The Battle of Orreaga

A most striking testimony to the Basque people's ability to act together to inflict military humiliation on the forces of their powerful neighbors and conquerors comes in their massacre of the rearguard of Charlemagne's powerful army in the pass of Orreaga (Roncevalles/Roncesvaux) in the summer of 778, the only major defeat suffered by the Frankish ruler in the course of a long career of campaigning and conquest.