- Aeghyna
Aighyna, Aeghyna, Aegyna, Aigino, or Aichina, probably a Saxon, was the
duke of Gascony ("Vasconia") from 626 or 627 to his death in 638. He succeededGenial . The chief source for his reign is Fredegar.He probably hailed from the
Bessin , which contained many Saxon colonies at the time. He was mentioned as a Saxon "dux " in 626. [Fredegar , 4.54, p 66.] He repressed the intrigues of the bishops Palladius and Sidocus ofEauze , exiling them for inciting Basque revolts, and even ordered the assassination of one ofCharibert II 's councillors in the palace atClichy . [Higounet, p 20. The author puts Aeghyna's capital atBordeaux , outside of Charibert's realm.]In 635, he took part in the great Frankish expedition against the Basques, which involved ten
Burgundian "duces" and ten columns. [Collins, p 96.] Aeghyna was reinstated after this. [Ibid. This implies that the Basque revolt which precipitated Dagobert's action unseated Aeghyna from power.] He was certainly the duke of the Basques ("Vascones ") in 636, when he is recorded as conducting the Basque chiefs ("seniores") who submitted toDagobert I at Clichy. [Fredegar, 4.78, p 67.] Though he is certainly not of Basque stock, whether he acted as a tribal leader with only tenuous ties to the Frankish monarchy or as the Frankish client duke of a vassal people is unknown.Notes
ources
*Collins, Roger. "The Basques". Blackwell Publishing: London, 1990.
*Wallace-Hadrill, J. M., translator. " [http://www.bu.edu/english/levine/grch4+5.htm The Fourth Book of the Chronicle of Fredegar with its Continuations] ". Greenwood Press: Connecticut, 1960.
*Lewis, Archibald R. " [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0038-7134%28197607%2951%3A3%3C381%3ATDITRF%3E2.0.CO%3B2-8 The Dukes in the Regnum Francorum, A.D. 550-751.] " "Speculum", Vol. 51, No. 3. (Jul., 1976), pp. 381-410.
* [http://www.euskomedia.org/aunamendi/38128 Auñamendi Encyclopedia: Ducado de Vasconia] .
* [http://books.google.com/books/pdf/Histoire_de_la_Gascogne.pdf?id=sHW_kCR87l8C&output=pdf&sig=KDJUp8tgj00AvnNhQuhkFl1Daow Monlezun, Jean Justin. "Histoire de la Gascogne". 1846.]
*Higounet, Charles. "Bordeaux pendant le haut moyen age". Bordeaux, 1963.
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