NovempopulaniaNovempopulania (Latin for "country of the nine peoples") was one of the provinces created by Diocletian (Roman emperor from 284 to 305) out of Gallia Aquitania, which was also called Aquitania Tertia. The area of Novempopulania was first named Aquitania, as it was where the Aquitani dwelt. The territory extended within the triangular area outlined by the River Garonne, the Pyrenees and the Bay of Biscay, as described by Julius Caesar in his Commentarii de Bello Gallico for Gallia Aquitania.
BiarritzBiarritz (UKbɪəˈrɪts,_ˈbɪərɪts , USˌbiːəˈrɪts,_ˈbiːərɪts , bjaʁits, bi.arits̻; Basque also Miarritze mi.arits̻e; Biàrritz ˈbjarits) is a city on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the French Basque Country in southwestern France. It is located from the border with Spain. It is a luxurious seaside tourist destination known for the Hôtel du Palais (originally built for the Empress Eugénie circa 1855), its casinos in front of the sea and its surfing culture.
Béarnese dialectBéarnese (endonym bearnés or biarnés) is the name given to the Gascon spoken in the Béarn. The usage of a specific name for Béarnese lies in the history of Béarn, a viscounty that became a sovereign principality under Gaston Fébus. From the middle of the 13th century until the French Revolution, Béarnese was the institutional language of this territory. The standardised orthography defined by the administrative and judicial acts was adopted outside the limits of Béarn, not only in a part of Gascony, but also in some Basque territories.
ParlementUnder the French Ancien Régime, a parlement (paʁləmɑ̃) was a provincial appellate court of the Kingdom of France. In 1789, France had 13 parlements, the oldest and most important of which was the Parlement of Paris. While both the modern French term parlement (for the legislature) and the English word parliament derive from this French term, the Ancien Régime parlements were not legislative bodies and the modern and ancient terminology are not interchangeable.
Battle of Roncevaux PassThe Battle of Roncevaux Pass (French and English spelling, Roncesvalles in Spanish, Orreaga in Basque) in 778 saw a large force of Basques ambush a part of Charlemagne's army in Roncevaux Pass, a high mountain pass in the Pyrenees on the present border between France and Spain, after his invasion of the Iberian Peninsula. The Basque attack was a retaliation for Charlemagne's destruction of the city walls of their capital, Pamplona. As the Franks retreated across the Pyrenees back to Francia, the rearguard of Frankish lords was cut off, stood its ground, and was wiped out.