Septimania[1] is ahistorical region in modern-daysouthern France.[2] It referred to the western part of theRoman province ofGallia Narbonensis that passed to the control of theVisigoths in 462, when Septimania was ceded to their king,Theodoric II.[2] During theEarly Middle Ages, the region was variously known asGallia Narbonensis,Gallia, orNarbonensis.[3] The territory of Septimania roughly corresponds with the modern French former administrative region ofLanguedoc-Roussillon that merged into the new administrative region ofOccitanie. In theVisigothic Kingdom, which became centred onToledo by the end of the reign ofLeovigild, Septimania was both an administrative province of the central royal government and an ecclesiastical province whosemetropolitan was theArchbishop of Narbonne. Originally, the Goths may have maintained their hold on theAlbigeois, but if so it was conquered by the time ofChilperic I.[4] There is archaeological evidence that some enclaves of Visigothic population remained in Frankish Gaul, near the Septimanian border, after 507.[4]
The region of Septimania wasinvaded by theAndalusian Muslims in 719, renamed asArbūnah and turned into a military base for future operations by theAndalusian military commanders.[5][6] It passed briefly to theEmirate of Córdoba, which had been expanding from the south during the same century, before its subsequentconquest by theChristianFranks in 759,[5][6] who by the end of the 9th century renamed it asGothia or theGothic March (Marca Gothica). After theFrankish conquest of Narbonne in 759, the Muslim Arabs and Berbers were defeated by the Christian Franks and retreated to their Andalusian heartland after forty years of occupation, and theCarolingian kingPepin the Short came up reinforced.[5][6] Septimania became amarch of theCarolingian Empire and thenWest Francia down to the 13th century, though it was culturally and politically autonomous from the northern France-based central royal government. The region was under the influence of the people from the count territories ofToulouse,Provence, and ancientCounty of Barcelona. It was part of the wider cultural and linguistic region comprising the southern third of France known asOccitania. This area was finally brought under effective control of the French kings in the early 13th century as a result of theAlbigensian Crusade, after which it was assigned governors. From the end of the thirteenth century Septimania evolved into the royal province ofLanguedoc.
The name "Septimania" may derive from the Roman name of the city ofBéziers,Colonia Julia Septimanorum Baeterrae, which in turn alludes to the settlement of veterans of theRoman Seventh Legion in the city. The name can also be an allusion to the seven cities (civitates) of the territory: Béziers,Elne,Agde,Narbonne,Lodève,Maguelonne, andNîmes. Septimania extended to a line halfway between the Mediterranean and the riverGaronne in the northwest; in the east theRhône separated it fromProvence; and to the south its boundary was formed by thePyrénées.[2]
Under Theodoric II, the Visigoths settled inAquitaine asfoederati of theWestern Roman Empire (450s).Sidonius Apollinaris refers to Septimania as "theirs" during the reign ofAvitus (455–456), but Sidonius is probably considering Visigothic settlement in and aroundToulouse.[3] The Visigoths were then holding the area around Toulouse against the legal claims of the Empire, though they had more than once offered to exchange it for theAuvergne.[3]
In 462, the Empire, controlled byRicimer in the name ofLibius Severus, granted the Visigoths the western half of the province of Gallia Narbonensis in which to settle.[2] The Visigoths additionally occupiedProvence (eastern Narbonensis) and only in 475 did the Visigothic king,Euric, cede it to the Empire via a treaty whereby the emperorJulius Nepos recognised the Visigoths' full independence.[2]
TheVisigoths, perhaps because they wereArian Christians, met with the opposition of theCatholicFranks in Gaul.[7] The Franks allied with theArmorici, whose land was under constant threat from the Goths south of theLoire, and in 507Clovis I, the Frankish king, invaded the Visigothic kingdom, whose capital lay in Toulouse, with the consent of the leading men of the tribe.[8] Clovis defeated the Goths in theBattle of Vouillé and the child-kingAmalaric was carried for safety into Iberia whileGesalec was elected to replace him and rule fromNarbonne.
Clovis, his sonTheuderic I, and hisBurgundian allies proceeded to conquer most of Visigothic Gaul, including theRouergue (507) and Toulouse (508). The attempt to takeCarcassonne, a fortified site guarding the Septimanian coast, was defeated by theOstrogoths (508) and Septimania thereafter remained in Visigothic hands, though the Burgundians managed to hold Narbonne for a time and drive Gesalec into exile. Border warfare between Gallo-Roman magnates, including bishops, had existed with the Visigoths during the last phase of the Empire and it continued under the Franks.[9]
The Ostrogothic kingTheodoric the Great reconquered Narbonne from the Burgundians and retained it as the provincial capital.Theudis was appointed regent at Narbonne by Theodoric while Amalaric was still a minor in Iberia. In 509 Theodoric the Great created the first kingdom of Septimania, retaining its traditional capital at Narbonne. He appointed as his regent an Ostrogothic nobleman named Theudis. When Theodoric died in 526, Amalaric was elected king in his own right and he immediately made his capital in Narbonne. He ceded Provence, which had at some point passed back into Visigothic control, to the Ostrogothic kingAthalaric. The Frankish king of Paris,Childebert I, invaded Septimania in 531 and chased Amalaric toBarcelona in response to pleas from his sister,Chrotilda, that her husband, Amalaric, had been mistreating her. The Franks however, did not try to hold the province and under Amalaric's successor, the centre of gravity of the kingdom crossed the Pyrenees and Theudis made his capital in Barcelona.
In theVisigothic Kingdom, which became centred onToledo by the end of the reign ofLeovigild, the province of Gallia Narbonensis, usually shortened to just Gallia or Narbonensis and never called Septimania,[3] was both an administrative province of the central royal government and an ecclesiastical province whosemetropolitan was theArchbishop of Narbonne. Originally, the Goths may have maintained their hold on theAlbigeois, but if so it was conquered by the time ofChilperic I.[4] There is archaeological evidence that some enclaves of Visigothic population remained in Frankish Gaul, near the Septimanian border, after 507.[4] In 534, Prince Theudebert, son of Theuderic of Austrasia (Merovingian Frankish not Gothic) invaded Septimania in concert with Prince Gunthar son of King Chlothar. Gunthar stopped at Rodez and did not invade Septimania. Theudebert took and held the country as far as Béziers and Carbiriers from which he took the woman Deuteria as a wife. Theudebert and his half brother Childebert invaded Spain as far as Saragossa 534-538. At some point soon after this, the Visigoths regained the territory they had lost in Theudebert's invasion.
The province of Gallia held a unique place in the Visigothic Kingdom, as it was the only province outside of Iberia, north of thePyrénées, and bordering a strong foreign nation, in this case theFranks. The kings after Alaric II favoured Narbonne as a capital, but twice (611 and 531) were defeated and forced back toBarcelona by the Franks before Theudis moved the capital there permanently. Under Theodoric Septimania had been safe from Frankish assault, but was raided byChildebert I twice (531 and 541). WhenLiuva I succeeded to the throne in 568, Septimania was a dangerous frontier province and Iberia was wracked by revolts.[10] Liuva granted Iberia to his son Leovigild and took Septimania to himself.[10]
During the revolt ofHermenegild (583–585) against his father Leovigild, Septimania was invaded byGuntram,King of Burgundy, possibly in support of Hermenegild's revolt, since the latter was married to his nieceIngundis. The Frankish attack of 585 was repulsed by Hermenegild's brotherReccared, who was ruling Narbonensis as a sub-king. Hermenegild died atTarragona that year and it is possible that he had escaped confinement inValencia and was seeking to join up with his Frankish allies.[11] Alternatively, the invasion may have occurred in response to Hermenegild's death.[12] Reccared meanwhile tookBeaucaire (Ugernum) on theRhône nearTarascon and Cabaret (a fort called Ram's Head), both of which lay in Guntram's kingdom.[11][12] Guntram ignored two pleas for a peace in 586 and Reccared undertook the only Visigothic invasion of Francia in response.[12] However, Guntram was not motivated solely by religious alliance with the fellow Catholic Hermenegild, for he invaded Septimania again in 589 and was roundly defeated near Carcassonne byClaudius, Duke of Lusitania.[13] It is clear that the Franks, throughout the sixth century, had coveted Septimania, but were unable to take it and the invasion of 589 was the last attempt.
In the 7th century, Gallia often had its own governors orduces (dukes), who were typically Visigoths. Most public offices were also held by Goths, far out of proportion to their part of the population.[14]
The native population of Gallia was referred to by Visigothic and Iberian writers as the "Gauls" and there is a well-attested hatred between the Goths and the Gauls, which was atypical for the kingdom as a whole.[14] The Gauls commonly insulted the Goths by comparing the strength of their men to that of Gaulish women, though the Iberians regarded themselves as the defenders and protectors of the Gauls. It is only in the time ofWamba (reigned 672–680) andJulian of Toledo, however, that alarge Jewish population becomes evident in Septimania: Julian referred to it as a "brothel of blaspheming Jews."[15]
Thanks to the preserved canons of theCouncil of Narbonne of 590, a good deal can be known about survivingGothic Pagan beliefs and practices in Visigothic Septimania. The Council may have been responding in part to the orders of theThird Council of Toledo, which found "the sacrilege of idolatry [to be] firmly implanted throughout almost the whole of Iberia and Septimania."[16] Thetraditional Roman practice of not working Thursdays in honour ofJupiter was still prevalent.[17] The council set down penance to be done for not working on Thursday save for church festivals and commanded the practice ofMartin of Braga, rest from rural work on Sundays, to be adopted.[17] Also punished by the council werefortunetellers, who werepublicly lashed andsold into slavery.
Different theories exist concerning the nature of the frontier between Visigothic Septimania and Frankish Gaul. On the one hand, cultural exchange is generally reputed to have been minimal,[18] but the level of trading activity has been disputed. There have been few to no objects ofNeustrian,Austrasian, orBurgundian provenance discovered in Septimania.[19] However, a series ofGermanic sarcophagi of a unique regional style, variously labelled Visigothic, Aquitainian, or southwestern Gallic, are prevalent on both sides of the Septimanian border.[20] These sarcophagi are made of locally quarried marble fromSaint-Béat and are of varied design, but with generally flat relief which distinguishes them fromancient Roman sarcophagi.[20] Their production has been dated to either the 5th, 6th, or 7th century, with the second of these being considered the most likely today.[21] However, if they were made in the 5th century, while both Aquitaine and Septimani were in Visigothic hands, their existence provides no evidence for a cultural osmosis across the Gothic-Frankish frontier.
A unique style of orange pottery was common in the 4th and 5th centuries in southern Gaul, but the later (6th century) examples culled from Septimania are more orange than their cousins from Aquitaine and Provence and are not found commonly outside of Septimania, a strong indicator that there was little commerce over the frontier or at its ports.[22] In fact, Septimania helped to isolate both Aquitaine and Iberia from the rest of the Mediterranean world.[23]
Coinage of theVisigothic Kingdom of Hispania did not circulate in Gaul outside of Septimania and Frankish coinage did not circulate in the Visigothic Kingdom, including Septimania. If there had been a significant amount of commerce over the frontier, the monies paid had to have been melted down immediately and re-minted as foreign coins have not been preserved across the frontier.[24]
The region of Septimania, in southern Gaul, was the last unconquered province of theVisigothic Kingdom.[25] The incursion into Septimania was motivated by the need to secure theirterritorial gains in Iberia.[25] Arab and Berber Muslim forces began to campaign in Septimania in 719.[25]
The Arab and Berber Muslim forces underal-Samh ibn Malik al-Khawlani,wāli (governor-general) ofal-Andalus, sweeping up the Iberian peninsula, by 719 hadinvaded the region of Septimania and deposed the local Visigothic Kingdom in 720.[5][6] The region was renamedArbūnah and turned into a military base for future operations by theAndalusian military commanders.[26] Following the Islamic invasion, al-Andalus was divided into five administrative areas, roughly corresponding to present-dayAndalusia,Galicia,Lusitania,Castile and Léon,Aragon, andCatalonia, and the ancient province of Septimania.[27] With Narbonne secure, and equally important, its port, for the Arab mariners controlled various areas of the Western Mediterranean, al-Samh invaded the remaining Septimanian cities, still controlled by theirGothic counts, takingAlet,Béziers,Agde,Lodève,Maguelonne, andNîmes.[citation needed]
By 721, al-Samh was reinforced and ready to lay siege toToulouse, a possession that would open up the bordering region ofAquitaine to him on the same terms as Septimania. But his plans were thwarted in the disastrousbattle of Toulouse in 721; theAquitanianChristian army led byOdo the Great,Duke of Aquitaine defeated the Umayyad Muslim army and achieved a decisive and significant victory.[28] The surviving Umayyad forces drove away from Aquitaine with immense losses, in which al-Samh was so seriously wounded that he soon died at Narbonne.[28] Arab and Berber Muslim forces, soundly based in Narbonne and easily resupplied by sea, struck in the 720s, conqueringCarcassonne on the north-western fringes of Septimania (725). In 731, the Berber lord of the region ofCerdagne,Uthman ibn Naissa, calledMunuza by the Franks, was an ally of the Duke of AquitaineOdo the Great after he revolted against theEmirate of Córdoba, but the rebel lord was killed by the ArabUmayyad commanderAbd al-Rahman ibn Abd Allah al-Ghafiqi.
After capturingBordeaux on the wake ofDuke Hunald's detachment attempt, theCarolingian kingCharles Martel directed his attention to Septimania andProvence.[29] While his reasons for leading a military expedition south remain unclear, it seems that he wanted to seal his newly secured grip onBurgundy,[29] now threatened by Umayyad occupation of several cities lying in the lower Rhône, or maybe it provided the excuse he needed to intervene in this territory ruled byVisigothic andRoman law, far off from the Frankish centre in the north of Gaul. In 737,the Frankish king went on to attack Narbonne,[29][30] but the local nobility ofGothic andGallo-Roman stock had concluded different military and political arrangements to oppose theexpanding Frankish realm.[31]Charles Martel attempted to conquer the whole region of Septimania andbesieged Narbonne in 737[29] but his forces were unable to take the city.[30] However, when the Arabs sent reinforcements from Muslim-ruled Iberia, theFrankishChristian armyintercepted them at the mouth of the River Berre (located in the present-day Département ofAude) and achieved a decisive and significant victory,[28][29] after whichthe Frankish army marched on Nîmes.[29][30] Islamic burials have been found in Nîmes.[32][33][34][35]
Around 747, the government of the Septimania region (and theUpper March, from thePyrénées to theEbro River) was given toUmar ibn Umar. Umayyad rule collapsed by 750, and Umayyad territories in Europe were ruled autonomously byYusuf ibn 'Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri and his supporters. In 752, theCarolingian kingPepin the Short headed south to Septimania.[5][6] TheGothic counts ofNîmes,Melguelh,Agde, andBéziers refused allegiance to the emir atCórdoba and declared their loyalty to the Frankish king—the Gothic count of Nîmes,Ansemund, having some authority over the remaining counts. The Gothic counts and the Franks then began to besiegeNarbonne, whereCount Miló was probably the count (as successor toCount Gilbert).
In 754, an anti-Frankish reaction, led by Ermeniard, killed Ansemund, but the uprising was without success andRadulf was designated new count by the Frankish court. About 755,Abd ar-Rahman ibn Uqba replaced Umar ibn Umar. In 759, Narbonne was not receiving reinforcements from al-Andalus, rife as it was with internal fights.[6]Yusuf ibn 'Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri,wali of al-Andalus, had to quash a rebellion inZaragoza in 756, and immediately head south to fightAbd ar-Rahman I, who defeated him.[6] Northeastern Iberia and the remainder of Septimania was left without any relevant commander in charge. Finally, theGothic andGallo-Roman defenders of Narbonne surrendered to the Frankish forces, proceeding to eliminate the Andalusian garrison after killing the Arab-Berber Muslim troops, and opening the gates of the stronghold to the investing forces of the Carolingian king.[5][6] Previously, the Frankish king Pepin had promised to uphold and respect the Gothic laws and probably their own government, so garnering the allegiance of the Gothic nobility of Septimania.[36]
Narbonne capitulated to the Franks in 759 only after Pepin promised the defenders of the city to uphold theVisigothic law, and the county was granted to Miló, the Gothic count in Muslim times, thus earning the loyalty of Septimanian Goths againstDuke Waifer, the independent ruler (princeps) ofAquitaine.[5][6] After theFrankish conquest of Narbonne in 759, the Muslim Arabs and Berbers were defeated by the Christian Franks and expelled to their Andalusian heartland after 40 years of occupation, and theCarolingian kingPepin the Short came up reinforced.[5][6] The siege remained as a key battlefield in the context of the Carolingian expedition south toProvence and Septimania starting in 752.[5][6] The Iberian Christian counter-offensive known as theReconquista began in the early 8th century, when Andalusian Muslim forces managed to temporarily push into Aquitaine.[5][6] In the wake of Narbonne's submission, Pepin tookRoussillon, and then directed his effort againstToulouse,Rouergue, andAlbigeois in Aquitaine, leading to thebattle for Aquitaine.
The region ofRoussillon was taken by the Franks in 760. Pepin then diverted northwest to Aquitaine, triggering the war againstWaifer of Aquitaine.Albi,Rouergue,Gévaudan, and the city ofToulouse were conquered. In 777, the wali ofBarcelona,Sulayman al-Arabi, and the wali ofHuescaAbu Taur, offered their submission toCharlemagne and also the submission ofHusayn, wali ofZaragoza. When Charlemagne invaded the Upper March in 778, Husayn refused allegiance and he had to retire. In the Pyrénées,the Basques defeated his forces in Roncesvalles (August 15, 778).
The Frankish king found Septimania and the borderlands so devastated and depopulated by warfare, with the inhabitants hiding among the mountains, that he made grants of land that were some of the earliest identifiablefiefs to Visigothic and other refugees. Charlemagne also founded several monasteries in Septimania, around which the people gathered for protection. Beyond Septimania to the south Charlemagne established theHispanic Marches in the borderlands of his empire. The territory passed to Louis, king in Aquitaine, but it was governed by Frankish margraves and then dukes (from 817) of Septimania.
The Frankish nobleBernat of Septimania was the ruler of these lands from 826 to 832. His career (he was beheaded in 844) characterized the turbulent 9th century in Septimania. His appointment asCount of Barcelona in 826 occasioned a general uprising of the Catalan lords (Bellonids) at this intrusion of Frankish power over the lands ofGothia. For suppressingBerenguer of Toulouse and the Catalans,Louis the Pious rewarded Bernat with a series of counties, which roughly delimit 9th century Septimania: Narbonne, Béziers, Agde, Magalona, Nîmes and Uzés. Rising against Charles the Bald in 843, Bernat was apprehended at Toulouse and beheaded. Bernat's son, known asBernat of Gothia, also served as Count of Barcelona andGirona, and asMargrave of Gothia and Septimania from 865 to 878.
Septimania became known asGothia after the reign ofCharlemagne. It retained these two names while it was ruled by thecounts of Toulouse during early part of theMiddle Ages, but other names became regionally more prominent such as,Roussillon,Conflent,Razès orFoix, and the nameGothia (along with the older nameSeptimania) faded away during the 10th century, 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 ofLanguedoc. This fragmentation in small feudal entities and the resulting fading and the gradual shifting of the nameGothia are the most probable origins of the ancient geographical area known asGathalania orCathalania which has reached our days as the present region ofCatalonia.
The name was used because the area was populated by a higher concentration of Goths than in surrounding regions. The rulers of this area, when joined with several counties, were titled theMarquesses of Gothia (and, also, theDukes of Septimania).
After three months,Eudo the Great,Duke of Aquitaine, lifted the siege. Eudo's army decimated theMoors, killedAs-Sahm and drove the survivors fromAquitaine.
After 734Charles Martel advanced against the nobles inBurgundy and placed the region ofMarseille under the authority ofhis counts. [...] Charles marched afterwards toNarbonne and besieged it. Then an army ofSaracens came to relieve Narbonne. Charles marched against them anddefeated them along the banks of the Berre. Charles still devastated the area aroundNîmes,Agde, andBéziers, but an uprising inSaxony caused him to make an expedition to hold onto that land. [...] Charles Martel had subjected the whole ofGallia, again by battles, and had to besiegeAvignon and Narbonne there. He did not have the time to conquerSeptimania.
It would be quite anachronistic that theProvençalaristocracy would or those whose primary interests lay in the south would welcome the extension into their region of the authority of theeastern Frankish Mayors of the Palace, or that a sense of Christian solidarity should mean more than the dictates ofrealpolitik. For that matter it was not with any sense of obligation to free formerly Christian lands from Islamic rule thatCharles Martel launched a raid into western Provence in 737.He took Avignon, but clearly did not retain it, and advanced to besiege Narbonne, the centre of Arab control in the March. The Frankish chronicles record his victory over a relieving force sent by the governorʿUqba, but their uniform silence makes it clear that despite this he failed to take the city itself.
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