County of Aragon

Carolingian rule

Originally intended to protect the central Pyrenean passes from the

In the first half of the 9th century, under the strong Carolingians, such as

Navarrese rule

In the later 9th century, the Carolingians ceased to be powerful sovereigns in the outlying regions of their empire and the Moors of the Ebro valley simultaneously ceased being a threat to the Christian population to their north. As Carolingian influence waned, the counts of Aragón sought new allies. In 820 Charlemagne's vassal, Count

The Navarrese also expanded their kingdom to the region south of the Aragón, a zone devastated militarily by the Arabs in the preceding centuries of conflict. The Navarrese fortification of this area severely curtailed the possibility of Aragonese expansion via reconquest by cutting off the obvious route of such conquest. The death of

During the century of direct Navarrese lordship, the diminutive county of Aragon retained a separate administration and its charters referred to it as the "land of the Aragonese lords", and counts were appointed by the kings, starting with the illegitimate son of the last autonomous count. In the 10th century the religious centre of the county moved south to

In 922, the Aragonese had finally secured their own bishopric. The old itinerant "bishops of Aragon" (sometimes called

Conversion into kingdom

List of counts

Notes