Catalan counties
 the Iberian Peninsula |
| al-Andalus (taifas) |
| Aragon |
| Asturias |
| Castile |
| Catalonia |
| Galicia |
| Granada |
| León |
| Majorca |
| Navarre |
| Portugal |
|
Spain Medieval · Modern |
| Suebi |
| Valencia |
| Viguera |
| Visigoths |
The Catalan counties (Catalan: Comtats catalans, IPA: [kumˈtats kətəˈɫans]) were the administrative divisions of the eastern Carolingian Marca Hispanica and southernmost part of the March of Gothia created after its Frankish conquest. The various counties roughly defined what came to be known as the Principality of Catalonia.
In 778, Charlemagne led the first Frankish expedition into Hispania to create the Marca Hispanica, a buffer zone between the Umayyad Moors of Al-Andalus and the Frankish Kingdom of Aquitaine. The territory that he subdued was the kernel of Catalonia. In 781, he made his 3-year-old son Louis the Pious (778 – 840) king of Aquitaine, who was sent there with regents and a court in order to secure the southern border of his kingdom against the Moors and to expand southwards into Moorish territory.
These counties were originally feudal entities ruled by a small military elite. Originally, counts were appointed directly by and owed allegiance to the Carolingian (Frankish) emperor. The appointment to heirs could not be taken for granted. However, with the rise of the importance of the Bellonids and strong figures among them such as, Sunifred (fl. 844–848) and Wilfred the Hairy (c.870-897), and the weakening of Carolingian royal power, the appointment of heirs eventually become a formality. This trend resulted in the counts becoming de facto independent of the Carolingian crown under Borrell II in 987.
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