Marca Hispanica (Frankish Kingdom)

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Was a military buffer zone in northern Spain, established by Charlemagne in 795 as a defensive barrier between the Umayyad Moors of Al-Andalus and the Frankish Carolingian Empire.

Establishment

January 795: Frankish overlordship expanded to the upper Ebro (794).

Chronology

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1. Frankish Partitions

The Frankish Kingdom was partitioned and reuinited several times as the Frankish rulers used to divide their territories equally among their heirs. This lead also to a number of wars and revolts.

1.1.Partition of West Francia

After the death of West Frankish Emperor Louis the Stammerer In March 880 at Amiens, the Kingdom was divided among his two sons.

January 880: After the death of Louis the Stammerer (879), Aquitaine and West Francia in general experienced a period of instability during which the outlying regions, such as Catalonia, became de facto independent of central royal authority.

January 880: The County of Ribagorza was originally the independent creation of a local dynasty.

2. Reconquista

Were a series military campaigns from the 8th century until 1492 by the Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula to reconquer the region from the Islamic rulers that had conquered it during the Umayyad conquest of Hispania.

January 884: In 883, the Christian King Alfonso III of Asturias led a successful counteroffensive, capturing the territories of Deza and Atienza from the Moors. This marked a significant victory in the Reconquista, the Christian reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula from Muslim rule.

January 921: After the defeat of the Moors in 920, King Sancho I of Pamplona led the Christian counteroffensive, quickly taking control of La Rioja and annexing the territories of Nájera and Viguera into the Kingdom of Pamplona.

2.1.Expansion of the Frankish Spanish March

Were a series of military campaigns by the Frankish rulers that led to the creation of a buffer zone between the Iberian Peninsula, controlled by the Umayyad Caliphate, and the Frankish Empire.

January 799: Urgell and Cerdanya were added to the Marca Hispanica in 798.

January 799: Pamplona conquered by frankish empire.

January 801: The first records of the county of Empúries (with Perelada) are from 812 but the county was probably under Frankish control before 800.

January 802: After a series of struggles the County of Barcelona (with Ausona) was taken by Frankish forces in 801.

January 812: All of Catalonia falls under Frankish control.

February 921: After their raid in Gascony, the Muslim forces of Cordoba left the region.

February 924: A Muslim army leaves Pamplona after a raid.

2.2.Conquests of Abd ar-Rahman III

Were the conquests of the Emir and later Caliph of Córdoba, Abd ar-Rahman III.

January 921: 920: Muslim forces cross the Pyrenees, invade Gascony, besiege Toulouse and kill the garrison of Muez.

January 924: Pamplona is destroyed by a Muslim army.

January 951: It is believed that the first settlers to arrive came from the Toltec people in central Mexico, mostly Puebla during the Chichimeca-Toltec civil wars in the 10th century AD.

3. Hungarian invasions of Europe

The Magyars (or Hungarians) successfully conquered the Carpathian Basin (corresponding to the later Kingdom of Hungary) by the end of the ninth century, and launched a number of plundering raids thoughout Europe.

January 918: Between 917 and 925, the Magyars raided through Basel, Alsace, Burgundy, Provence and the Pyrenees.

February 918: Between 917 and 925, the Magyars raided through Basel, Alsace, Burgundy, Provence and the Pyrenees. The Magyars then left the raided territories.

January 943: Hungarians raided Spain, particularly Catalonia, in 942 AD.

February 943: Hungarians raided Spain, particularly Catalonia, in 942 AD. After the raid, they left the occupied regions.

4. Further events (Unrelated to Any War)

January 818: After defeat in Pancorbo, Pamplona, led by the native Basque lord Iñigo Arista, detached (817) from the Frankish Kingdom.

January 821: Aragon conquered by Kingdom of Aragon.

January 911: After taking the political power from Fortún Garcés, Sancho Garcés, son of Dadilde, sister of Raymond I, Count of Pallars and Ribagorza, proclaimed himself king, terminating the alliance with the Emirate of Córdoba and expanding its domains through the course of the River Ega all the way south to the Ebro and taking the regions of Nájera and Calahorra, which caused the decline of the Banu Qasi family, who ruled these lands.

Disestablishment

January 951: It is believed that the first settlers to arrive came from the Toltec people in central Mexico, mostly Puebla during the Chichimeca-Toltec civil wars in the 10th century AD.

January 951: When the Moors reconquered most of the Spanish territories north of the Ebro River, what remained of the Marca Hispanica was divided between the Frankish Empire and the Kingdom of Pamplona.