Adalric was probably a
Basque lord in the late eighth century in
Gascony
Gascony (; french: Gascogne ; oc, Gasconha ; eu, Gaskoinia) was a province of the southwestern Kingdom of France that succeeded the Duchy of Gascony (602–1453). From the 17th century until the French Revolution (1789–1799), it was part ...
. He has been called a possible
Duke of Gascony
The Duchy of Gascony or Duchy of Vasconia ( eu, Baskoniako dukerria; oc, ducat de Gasconha; french: duché de Gascogne, duché de Vasconie) was a duchy located in present-day southwestern France and northeastern Spain, an area encompassing the m ...
by some scholars.
He was a possible son of
Lupo II of Gascony. After Lupo's death, Adalric controlled western Gascony including
Lower Navarre
Lower Navarre ( eu, Nafarroa Beherea/Baxenabarre; Gascon/Bearnese: ''Navarra Baisha''; french: Basse-Navarre ; es, Baja Navarra) is a traditional region of the present-day French ''département'' of Pyrénées-Atlantiques. It corresponds to the ...
,
Béarn
The Béarn (; ; oc, Bearn or ''Biarn''; eu, Bearno or ''Biarno''; or ''Bearnia'') is one of the traditional provinces of France, located in the Pyrenees mountains and in the plain at their feet, in southwest France. Along with the three B ...
, and
Bigorre
Bigorre ({{IPA-fr, biɡɔʁ; Gascon: ''Bigòrra'') is a region in southwest France, historically an independent county and later a French province, located in the upper watershed of the Adour, on the northern slopes of the Pyrenees, part of th ...
. His brother
Sancho controlled the east.
In 788, he captured
Chorso of Toulouse
Torson (known variously as ''Tercin'', ''Torso'', ''Chorso'', and ''Chorson'') was the first count (or duke) of Toulouse (778 – 789 or 790).
He is called ''Chorso dux Tholosanus'' by the so-called "Astronomer" in his ''Vita Hludovici'' ("L ...
and made him swear a humiliating oath, either to himself or to Lupo II. Upon this Chorso was released, but
Charlemagne
Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first E ...
dismissed him from his post. This incident gives rise to the notion that Adalric was in fact an independent Basque duke in Gascony, though others interpret him as a rival
Carolingian
The Carolingian dynasty (; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charlemagne, grandson of mayor Charles Martel and a descendant of the Arnulfing and Pippi ...
count.
According to the spurious
Charte d'Alaon
The Charte d'Alaon is a spurious and fraudulent charter purporting to provide a genealogy of the house of Odo the Great, Duke of Aquitaine (715 – 735). The 19th-century French historian Joseph-François Rabanis proved it to be a hoax fabric ...
, Adalric was captured by forces of Charlemagne and exiled to
Hispania
Hispania ( la, Hispānia , ; nearly identically pronounced in Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, and Italian) was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula and its provinces. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hi ...
, later being killed in battle.
[Monlezun, 309.] This charter also makes him the father of
Seguin I of Bordeaux and Centule. His relationships are, in fact, unknown.
Notes
Sources
*Collins, Roger. ''The Basques''. Blackwell Publishing: London, 1990.
*"Astronomus",
Vita Hludovici imperatoris', ed. G. Pertz, ch. 2, in Mon. Gen. Hist. Scriptores, II, 608.
*Monlezun, Jean Justin
''Histoire de la Gascogne''.1864.
8th-century Frankish people
Dukes of Gascony
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