The Context of the Conquest of Nimes
In the year 754, the forces of the Carolingian kings Pepin the Short and Bertha the Bigfoot, parents and predecessors of Charlemagne, took the city of Nîmes, incorporating it into the kingdom of the Franks. This conquest marked a milestone in history, but why was it so significant?
The Role of the Narbonense and the Visigothic Dissidence
Before the arrival of the Visigoths in the year 410, the territory between the Rhône and the Pyrenees was part of the Roman province of Narbonne. After the consolidation of the Germanic monarchies in the ancient Western Roman Empire, Narbonensis became the only continental territory of the Visigothic monarchy. This fact was crucial, since Narbonne became the point of contact and cultural and commercial exchange between the Visigothic monarchy and other Germanic monarchies in Western Europe.
Resistance and Exile
After the defeat of Rodrigo and the Toledo nobility in 711, the oligarchies of Tarragona and Narbonne elected a new Visigoth king, Ardón. Contrary to popular belief, Pelayo was not the pioneer of resistance to the Arab invasion. Ardón and his people had already fought and stopped the Arabs in the eastern Pyrenees. Ardon’s resistance caused a notable phenomenon: the exile of the territory’s oligarchies to the kingdom of the Franks between 717 and 754.
The Failure and Abandonment of the Hispanic Brand Project
The Carolingian project of the Marca Hispánica sought to occupy the territory between the Pyrenees and the Ebro, but after the massacre of Roncesvalles in 778, Charlemagne and his successors abandoned this project. Instead, they concentrated on the expansion and consolidation of the Marca de Gotia, which became the southernmost district of the Carolingian Empire.
The Gotia Brand Legacy
Although the Marca Hispánica project did not materialize, the mark of Gotia was a significant chapter in the history of the Franks. Its importance lies in its originality in the peninsular context, the mixture with the host population and, above all, in the return of the exiled oligarchies, who fought alongside the Carolingian troops from 754.