Waiofar

In 751, according to the Chronicle of Moissac, Waiofar sacked the city of Narbonne (Narbonam depraedat), the centre of Islamic rule north of the Pyrenees, having been conquered by the Arabs in 720.[9] The Annals of Aniane and Chronicle of Moissac indicate that the Frankish army under Pepin began the conquest of southern Aquitaine immediately after the fall of Narbonne in 759, and by 760 Toulouse, Rodez (capital of the Rouergue) and Albi had fallen into their hands.Ignoring the latter's request for peace, Pepin invaded Berry and the Auvergne and ravaged "a large part of Aquitaine" (maximam partem Aquitaniae).[11] The Gascons (or Basques, Latin Vascones), whose presence the continuator of the Chronicle of Fredegar is otherwise scrupulous to record, were recruited from Gascony and served a professional core of Waiofar's army.[12] In the ensuing campaign, Burgundy was ravaged, but Pepin pushed the invaders back and took the fortresses of Bourbon, Chantelle and Clermont in the Auvergne, forcing Count Blandinus to surrender.[18] According to the continuator of Fredegar, Waiofar opposed Pepin "with a great army and many Vascones [Gascons] from across the Garonne, who in antiquity were called Vaceti [Basques]" in 765.[21] This final phase of the war was fought with increasing brutality, and the chroniclers record that Pepin burnt villas, despoiled vineyards and depopulated monasteries.[23] The final active phase of the war between the two (766–67) was fought mainly in the Périgord, the Angoumois and the Bordelais, all regions closer to Gascony, which if not ruled directly by Waiofar was either under his control or allied to him.The chroniclers record how Pepin destroyed fortresses and cities, castella and civitates, and so devastated the countryside that "there was no settler to work the land" (nullus colonus terram ad laborandam).[10] According to Adhemar of Chabannes, writing 250 years later, Pepin granted two villas to the canons of the abbey of Saint-Martial and the cathedral of Saint-Étienne at Limoges during his wars with Waiofar.