![]() Wālis were installed in Girona and Barcelona. Further Umayyad expansion was halted on Al-Samh ibn Malik al-Khawlanis defeat at the Battle of Toulouse. Control was secured by offering the local population generous terms, inter-marriage between ruling families or treaties. In 719 the forces of Al-Samh ibn Malik surged up the east coast, overwhelming the remaining Visigoth province of Septimania and establishing a fortified base at Narbonne. The Muslim invasion reached the Pyrenees in the Iberian Peninsula. 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 and after various decades fighting between the Franks and Umayyads ( Saraceni) in the Iberian Peninsula. While Navarre and Aragon have sometimes been depicted within the Spanish March, they were not part of it, but they came under the Carolingian area of influence between 794 and 806 within the Basque (also rendered as "Gascon") marches, or Duchy of Vasconia. The nominal boundaries of Gothia and the Spanish March vary in time, not without confusion. Out of the welter of counties in the region emerged the Principality of Catalonia composed by a myriad of counties with the County of Barcelona as their main power centre.Ĭounties that at various times formed part of the March included: Ribagorza (initially including Pallars), Urgell, Cerdanya, Perelada, Empúries, Besalú, Ausona (Osona), Barcelona, Girona ( March of Hispania) and, Conflent, Roussillon, Vallespir and Fenollet ( March of Gothia). Eventually, the rulers and people of the March became autonomous and claimed independence. The territory changed with the fortunes of the Empires and the feudal ambitions of those, whether counts or walis, appointed to administer the counties. The Pyrenean valleys started to switch loyalties after 785 (Girona, Ribagorza, etc.) with the construction and garrisoning by counts loyal to the Carolingians of new outposts and fortresses on bordering areas. It included Basques in its north-western valleys, Jews, and a large Occitano-Romance-speaking Hispano-Roman population ( Occitans and Catalans) governed by the Visigothic Code, all of them under the influence of Al-Andalus culture, since their lords had vowed allegiance to Cordoban rulers until Pepin's conquest of Andalusian Septimania (759). The local population of the March was diverse. The area broadly corresponds to the eastern regions between the Pyrenees and the Ebro River. As time passed, these lordships merged or gained independence from Frankish imperial rule. ![]() In its broader meaning, Spanish March sometimes refers to a group of early Iberian and trans-Pyrenean lordships or counts coming under Frankish rule. The Spanish March or Hispanic March ( Spanish: Marca Hispánica, Catalan: Marca Hispànica, Aragonese and Occitan: Marca Hispanica, Basque: Hispaniako Marka, French: Marche d'Espagne), was a military buffer zone beyond the former province of Septimania, established by Charlemagne in 795 as a defensive barrier between the Umayyad Moors of Al-Andalus and the Frankish Carolingian Empire ( Duchy of Gascony, the Duchy of Aquitaine and Carolingian Septimania). ![]() The Spanish March and surrounding regions.
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