The "Vascones" were a people of the southwestern Pyrenees in the Roman period, but by the end of the 6th century, the Vascones defined a confederacy of native tribes with similar language and traditions on both sides of the Pyrenees who had not been culturally Romanized. Around 580, both the Visigothic kingdom and the kingdom of the Franks launched major campaigns against the Basques. In 587 Basques are cited as raiding the plains of Aquitaine, maybe to the west of Toulouse. Chilperic I sent his duke Bladastes stationed in Toulouse, but was defeated. After taking the throne, Leovigild launched a series of military campaigns around the Iberian Peninsula, taking control from the Basques (""partes Vasconiae"") in the upper reaches of the Ebro (present-day Álava, possibly up to the north of Castile), and founded a fortress called Victoriacum (dubiously Vitoria-Gasteiz, possibly Iruña-Veleia).