A southwestern French region tied to Aquitaine, English-French rivalry, and noble families such as the Albret.
Gascony was a southwestern French region forming part of the Duchy of Aquitaine and a core territory of English Angevin and Plantagenet rule in France. English dukes of Aquitaine controlled Gascony continuously from the twelfth century until 1453, making it the most durable English continental possession of the high and late medieval period.
Gascon nobles and mercenary captains played significant roles in English military campaigns throughout the Hundred Years' War. The Black Prince governed from Bordeaux and used Gascon levies extensively in his campaigns. Gascony's wine export trade — the Bordeaux wine trade — was one of the most economically important commercial relationships between England and France in the medieval period.
The final French conquest of Gascony at the Battle of Castillon in 1453, where John Talbot was killed, ended English continental rule and the Hundred Years' War.