The port of the Adour and the Nive at the foot of the Basque country: a Roman castrum with the bishop's cathedral, the viscounts' old castle, now the duke's, and a growing town of seamen and merchants.
Since Castile took San Sebastian and the Guipuzcoan coast in 1199-1200, Bayonne is also the only sea outlet that Navarre can count on. In 1200 the Adour does not yet reach the sea at Bayonne: its mouth lies to the north, at Capbreton, and ships come down a long channel behind the dunes (the present mouth was cut in 1578).
Who holds it
- Name
- Eleanor (John her heir), through the ducal prevot and castellan
- Title
- Lord of the city: the duke of Aquitaine
- Since
- 1177 (Richard took the city from the viscount of Labourd); viscomtal rights bought out in 1193
- Confidence
- high
English Wikipedia ('Bayonne', 'Labourd').
Lord in 1200
The duke, through his prevot and the castle; the bishop of Bayonne holds the cathedral quarter. The viscounts of Labourd lost the city in 1177 and sold their remaining rights in 1193, moving to Ustaritz.
Overlord
The duke of Aquitaine.
How things stand that morning
Ducal and quiet; its importance is rising with Navarre's loss of the coast.
Wealth
Port dues, shipping, the Navarrese transit trade.
Military
Castle, walls, ships.
Threats
- Castilian ambitions on the coast
- The shifting mouth of the Adour
Charter
A first charter from Duke William IX about 1125; a second from Richard about 1174-1175, which provoked a rising he put down. The commune with a mayor and the hundred peers comes only with John's charter of 1215.
Council
No mayor in 1200; the prevot governs with the leading townsmen.
Communities
Gascon and Basque townsmen; Navarrese traders.
Militia
Sailors and shipmasters; Bayonne ships serve the duke.
Walls and castle
Late Roman walls round the upper town; the old castle of the viscounts (now ducal); the Romanesque cathedral begun under Bishop Raymond of Martres (1122-1125) with the first wooden bridge over the Adour.
Trade and crafts
Shipping and shipbuilding; wine of the Adour valley and the Chalosse; salt; fish and whale products of the Basque coast; transit trade for Navarre and the pilgrim road.
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
In 1200
- 1200 or soon after (not pinned)Navarre, cut off from San Sebastian and Fuenterrabia, makes Bayonne its port by agreement with the town.Depends on: Sancho VII's return and John's consent. Stopped by: A quarrel between Navarre and the Angevins over Berengaria's dower.
Later, on the likely course
- 1215 (after the year)John grants the commune: a mayor and the hundred peers.Depends on: John's need for Bayonne's ships. Stopped by: Nothing in play.
Places of note
- Castle of Bayonne: Old viscomtal castle, ducal since 1177.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Charter dates from secondary accounts (about 1125, 1174-1175, 1215); the 'port of Navarre' treaty is dated only to '1200' and not pinned against 1 January.
On the map: Town and nearest parishes; the rest of Labourd is with the seneschal of Gascony.
Primary sources for Angevin lands
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- Chronicle of Alberic of Trois-Fontaines, Alberic of Trois-Fontaines (about 1227 to 1241, at the Cistercian abbey of Trois-Fontaines in Champagne). The widest net of any Latin chronicle for 1200, compiled from dozens of sources, many now lost. Read online
- Chronicles of Saint-Martial of Limoges, Bernard Itier and other monks of Saint-Martial; Geoffrey of Vigeois for the earlier chronicle (Geoffrey's chronicle to 1184; Bernard Itier's notes about 1195 to 1225). Bernard Itier, librarian of Saint-Martial, kept dated notes through 1200 of what reached Limoges: Richard's death at Chalus in 1199, the viscounts of Limoges and the lords of the Limousin, John's passage through Aquitaine in 1200 and the affairs of Angouleme and the Lusignans, and the abbey's own elections and prices. Read online
- Chronicles of the Churches of Anjou (Saint-Aubin, Saint-Serge, Saint-Florent and others), Various (monks of Angers and the Loire) (11th to 13th centuries; the Saint-Aubin annals run to the 1220s). The Angevin houses' own annals of the succession crisis in their city: Arthur received at Angers in 1199 with Constance and the Breton and Angevin barons, John's counter-moves, the defection of William des Roches and the Angevin lords to John, and the peace of 1200 that left Arthur John's vassal. Read online
- The Great Chronicle of Tours, Anonymous (a canon of Saint-Martin of Tours) (about 1227). The Loire valley's view of the Angevin succession. Read online
- Universal Chronicle of the Anonymous of Laon, Anonymous (an English-born canon of Laon) (about 1219). A Picard chronicle whose author had lived in England and keeps an eye on both kingdoms. Read online
- Chronicle of Roger of Howden, Roger of Howden (about 1192 to 1201). The fullest single narrative for the year. Read online
- Chronicle; Deeds of the Kings, Gervase of Canterbury (Chronica about 1188 to 1199; Gesta Regum about 1199 to 1210). The Chronica stops in 1199, so for 1200 the witness is the briefer Gesta Regum, which notes John's peace with Philip, the coronation of Isabella at Westminster on 8 October 1200, and matters touching Canterbury: the archbishop Hubert Walter as chancellor, the cathedral priory's quarrel with him, and the Lambeth college dispute lately settled by the pope. Read online
- English Chronicle of Ralph of Coggeshall, Ralph of Coggeshall (about 1200 to 1224, in stages). Short but independent entries for 1200 from a Cistercian house in Essex: John's levy on the Cistercians and the carucage, the peace with Philip, the king's new marriage and the queen's coronation, and the death of Hugh of Lincoln. Read online
14 more in the sources library for France and Iberia.
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.