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90 came its name of Gothalania or Catalonia) extended over the southern slope of the Pyrenees beyond Llobregat. Since 875 it had been governed by the Counts of Barcelona, who, as early as the end of the ninth century, had gained possession of all the other counties of the March, those of Gerona, Ampurias, Perelada, Besalu, Ausonia, Berga, Cerdaña, Urgel, Pailhas and Ribagorza. They had even at last extended their suzerainty north of the Pyrenees over the counties of Conflent and Roussillon, which certain counts of their family had succeeded in detaching from Gothia, in the hope, perhaps–though this is not certain–of securing for themselves an independent sway . It was a strange thing, but in these remote parts the king's name – no doubt by the very reason of his distance – still inspired a certain awe. In 944, we find the monks of San Pedro de Roda in the county of Ausonia, by the advice indeed of Sunifred, the Count of Barcelona, coming as far as Laon to ask of Louis IV a charter expressly recognising their inde- pendence, which was threatened by two neighbouring convents. Louis IV granted them a formal charter by which he takes them under his protection, and, employing the ancient formula, forbids "all counts, all representatives of the public power, and all judicial authorities to come within" their domains. It must be added, however, that the royal authority does not seem to have been scrupulously respected, for four years later, the monks of San Pedro and their rivals found it advisable to come to a compromise, for which, nevertheless, they made a point of coming to beg the king's confirmation. And in 986 even the Count of Barcelona reflects that his sovereign owes him protection, and being attacked by the Musulmans, does not hesitate to appeal to him. But, as a fact, the March of Spain was almost as completely independent as that of the Duchy of Gascony. The king's sovereignty was recognised there, the charters were dated with careful precision according to the year of his reign, the Count of Barcelona no doubt came and did him homage, but he had no power of interfering in the affairs of the country, except in so far as his action was invited.

The March of Gothia, between the Cevennes and the Mediterranean, the Lower Rhone and Roussillon, had gradually lost its individual existence and fallen under the suzerainty of the Counts of Toulouse, whom the records of the tenth century magniloquently style "Princes of Gothia." They recognised the king's authority, and came to do him homage; and the charters in their country were dated according to his regnal year, but further than this the connexion between the sovereign and his subjects did not extend.

Further north, between the Loire and the ocean, lay the immense