790eko Baskoien zapalkuntza: Hurbilpen Historiko Zirkunstantziala

Laburpena

Akitaniako gerrak (760-768) Baskoniaren atarian jarri zituen Karlomagno eta frankoen frontea: Garonaren ertzean. Gerra amaieran, agintari frankoek bake-hitzarmen batzuk egin zituzten Garonaz hegoaldeko euskaldunekin, tartean zela Lupo I.a dukea. Hitzarmen horiek, baina, laster erakutsi zuten oinarri ahulak zituztela. 778ko Karlomagnoren Pirinioetako porrotaren lorratzean, Vita Hludovici da agiri bakarra Adalaricen inguruko 789-790. urteko gertaeren eta baskoien zapalkuntzaren berri aipatzen, ‘indarkeriaz eta abileziaz’ egindakoa. Gilen Gelonekoa Karlomagnoren lehengusua agertzen da oinperatze horren egile; urte horretatik aurrera, Baskoniaren mugetara heldu berri horrek karolingiarren hegoaldeko politika oldarkor eta eraginkorrago bati ekin zion Tolosa-Garona erdigune hartuta eta Pirinioetan barrena, mendi lerro horretaraino baskoiak hamarkadetan obedientziara behartu zituena.

790eko zapalkuntzaren iturri bakarra, baina, xehetasunetan motza eta zuhurra da, agiri karolingiar garaikideak bezala, literatura latinoko brevitasari atxikia. Ikerketa honetan, karolingiar kroniken azterketa labur batek, Gilenen inguruko narrazioak eta une horretako gerra praktikek, bereziki garai bereko saxoien gerretan, hurbilpen argigarri bat ematen digute 790eko gertaeraz eta horren ondorio zuzenez.

The War of Aquitaine (760-768) brought Charlemagne and the Frankish frontline over to the gates of Vasconia at the Garonne River. They concluded war-ending treaties with the Basques inhabiting to the south of the river, namely with duke Lupus II. However, those treaties showed shaky foundations. Following Charlemagne’s defeat at the Pyrenees in 778, Vita Hludovici is the only source providing a summary narration briefly referring to some events featuring Adeleric in 789-790, and to the ensuing suppression of the Basques achieved by ‘force and cunning’. Charlemagne’s cousin William of Gellone conducted the crackdown, with the newcomer setting about since 790 a shift in policies towards a more aggressive and effective Carolingian penetration based in Toulouse and over the Pyrenees, so bringing to heel the Basques up to the mountain range for decades.

The only source accounting for the 790 suppression is short and cautious on details, like its contemporary Carolingian chronicles, clinging to the signature brevitas of early mediaeval Latin literature. This research attempts to shed some light over the 790 circumstances and their direct consequences by scrutinizing related Carolingian chronicles, narrations on William, as well as war practices followed during the period in like contexts, especially in the Saxon wars.