The Duchy of Aquitaine was a duchy in southwestern France which existed from 602 to 1453. Named for the Roman province of Gallia Aquitania, the duchy was created by the Merovingian dynasty, and it was a quasi-independent and powerful realm until Waifer of Aquitaine's uprising was crushed by Charlemagne in 768 AD. On Charlemagne's death in 814, Aquitaine passed into the hands of Louis the Pious' son Pepin, and, after Pepin's death in 838, it passed into the hands of Charles the Bald. In 866, Louis the Stammerer became King of Aquitaine, and, when Louis became King of West Francia in 877, Aquitaine merged into France. In 893, the duchy was revived, and it later fused with the Duchy of Gascony. By 1153, Aquitaine had passed into English control as part of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine's "Angevin Empire". In 1337, King Philip VI of France attempted to confiscate Aquitaine from King Edward III of England, leading to the outbreak of the Hundred Years' War. In 1453, the French conquered Aquitaine after the Battle of Castillon, ending its autonomy.
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