force of local levies complemented by some Gascon soldiers taken from the garrison of Clermont. Between 763 and 766, Waiofar withdrew his garrisons from the cities (civitates) of Poitiers, Limoges, Saintes, Périgueux and Angoulême. Most of these fortifications were restored after the cities were occupied by Pepin's forces. Archibald Lewis believes it was Pepin who destroyed the walls after he had conquered the cities if he judged he could not hold them. His interpretation is contradicted by Bernard Bachrach, who believes it was Waiofar who, before abandoning his cities, destroyed their defences and walls to prevent Pepin from using them against him. This final phase of the war was fought with increasing brutality, and the chroniclers record that Pepin burnt villas, despoiled vineyards and depopulated monasteries. During this period (763–66) the fortress of Berry was held by a Frankish garrison. Loss of power and death By 766 most of Waiofar's followers had abandoned him, but the war over Aquitaine did not end even with his death, shortly before Pepin's own, in 768. The final active phase of the war between the two (766–67) was fought mainly in the Périgord, the Angoumois and the Bordelais, all regions closer to Gascony, which if not ruled directly by Waiofar was either under his control or allied to him. The chroniclers record how Pepin destroyed fortresses and cities, castella and civitates, and so devastated the countryside that "there was no settler to work the land" (nullus colonus terram ad laborandam). Around this time, Pepin defeated the Gascons in pitched battle. In 768, the erstwhile count of Bourges, Blandinus, submitted to Pepin. Most of Waiofar's family was captured and executed in the forest of Périgord. Waiofar himself was assassinated by his own men, allegedly at Pepin's instigation, on 2 June. A kinsman, perhaps his son, Hunald II, succeeded to his claims on Aquitaine and continued to fight against Pepin's successor, Charles. Rule in Aquitaine There is one charter issued by Waiofar preserved in the cartulary of the basilica of Saint-Julien at Brioude. Styling himself and his predecessor, Hunald, "princes" (principes), Waiofar granted a villa to one Gedeon as a precarium for life in exchange for another villa and two pounds of silver. The charter was drawn up around 756–57 ("in the month of September in the 12th year of lord Waifarius, prince") in the Limagne ("in pago limanico"). Waiofar may have been copying the policy