Independent-minded Basques in Spain would continue to agitate for more independence throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, feeling they had been unjustly stripped of their ancestral rights.
Before Christianity, the ancient Basques worshipped several pagan deities, but their most important God appears to have been a female earth deity called Mari.
By 1789, when the French Revolution broke out, the French government was reorganized under a heavily centralized system, and the French Basques ceased to be independent altogether.
A regional poll taken after the Catalonia referendum showed that more than 40% of Basque people want further self governance, but only around 20% actually want total independence.
After World War Two, the Basques were also an essential part of the Spanish Resistance to Dictator Franco, taking any opportunity they could to disrupt Spain's fascist government.
Compared to their neighbors across the border back in Spain, the French Basques seem more integrated into French culture. You hear the language less on this side of the border.
In France, the Basques were gradually integrated into French culture over the centuries, and they lost much of their character — in a way that the Spanish Basques did not.
Besides their language, we know a bit about ancient Basque people from ancient stories passed down for many generations and significant archaeological evidence recovered in the region.
Although they are situated in a desirable region of Europe, the Basque people, long sheltered by the lofty Pyrenees mountain range, have succeeded in protecting their ancient identity.
Although Charlemagne was a successful ruler (and he would end up controlling a large part of Europe), he was finally brought to a halt in the Pyrenees by the fearsome Spanish Basques.