Timeline of Septimania

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Septimania was the western region of the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis that passed under the control of the Visigoths in 462. It passed briefly to the Emirate of Córdoba in the eighth century before its reconquest by the Franks, who by the end of the ninth century termed it Gothia. This article presents a timeline of its history.

Contents

Visigoths and Franks

Moorish rule

The Moors, under Al-Samh ibn Malik the governor-general of al-Andalus swept up the Iberian peninsula.

Frankish reconquest

Postscript

Septimania became known as Gothia after the reign of Charlemagne. It retained these two names while it was ruled by the counts of Toulouse during the Early Middle Ages, but the southern part became more familiar as Roussillon and the west became known as Foix. The name "Gothia" (along with the older name "Septimania") faded away during the 10th century, except as a traditional designation as the region fractured into smaller feudal entities, which sometimes retained Carolingian titles, but lost their Carolingian character, as the culture of Septimania evolved into the culture of Languedoc.

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Septimania is a historical region in modern-day southern France. It referred to the western part of the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis that passed to the control of the Visigoths in 462, when Septimania was ceded to their king, Theodoric II. During the Early Middle Ages, the region was variously known as Gallia Narbonensis, Gallia, or Narbonensis. The territory of Septimania roughly corresponds with the modern French former administrative region of Languedoc-Roussillon that merged into the new administrative region of Occitanie. In the Visigothic Kingdom, which became centred on Toledo by the end of the reign of Leovigild, Septimania was both an administrative province of the central royal government and an ecclesiastical province whose metropolitan was the Archbishop of Narbonne. Originally, the Goths may have maintained their hold on the Albigeois, but if so it was conquered by the time of Chilperic I. There is archaeological evidence that some enclaves of Visigothic population remained in Frankish Gaul, near the Septimanian border, after 507.

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The siege of Narbonne was fought in 737 between the Arab and Berber Muslim forces of Yusuf ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri, Arab Umayyad Muslim governor of Septimania on behalf of al-Andalus, and the Frankish Christian army led by the Carolingian duke Charles Martel.

The Battle of the River Berre was fought in 737 between the Arab and Berber Muslim forces of Yusuf ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri, Arab Umayyad Muslim governor of Septimania on behalf of al-Andalus, and the Frankish Christian army led by the Carolingian duke Charles Martel during the siege of Narbonne. The battle, which took place at the mouth of the River Berre, was a significant victory for Charles Martel in the military campaigns of 736–737. During this period, Martel effectively prevented greater Umayyad expansion beyond the Pyrénées.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Umayyad invasion of Gaul</span> Attempted invasion of southwest Francia by the Umayyad Caliphate (719–759 AD)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Narbonne (752–759)</span> Frankish expedition and conquest of Septimania

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References

  1. Showalter, Dennis (2013). Medieval Wars : 500 - 1500. Amber Books. ISBN   9781782741190.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  2. Peter Heather, The Goths (Oxford: Blackwell, 1996), p. 277
  3. Isidore of Seville, History of the Goths, chapter 40. Translation by Guido Donini and Gordon B. Ford, Isidore of Seville's History of the Goths, Vandals, and Suevi, second revised edition (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1970), p. 19
  4. Mackay, Angus (1997). Atlas of Medieval Europe. London: Routledge. ISBN   0-415-01923-0.