From Novempopulania to Wasconia, between late Antiquity and early Middle Ages. ; De la novempopulanie à la wasconie entre antiquité tardive et haut moyen-âge.

The aim of this thesis is to study the transformations of southern Aquitania from Roman Novempopulana to Frankish Wasconia, between the 4th and 6th centuries. We seek to critically analyze the textual sources and certain previous historiographical constructions, sometimes a little hasty. In the 4th century, this territory was a peripheral province undergoing changes at every level. As elsewhere, it does not appear that ethnicity played a major role in its administrative reorganization, despite the possible late maintenance of a federal concilium. The Aquitano-Roman elite has played a structuring role, particularly in the countryside, where the embellishment of wealthy villae seems to indicate a reorganization in favour of the powerful. Perhaps, the same restructuring applies to towns, which were often reorganized voluntarily, with some fine urban domus (Lescar, Oloron). Moreover, southern Aquitania's defence seems to have been based on the towns' fortifications. As for the society's christianisation, it seems to have been relatively late. Even though it was not until the beginning of the 5th century that polytheism had quite begun to fade, the success of vigilantism and priscillianism has demonstrated the theological dynamism of christianity. While the arrival of the barbarians in 406-407 was probably not the apocalypse described by the clerics, it has led undoubtedly to higher levels of insecurity. The imposition of a new barbarian power (413/418-507) has also led to upheavals, despite elements of continuity. From 413, it seems that some members of the Aquitanian aristocracy, such as Paulinus of Pella, had sided with the Goths. In 418 or 419, Novempopulana was probably occupied, without validating the idea of a ‘Visigoth homeland'. In Novempopulana, as in the rest of the sors Gothica, while the romanization of the rulers was undeniable, the Visigoth people probably retained certain ethnic characteristics. For all that, Novempopulana must have been an in-between period during which, new and old elites had ...