AQUITANIA. - A natural region of southwestern France, bounded by the Pyrenees, the Massif Central, and the Atlantic Ocean, originally inhabited by tribes of Iberian stock. Conquered by Caesar, in the administrative division of Augustus it embraced a larger territory, including Celtic tribes living between the Garonne and the Loire. In the time of Diocletian, Aquitania comprised three provinces: Novempopulana (Iberians), with Eauze as its capital; Aquitania Prima and Aquitania Secunda, with capitals Bourges and Bordeaux respectively.
Aachen – Choir of the Cathedral (14th century).
The various duchies that formed in Aquitania and their struggle against the kings of Neustria led, however, to the region falling under the rule of the Frankish kings through the victories of Charles Martel against the Saracens.
The Carolingians made it a kingdom more or less subject to the empire. The structures of ecclesiastical administration mirrored those of the Roman system, with few exceptions. In the 5th century the *civitas Boiarium* was absorbed by Bordeaux, which later became the seat of a primate. Bayonne was a bishopric in the 11th century (its origins likely date to the 8th or even 6th century), bringing the total number of bishoprics in that period to 25. Eauze disappeared in the 9th century. Under John XXII, in 1317, several bishoprics were divided, especially in the two northern provinces, raising their number to 33. In 1617 a new metropolitan see was established at Albi, with Rodez, Cahors, and Mende as its suffragans. The Napoleonic Concordat of the last century respected the old sees, annulling the creations of John XXII. The four metropolitan districts were also preserved, except for the case of Perpignan, which was annexed to Albi.