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

Duke of Gascony The Duchy of Gascony or Duchy of Vasconia was a duchy located in present-day southwestern France and northeastern Spain, an area encompassing the modern region of Gascony. The Duchy of Gascony, then known as ''Wasconia'', was originally a Franki ...

(''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 ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...

and Carloman was put down, and the rebel

Hunald II Hunald II, also spelled Hunold, Hunoald, Hunuald or Chunoald (French: ''Hunaud''), was the Duke of Aquitaine from 768 until 769. He was probably the son of Duke Waiofar, who was assassinated on the orders of King Pippin the Short in 768. He laid cl ...

was forced to flee to the court of Lupo in

Gascony Gascony (; ) 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 of the combined Province of Guyenne and Gascon ...

. 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 A suzerain (, from Old French "above" + "supreme, chief") is a person, state (polity)">state or polity who has supremacy and dominant influence over the foreign policy">polity.html" ;"title="state (polity)">state or polity">state (polity)">st ...

. Lupo may have been of

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 co ...

ethnicity but was perhaps

Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages, a group of Low Germanic languages also commonly referred to as "Frankish" varieties * Francia, a post-Roman ...

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

(Aquitanian). The name Lupo ("wolf", ''otsoa'' in

) is a well-attested

totem A totem (from 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 system. While the word ...

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 the Short (; ; ; – 24 September 768), was King of the Franks from 751 until his death in 768. He was the first Carolingian to become king. was the son of the Frankish prince Charles Martel and his wife Rotrude. Pepin's upbringing was dist ...

(in 768), or 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, though this is unlikely. His Gascony did border the

Agenais Agenais (), or Agenois (), was an ancient region that became a county (Old French: ''conté'' or ''cunté'') of France, south of Périgord.Mish, Frederick C., Editor in Chief. "Agenais". ''Webster's Dictionary#The Collegiate Dictionary, Webster's N ...

and its northern border seems to have been the

Garonne The Garonne ( , ; Catalan language, Catalan, Basque language, Basque and , ; or ) is a river that flows in southwest France and northern Spain. It flows from the central Spanish Pyrenees to the Gironde estuary at the French port of Bordeaux � ...

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

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 Charles Martel and his grandson Charlemagne, descendants of the Arnulfing and Pippinid c ...

-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 York: ...

s. Lupo's power may or may not have extended to the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees are a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. They extend nearly from their union with the Cantabrian Mountains to Cap de Creus on the Mediterranean coast, reaching a maximum elevation of at the peak of Aneto. ...

, but the trans-Pyrenean Basques were also under Carolingian suzerainty, as seen by

Einhard Einhard (also Eginhard or Einhart; ; 775 – 14 March 840) was a Franks, Frankish scholar and courtier. Einhard was a dedicated servant of Charlemagne and his son Louis the Pious; his main work is a biography of Charlemagne, the ''Vita Karoli M ...

's reference to Basque ''perfidia'' (treachery) at Roncesvalles. This region may have been part of Lupo's realm. Some historians have nevertheless implicated Lupo in the legendary ambush of

Roland Roland (; ; or ''Rotholandus''; 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 Matter of France. The historical Roland was mil ...

. Lupo probably died 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 also have had another son named Adalric, who was active in the reign of Chorso of Toulouse.

Notes

Sources

*Collins, Roger. ''The Basques''. Blackwell Publishing: London, 1990. *

.
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 nobility Year of birth unknown House of Gascony