In the late eighth century, Charlemagne issued a new kind of land grant in Septimania and the Spanish March to refugees fleeing Muslim Spain. This grant, the aprisio, was made from fiscal land in deserted areas and included special rights and immunities. Previous scholars have interpreted the aprisio in economic and military terms as a mechanism to entice settlers to the region in order to make the land productive and to provide warriors to defend the Frankish frontier. This article suggests that political concerns also may have played an important role, arguing that the aprisio grant was an attempt by Carolingian kings to limit the power exercised by very powerful marcher counts.

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Catalonia is an autonomous community within modern Spain with a distinct history. In the Middle Ages the region became a key component of the Crown of Aragon, and it has attracted a great deal of scholarly attention for its wealth, power, and 'feudal revolution'. Most historians recognize but do not emphasize the earlier history of the later principality, with roots in the Carolingian period. This article draws attention to the conclusions reached by historians who have built our understanding of Catalonia's early medieval history.

The Frankish noblewoman Dhuoda composed the Liber manualis for her son, William. It survives in only one complete manuscript copy, found in Barcelona's Biblioteca de Catalunya, Ms 569. Pierre Riché argued that the Barcelona copy descended from William's own. This article points out evidence suggesting that the other texts in the manuscript (save one later addition) may derive from early medieval exemplars as well, providing the opportunity to see what kinds of texts made up a lay nobleman's library in the mid‐ninth century.

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