Spanish March
The Spanish March or Hispanic March
In its broader meaning, Spanish March sometimes refers to a group of early Iberian and trans-Pyrenean lordships or counts coming under Frankish rule. As time passed, these lordships merged or gained independence from Frankish imperial rule.[2]
Geographical context
The area broadly corresponds to the eastern regions between the Pyrenees and the Ebro. The local population of the March was diverse. It included Basques in its northwestern valleys, the Jews of Occitania,[3] and a large Occitano-Romance-speaking Gallo-Roman population (Occitans and Catalans) governed by the Visigothic Code, all of them under the influence of al-Andalus since their lords had vowed allegiance to Córdoban rulers until King Pepin the Short of Francia conquered Septimania in 759.
The Pyrenean valleys started to switch loyalties after 785 (Girona, Ribagorza, etc.) with the construction and garrisoning by counts loyal to the Carolingian dynasty of new outposts and fortresses on bordering areas.
The territory changed with the fortunes of the Empires and the feudal ambitions of those, whether
Counties that at various times formed part of the March included Ribagorza (initially including Pallars), Urgell, Cerdanya, Peralada, Empúries, Besalú, Osona, Barcelona, Girona ("March of Hispania") and Conflent, Roussillon, Vallespir and Fenouillet ("March of Gothia").
The nominal boundaries attributed to Gothia and the Spanish March vary in time, not without confusion. While
Origins
The Spanish March resulted from the expansion south of the Frankish realm from their heartland in Neustria and Austrasia starting with Charles Martel in 732 after various decades of fighting between the Franks and Umayyads ("Saraceni").
The
.The Muslim forces continued to raid their neighbours to the north, reaching as far as Autun. Peace was signed in 730 between the victor at Toulouse, the Duke of Aquitaine, and Munuza, a Berber rebel lord stationed in Cerdanya (maybe current-day Catalonia), a region that could act as a buffer state against Umayyad expansionism. The peace treaty was sealed with the marriage of the Duke’s daughter to Munuza. However, Munuza was defeated by an Umayyad military expedition in 731 during another Umayyad expansion.
Aquitaine, including Vasconia, pledged formal allegiance to Francia several times (to Odo in 732 and to Hunald in 736 after being defeated), but remained independent. In 737, Charles Martel led an expedition to the lower Rhône and Septimania, possibly seeing that the Umayyad thrust was threatening his grip on Burgundy, which had just been subdued in 736, but he failed to keep the region.
Both Aquitaine and Septimania were still out of central Frankish control after Charles's death, but Pepin the Short was determined to subdue southern Gaul. In 759, after conquering Septimania from the Umayyads, the Carolingian king focused all his might in crushing Aquitanian resistance to central Frankish power. After a ruthless war of eight years, Aquitainian independence came to an end. Toulouse was now under the grip of the new Carolingian king, Charlemagne, and access to al-Andalus was open for him despite sporadic rebellions in Vasconia over the next two decades (Basques subdued in 790 by Charlemagne's new loyal strongman in Toulouse, William of Gellone).
Pepin's son, Charlemagne, fulfilled the Carolingian goal of extending the defensive boundaries of the empire beyond Septimania, creating a strong barrier state between the Umayyad Caliphate and Francia, besides tightening control over the Duchy of Vasconia by establishing the
Creation
The Franks created the Spanish March by conquering former north-eastern territory of the Visigothic kingdom of Hispania, which had been conquered by the Muslims.
The first county to be conquered was
After a series of struggles the
The death of Charlemagne (814) was followed by a scene of open revolt and Carolingian setbacks around the Pyrenees. After being defeated by the Moors in the 816
Structure
The local population of the March was diverse. The majority were Basques and Hispano-Romans (Goths). But there were also Muslims, and Jews from Septimania who repopulated the Frankish conquered easternmost territories of present-day North Spain and a small portion of South France. The area changed with the fortunes of the empires and the feudal ambitions of the counts appointed to administer the counties. As Frankish imperial power waned, the rulers of the March of Hispania became independent fiefs. The region would later become part of Catalonia.
Charlemagne's son
The rulers were called counts; when they governed several counties they often took the name duke (Dux Gothiae). When the county formed the border with the Muslim Kingdom, the Frankish title marquis (Marquis de Gothie) was chosen.
In the early 9th century, Charlemagne began issuing a new kind of land grant, the
However poor communications and a distant central power allowed basic
The early
References
- ^ (Spanish: Marca Hispánica, Catalan: Marca Hispànica, Aragonese and Occitan: Marca Hispanica, Basque: Hispaniako Marka, French: Marche d'Espagne)
- .
- ^ Bachrach, Bernard (1980). "On the role of the Jews in the establishment of the Spanish March (768-814)". In Solà-Solé, José María; Silverman, Joseph H.; Armistead, Samuel G. (eds.). Hispania Judaica I: History. Barcelona: Puvill Libros.
- ISBN 9781326118396.
- S2CID 154531960.
- ISBN 978-0-521-36447-8.
Further reading
- Chandler., Cullen J. (2019). "Creating the Spanish March, 778–840". Carolingian Catalonia: Politics, Culture, and Identity in an Imperial Province, 778–987. Cambridge University Press. pp. 60–110. ISBN 9781108565745.
- Freedman, Paul (2003). "Spanish March". In Gerli, E. Michael (ed.). Medieval Iberia : an encyclopedia. New York: Routledge. OCLC 50404104.