Lupo II (died 778) is the third-attested historical

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 ...

(''dux Vasconum'' or ''princeps''), appearing in history for the first time in 769. His ancestry is subject to scholarly debate. In 769, a final rising of the Aquitanians against

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 Em ...

and Carloman was put down and the rebel, Hunald II, was forced to flee to the court of Lupo 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 ...

. Lupo had thitherto been his ally, lending him Gascon troops. Lupo, however, did not desire to bring down upon himself the wrath of the Frankish kings and handed Hunald, along with his wife, over to Charlemagne. He himself did homage for his province, recognising Charlemagne's

suzerainty Suzerainty () is the rights and obligations of a person, state or other polity who controls the foreign policy and relations of a tributary state, while allowing the tributary state to have internal autonomy. While the subordinate party is cal ...

. Lupo may have been a

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous c ...

, but perhaps a Frank or Roman (Aquitanian). The name Lupo ("wolf", ''otsoa'' in

) is a well-attested

totem A totem (from oj, ᑑᑌᒼ, italics=no or ''doodem'') is a spirit being, sacred object, or symbol that serves as an emblem of a group of people, such as a family, clan, lineage (anthropology), lineage, or tribe, such as in the Anishinaabe clan ...

ic first name and surname widely spread across the whole Basque ethnic area in the early Middle Ages. He may have been a royal appointment of Pepin III (in 768), but he may have been elected duke by the people. The extent of his territory is unknown. He may have ruled all of Aquitaine after 769, but that is not likely. His Gascony did border the Agenais and its northern border seems to have been the

Garonne The Garonne (, also , ; Occitan, Catalan, Basque, and es, Garona, ; la, Garumna or ) is a river of southwest France and northern Spain. It flows from the central Spanish Pyrenees to the Gironde estuary at the French port of Bordeaux – a ...

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture ...

was not under his control, but that of a separate line of

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 ...

-appointed

count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New Yor ...

s. His power may or may not have extended to the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to ...

, but the trans-Pyrenean Basques were also under Carolingian suzerainty, as seen by Einhard's reference to Basque ''perfidia'' (treachery) at Roncesvalles. This region may have been part of Lupo's realm. Lupo has nevertheless been implicated by some historians in the ambush of

Roland Roland (; frk, *Hrōþiland; lat-med, Hruodlandus or ''Rotholandus''; it, Orlando or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the ...

. He died probably in 778. His relationship to the previous dukes of Aquitaine-Vasconia and his successors is unclear. If he is to be regarded as related to subsequent Gascon dukes, which seems reasonable on the basis of patronymics, a genealogy can easily be constructed. He was the father of Sancho, Seguin, Centule and García (Garsand). All of his sons ruled Gascony at one time or another, except García, who died in battle with Berengar of Toulouse in 819.Collins, p 129. He may have had another son named Adalric, who was active in the reign of

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 ...

Notes

Sources

*Collins, Roger. ''The Basques''. Blackwell Publishing: London, 1990. * Einhard.
Vita Karoli Magni
'. Translated by Samuel Epes Turner. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1880. *Lewis, Archibald R.

'. University of Texas Press: Austin, 1965. *Lacarra, J. ''Vasconia medieval: Historia y Filología''. * Wallace-Hadrill, J. M., translator.
The Fourth Book of the Chronicle of Fredegar with its Continuations
'. Greenwood Press: Connecticut, 1960. *Estornés Lasa, Bernardo.
Auñamendi Encyclopedia: Ducado de Vasconia.
' * *''Annales Laurissense'', in Mon. Gen. Hist. Scriptores, I, 148. *"Astronomus",
Vita Hludovici imperatoris
', ed. G. Pertz, ch. 2, in Mon. Gen. Hist. Scriptores, II, 608. *Sedycias, João

*Monlezun, Jean Justin
''Histoire de la Gascogne''.
1864. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lupo II of Gascony 778 deaths Dukes of Gascony 8th-century Frankish people Year of birth unknown