A map of the Frankish kingdom, the Emirate of Córdoba and the Pyrenean territories shows Charlemagne's expedition south of the Pyrenees in 778, his retreat and the Carolingian territory that followed.
This map accompanies the article on Charlemagne's expedition to the Iberian Peninsula, published in Historia National Geographic no. 272 (August 2026).
In the 770s, Saragossa and Barcelona rose up against the authority of the emir of Córdoba, Abd al-Rahman I. Their governors, al-Husayn and Sulayman al-Arabi, asked the Frankish king Charlemagne for protection against a punitive expedition. Charlemagne used the request to expand south of the Pyrenees, a strategy that, after the failure at Roncesvalles, would eventually bear fruit around Girona and Barcelona.
The map shows the Pyrenean relief, with the Frankish kingdom to the north and the Emirate of Córdoba to the south. Arrows distinguish the route of the Carolingian army, Charlemagne's retreat and an alternative retreat route, and symbols mark battles and sieges. Two shaded areas show the Carolingian territory in Spain around 789 and the frontier of the Spanish March around 830.
Zooming in reveals the territories and towns of the region, from Aquitaine, Gascony and Toulouse to Cerdanya, Urgell, Pallars, Ribagorza, Sobrarbe, Aragon and Ampurias. The main rivers are labelled, along with passes such as Roncesvalles, the Hecho Valley and Le Perthus, and dates beside some place names, such as Urgell (780), Girona (785) and Barcelona (801).
Published in Historia National Geographic no. 272, 2026-8
