Editing Spanish March (section)

==Geographical context==
The area of the Spanish March broadly corresponds to the eastern regions between the [[Pyrenees]] and the [[Ebro]]. The local population of the [[march (territory)|march]] was diverse. It included [[Basques]] in its northwestern valleys, the [[Hachmei Provence|Jews of Occitania]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bachrach |first1=Bernard |author1-link=Bernard Bachrach |editor1-last=Solà-Solé |editor1-first=José María |editor2-last=Silverman |editor2-first=Joseph H. |editor3-last=Armistead |editor3-first=Samuel G. |title=Hispania Judaica I: History |date=1980 |publisher=Puvill Libros |location=Barcelona |chapter=On the role of the Jews in the establishment of the Spanish March (768-814)}}</ref> and a large [[Occitano-Romance languages|Occitano-Romance-speaking]] population governed by the [[Visigothic Code]], all of them under the influence of al-Andalus since their lords had vowed allegiance to the Umayyad [[Córdoba, Spain|Córdoba]]n rulers in 719, until King Pepin the Short of [[Francia]] [[Siege of Narbonne (752–759)|conquered Septimania in 759]]. The Pyrenean valleys started to switch loyalties after 785 ([[Girona]], [[Ribagorza (comarca)|Ribagorza]], etc.).

The territory of the Spanish March changed with the fortunes of the empires and the feudal ambitions of those, whether [[counts]] or [[wali (administrative title)|wali]]s, who were appointed to administer the counties. Though owing loyalty to the Carolingian monarch, the counts became largely autonomous. Out of the welter of counties in the march, many would be absorbed by more powerful counties, leading to the predominance of the County of Barcelona, from which, along with its vassal counties, would emerge the [[Principality of Catalonia]] centuries later. Other Spanish March counties would later be absorbed into the kingdoms of Aragon or France. Only [[Andorra]], between modern France and Spain, retained its independence. 

Counties that at various times formed part of the Spanish March included Ribagorza (initially including [[County of Pallars|Pallars]]), [[Urgell]], [[Cerdanya]], [[Peralada]], [[County of Empúries|Empúries]], [[Besalú]], [[County of Osona|Osona]], [[Count of Barcelona|Barcelona]], and Girona. The [[Gothic March]] included [[County of Conflent|Conflent]], [[County of Roussillon|Roussillon]], [[Vallespir]] and [[Fenouillet, Pyrénées-Orientales|Fenouillet]]. 

The nominal boundaries attributed to the Spanish and Gothic marches vary in time and not without confusion. Also, [[Navarre]] and [[Aragon]] have sometimes been depicted as being within the Spanish March, but formally they were not. However, they came under Carolingian overlordship between 794 and 806 as part of the [[Duchy of Vasconia]] ([[Gascony]]).