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The building of a frontier
The defeat near
Poitiers, in 732, marked the beginning of an offensive by the Carolingian empire
against al-Àndalus. With the voluntary surrender of Girona (785), the Franks
occupied Urgell, La Cerdanya and the north of El Pallars and La Ribagorça
with ease. The last Frankish onslaught took place in 801, with the conquest of Barcelona.
Thus, a frontier land was established between the Carolingian Empire and al-Àndalus,
which would last until the 11th century.
The Franks organised the occupied territory in administrative districts called counties,
at the head of which was the comte (count), with administrative, military, policing
and judicial functions.
During the Emirate (756-927) and the Caliphate (929-1008), al-Àndalus was
divided into coras, at the head of which there was a walí or governor who
was designated from Cordoba. The cora was divided into districts, from where the
tributary policies and the administration of the territory were organised.
As the frontier country that it was, it had three military constituencies ๓the Marches
(tugur)๓, at the head of which there was a qaid or military chief on whom the governors
of the districts in turn depended. The Upper March (al-Tagr al-'ala), the northernmost
of the Andalusian territories, had Zaragoza as its capital and was formed by the
districts of Tortosa, Tarragona, Lleida, Barbitanyia, Huesca, Zaragoza, Tudela, Calatayud
and Barusa. |
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