Marca Hispanica

The Marca Hispánica (Spanish: Marca Hispánica, Catalan: Marca Hispànica, Aragonese and Occitan: Marca Hispanica, Basque: Hispaniako Marka, French: Marche Hispanique), also known as Spanish March or March of Barcelona was a buffer zone beyond the former province of Septimania, created 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).

In its broader meaning, Marca Hispánica 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.

Geographical context

The area broadly corresponds to eastern regions between the Pyrenees and the Ebro River. The local population of the March was diverse. It included Iberians and Basques in the north-western Catalan valleys, Jews, and Goths (Hispanic population in the Gothic tradition/law), all of them under the influence of the Andalusian civilization, since their lords had vowed allegiance to Cordovan rulers until Pepin's conquest of Andalusian Septimania (759). 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.