272 THE HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL EUROPE guage, the Provencal, was more like Latin than French in its sounds and more closely related to the Catalan of northern Spain. These southern districts retained more Roman influence, especially more Roman law; more town life had survived, and so cial classes were less sharplyjdis- tinguished than in the north . The population was more Gallo- Roman and more of the Mediterranean racial type. The Frankish kings had seldom visited this region except on warlike expeditions and plundering raids. Much of the country was mountainous highland intersected by ravines and water torrents, a topography more suited to the exist- ence of many small lordships than to unified government and large states. The south, however, divided into three chief regions: the County of Toulouse or Languedoc, a Mediterranean Toulouse or l an d stretching from the Rhone to the Pyrenees Languedoc, anc j s hut off from the north by the mountain (jasconv and barrier of the massif central, and the most south- Aquitaine ern in spirit of all . the Duc h y Q f Gascony , extend- ing from the Pyrenees north to the river Garonne ; and the Duchy of Aquitaine, reaching from the central plateau to the Bay of Biscay. The Counts of Toulouse first gave them- selves the title, "Marquis of Gothia" and later "Duke of Narbonne," but we know almost nothing of their history in the eleventh century. During the first half of the twelfth century they displayed considerable political ability and activity, and were influential in Spain as arbitrators be- tween rival kings there. Gascony got its name from the Vascones, or modern Basques, who invaded from Spain in the sixth century, although their peculiar language and blood have never prevailed except in a very limited section of Gascony. Duke William VIII of Aquitaine (1058-1086) conquered Gascony and added it to his duchy. Aquitaine was the largest feudal state in France, and had the greatest geographical and linguistic diversity in its different parts such as Poitou, Perigord, Limousin, and Auvergne; and the duke found it hard to control his many powerful vassals. The ducal coronation ceremony was almost royal in its
