded with present-day Navarre , the northeast extreme of Gipuzkoa , and parts of La Rioja , Zaragoza and Huesca , including

2303-645: The towns, which remained attached to Roman culture or were under Germanic influence. By the seventh to eighth centuries, Vascones were not confined to their ancient boundaries, but covered a much larger territory, from Álava in the west to the Loire in the north. The island of Oléron , along with the Île de Ré , formed the Vacetae Insulae "Vacetian Islands" according to the Cosmographia , where Vaceti are Vascones by another name. The concept underlying

2352-521: The walls of Pamplona after a failed attempt to conquer Zaragoza, the Vascones annihilated his rearguard in the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778—referred as " wasconicam perfidiam " by Frankish chroniclers. Pamplona was later captured by the Cordovan emir 'Abd al-Rahman I (781), but taken over by the Franks in 806, who assigned its government to a pro-Frankish local Belasko ("al-Galashki"), probably

2401-399: Was a Varduli settlement. The Roman geographer Pomponius Mela located them also on the coast, but west of the Vascones and east of the Caristii . This lack of agreement about their exact position may have been caused by the continuous movement of the tribes of the northern Iberian Peninsula during events such as the Cantabrian Wars . The first census of the Varduli population took place under

#604395