After Charlemagne’s expedition to Spain in 778, he set up several counties on the south frontier, which gradually became the Marca Hispanica. This paper mainly discusses the historical geography meaning and historical writing of this region. “March” was generally established in Carolingian Empire, the meaning of it contains both “border area” and “border line”. This caused confusions of toponym in related studies. The region is generally known as “Carolingian Catalonia” now, it can be traced back to the historical writing of Catalan nationalist historians in the 20th century. The scholars who studied the south frontier mainly came from Catalonia, Spain, France, UK and US etc. Catalan scholars have made contributions in the preliminary collation and writing of general history, but the international influence of Catalan academics is insufficient. The study of scholars elsewhere is scattered in the fields of Carolingian history, Spanish history and early medieval history. With the deeper study of medieval frontier history, a new generation of researchers can combine the achievements of Catalan scholars with the broader perspective of international academia, explore the importance of south Carolingian frontier, and understand the empire from the frontier.
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Xu, Z. (2025) Understanding Frontier Societies in Historical Research: Study on Carolingian Catalonia. Journal of Social Development and History, 1(5), 59-67. https://doi.org/10.71052/jsdh/NJTG6904