Bayonne

Bayonne is a city in southwestern France near the Spanish border. It is a commune and one of two subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region also known as French Basque Country.
Bayonne is located at the confluence of the Nive and Adour Rivers, in the northern part of the cultural region of the Basque Country. It is the seat of the Communauté d'agglomération du Pays Basque which roughly encompasses the western half of Pyrénées-Atlantiques, including the coastal city of Biarritz. The area also constitutes the southern part of Gascony, where the Aquitaine Basin joins the beginning of the Pre-Pyrenees.
Together with nearby Anglet, Biarritz, Saint-Jean-de-Luz and several smaller communes, Bayonne forms an urban area with 273,137 inhabitants in the 2018 census, 51,411 of whom lived in the commune of Bayonne proper. It is also a part of Basque Eurocity Bayonne-San Sebastián.
The site on the left bank of the Nive and the Adour was probably occupied before ancient times; a fortified enclosure was attested to in the 1st century, while the Tarbelli occupied the territory. Archaeological studies have confirmed the presence of a Roman castrum in the 4th and 5th centuries.
In 1023, Bayonne was the capital of Labourd. In the 12th century, it extended to the confluence of the Nive River and beyond. During that time, its first bridge spanning the Adour was built. The city came under English control in 1152 through the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine; it became important commercially and, to a lesser degree, militarily thanks to maritime trade. In 1177, Richard the Lion Heart of England took control of the city, separating it from the Viscount of Labourd.
In 1451, the city was taken by the Crown of France after the Hundred Years' War. The loss of trade with the English was followed by the river gradually filling with silt and becoming impassable to ships. As the city developed to the north, its position was weakened compared to earlier times. The district of Saint-Esprit developed initially from settlement by Sephardic Jewish refugees fleeing the Spanish expulsions dictated by the Alhambra Decree. This community brought skill in chocolate making, and Bayonne gained a reputation for chocolate.
The course of the Adour was changed in 1578 by dredging under the direction of Louis de Foix, and the river returned to its former mouth. Bayonne flourished after regaining the maritime trade that it had lost for more than a hundred years. In the 17th century, the city was fortified by Vauban, whose works were followed as models of defense for 100 years. In 1814, Bayonne and its surroundings were the scene of fighting between the Napoleonic troops and the Spanish-Anglo-Portuguese coalition led by the Duke of Wellington. It was the last time the city was under siege.
In 1951, the Lacq gas field was discovered in the region; most of its extracted oil and sulphur are shipped from the port of Bayonne. During the second half of the 20th century, many housing estates were built, forming new districts on the periphery. The city developed to form a conurbation with Anglet and Biarritz; the agglomeration became the heart of a vast Basque-Landes urban area.
In 2014, Bayonne was a commune with more than 45,000 inhabitants, the heart of the urban area of Bayonne and of the Agglomeration Côte Basque-Adour. This includes Anglet and Biarritz. It is an important part of the Basque Bayonne-San Sebastián Eurocity and it plays the role of economic capital of the Adour basin. Modern industries—metallurgy and chemicals—have been established to take advantage of procurement opportunities and sea shipments through the harbour. Business services today represent the largest source of employment. Bayonne is also a cultural capital, a city with strong Basque and Gascon influences, and a rich historical past. Its heritage is expressed in its architecture, the diversity of collections in museums, its gastronomic specialties, and traditional events such as the noted Fêtes de Bayonne.
The inhabitants of the commune are known as Bayonnais or Bayonnaises.

Toponymy

Etymology

While the modern Basque spelling is Baiona and the same in Gascon Occitan, "the name Bayonne poses a number of problems both historical and linguistic which have still not been clarified". There are different interpretations of its meaning.
The termination -onne in Bayonne can come from many in hydronyms -onne or toponyms derived from that. In certain cases the element -onne follows an Indo-European theme: *ud-r/n hence *udnā meaning "water" giving unna then onno in the glossary of Vienne. Unna therefore would refer to the Adour. This toponymic type evoking a river traversing a locality is common. The appellative unna seems to be found in the name of the Garonne. However, it is possible to see a pre-Celtic suffix -ona in the name of the Charente or the Charentonne.
It could also be an augmentative Gascon from the original Latin radical Baia- with the suffix -ona in the sense of "vast expanse of water" or a name derived from the Basque bai meaning "river" and ona meaning "good", hence "good river".
The proposal by Eugene Goyheneche repeated by Manex Goyhenetche and supported by Jean-Baptiste Orpustan is bai una, "the place of the river" or bai ona "hill by the river"—Ibai means "river" in Basque and muinoa means "hill".
"It has perhaps been lost from sight that many urban place names in France, from north to south, came from the element Bay- or Bayon- such as: Bayons, Bayonville, Bayonvillers and pose the unusual problem of whether they are Basque or Gascon" adds Pierre Hourmat. However, the most ancient form of Bayonne: Baiona, clearly indicates a feminine or a theme of -a whereas this is not the case for Béon or Bayon. In addition, the Bayon- in Bayonville or Bayonvillers in northern France is clearly the personal Germanic name Baio.

Old attestations

The names of the Basque province of Labourd and the locality of Bayonne have been attested from an early period with the place name Bayonne appearing in the Latin form Lapurdum after a period during which the two names could in turn designate a Viscounty or Bishopric.
Labourd and Bayonne were synonymous and used interchangeably until the 12th century before being differentiated: Labord for the province and Bayonne for the city. The attribution of Bayonne as Civitas Boatium, a place mentioned in the Antonine Itinerary and by Paul Raymond in his 1863 dictionary, has been abandoned. The city of the Boïates may possibly be La Teste-de-Buch but is certainly not Bayonne.
The following table details the origins of Labord, Bayonne, and other names in the commune.

Name	Spelling	Date	Source	Page	Origin	Description
Bayonne	Tribunus cohortis Novempopulanoe: Lapurdo		Raymond	24	Notary of Provinces	City
	In provincia Novempopulana tribunus cohortis Novempopulanæ in Lapurdo	fifth century	Goyheneche	85–92
	Lapurdum	sixth century	Raymond	24	Gregory of Tours
	Episcopatus Lasburdensis	983	Raymond	88	Chapter
	Sancta Maria Lasburdensis	983	Raymond	24	Chapter
	Sancta Maria Baionensis	1105	Raymond	24	Cartulary
	civitas de Baiona	1140	Raymond	24	Cartulary
	Baione	13th century	Raymond	24	Duchesne
	Bayona	1248	Raymond	24	Camara
	Bayone	1253	Raymond	24	Camara
	Baionne	14th century	Guiart
	Bayonne	1750	Cassini 1750
	Bayonne	1790	Cassini 1790
	Baiona	19th century	Lhande

Balichon	Molendinum de la Mufala, Balaisson	1198	Raymond	24	Cartulary	Old mill
	Balaichon	1259	Raymond	24	Cartulary
	Molin de le Muhale	1259	Raymond	24	Cartulary
	Molin de la Muffale	1259	Raymond	24	Cartulary
	lo pont de Belaischon	1259	Raymond	24	Cartulary
	Baleyson	1331	Raymond	20	Gascon roles
	Baleychoun	1334	Raymond	20	Gascon roles

Bénac	Bénac	1863	Raymond	27		Farm

Bouroutchourry	Bouroutchourry	1863	Raymond	35		Farm

Glain	Fons de Coquoanhea	1387	Raymond	72	Chapter	Farm
	Camps	17th century	Raymond	72	Archives of Bayonne

Jean-d'Amou	Jean-d'Amou	1863	Raymond	85		Hamlet

Lachepaillet	Lo portau de Lachepailhet	1516	Raymond	88	Chapter	District; it was once the name of one of the city gates which was previously called the Portail de Tarride.

Largenté	Largenté	1863	Raymond	94		Farm

Les Lauriers	Les Lauriers	1863	Raymond	97		Hamlet

Lesperon	L'Esperon	1246	Raymond	100	Cartulary	Farm at Saint-Esprit

Les Murailles	Les Murailles	1863	Raymond	120		Farm

Panecau	Port de Bertaco	13th century	Raymond	131	Cartulary	Bridge

Pé-de-Navarre	Pé-de-Navarre	1863	Raymond	133		Farm

Château Weymann	Château Weymann	1863	Raymond	175		Château

Sources:

Raymond: , 1863, on the page numbers indicated in the table.
Goyheneche: according to the Notitia Dignitatum Imperii dating from 340 to 420
Guiart: Guillaume Guiart, around 1864
Lhande: Basque-French Dictionary by Pierre Lhande, 1926.
Cassini 1750: 1750 Cassini Map
Cassini 1790: 1790 Cassini Map

Origins:

Chapter: Titles of the Chapter of Bayonne
Cartulary: Cartulary of Bayonne or Livre d'Or
Camara: Chapters of the Camara de Comptos.