Conquests, Marches, and Tributes: Carolingian Expansion (772–814)

Under Charlemagne, the Frankish kingdom changes scale. But expansion takes several forms: integrated territories, frontier zones organised as marches, and regions subjected more indirectly (through tribute, hostages, and loyalties).

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✅ More solid integrations

Some regions end up more directly integrated:

• Aquitaine: progressive control, then organisation around a local royal power (king of Aquitaine).
• Bavaria: end of Duke Tassilo’s autonomy and integration through the installation of Frankish counts.

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🧱 Marches: governing frontiers

Marches are guard zones, more military than civil:

• Spanish March: a set of counties south of the Pyrenees, designed as a buffer.
• Eastern marches: along the Danube and toward Slavic lands, to secure routes and borders.
• Breton March: organisation of the Armorican frontier, with uneven results.

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🧾 Tribute and dependencies

Not everything is uniformly “annexed”. Some peoples or principalities:

• pay tribute (sometimes in kind, for example horses)
• provide hostages
• accept political dependence without being fully administered like the kingdom’s core

This system extends Carolingian authority without turning every conquered space into a fully integrated territory.

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🧠 Key takeaways

• Carolingian expansion is vast, but uneven in solidity.
• Marches and tributes are major tools of control.
• The empire is an assemblage: a strong centre with more fragile peripheries.