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((Short description|Medieval European borderland or buffer zone))
((Redirect|Marches|the commune in France|Marches, Drôme|other uses|March (disambiguation)|and|Marche (disambiguation)))

In [[Middle Ages|medieval Europe]], a '''march''' or '''mark''' was, in broad terms, any kind of [[border]]land,((sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=689)) as opposed to a national "heartland". More specifically, a march was a border between [[realm]]s or a neutral [[buffer zone]] under joint control of two states in which different laws might apply. In both of these senses, marches served a political purpose, such as providing warning of [[Invasion|military incursions]] or regulating cross-border trade.

Marches gave rise to titles such as [[marquess#United Kingdom|marquess]] (masculine) or marchioness (feminine) in [[England in the Middle Ages|England]]; ''marqués'' (masculine) and ''marquesa'' (feminine) in [[Spanish language|Spanish]]-speaking countries and the [[Catalan language|Catalan]] and [[Galician language|Galician]] regions; ''marquês'' (masculine) and ''marquesa'' (feminine) in [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]]-speaking countries; ''markesa'' (both masculine and feminine) in [[Basque language|Basque]]; ''marquis'' (masculine) or ''marquise'' (feminine) in [[France in the Middle Ages|France]] and [[Scotland in the Middle Ages|Scotland]], [[margrave]] (((lang-de|Markgraf|lit=march count)); masculine) or margravine (((Lang-de|link=no|Markgräfin|lit=march countess)), feminine) in [[History of Germany#Middle Ages|Germany]], and corresponding titles in other European states.

==Etymology==
The word "march" derives ultimately from a [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] root *''mereg-'', meaning "edge, boundary". The root *''mereg-'' produced [[Latin]] ''margo'' ("margin"), [[Old Irish]] ''mruig'' ("borderland"), [[Welsh language|Welsh]] ''bro'' ("region, border, valley") and [[Persian language|Persian]] and [[Armenian language|Armenian]] ''[[Marz (country subdivision)|marz]]'' ("borderland"). The [[Proto-Germanic]] ''*marko'' gave rise to the [[Old English language|Old English]] word ''mearc'' and [[Frankish language|Frankish]] ''marka'', as well as [[Old Norse]] ''mǫrk'' meaning "borderland, forest",<ref name=etymology>((cite web|url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=mark|title=Online Etymology Dictionary|website=www.etymonline.com))</ref> and [[Derivation (linguistics)|derived]] from ''merki'' "boundary, sign",<ref name=etymology/> denoting a borderland between two centres of power.

It seems that in Old English "mark" meant "boundary" or "sign of a boundary", and the meaning only later evolved to encompass "sign" in general, "impression" and "trace".

The [[Anglo-Saxon]] kingdom of [[Mercia]] took its name from [[West Sexaon dialect (Old English)|West Saxon]] ''mearc'' "marches", which in this instance referred explicitly to the territory's position on the Anglo-Saxon [[Offa's Dyke|frontier]] with the [[Romano-Britons|Romano-British]] to the west.

During the Frankish [[Carolingian dynasty]], usage of the word spread throughout Europe.

The name Denmark preserves the Old Norse cognates ''merki'' ("boundary") ''mǫrk'' ("wood", "forest") up to the present. Following the [[Anschluss]], the Nazi German government revived the old name [[Ostmark (Austria)|'Ostmark']] for Austria.

== Historical examples of marches and marks ==

((Further|List of marches))

==Frankish Empire and successor states==

===Marca Hispanica===
((Main|Marca Hispanica))
After some early setbacks, [[Charlemagne]]'s son [[Louis the Pious|Louis]] ventured beyond the province of [[Septimania]] and eventually took Barcelona from the [[Moors|Moorish]] [[emir]] in 801. Thus he established a foothold in the borderland between the Franks and the Moors. The Carolingian "Hispanic Marches" (''[[Marca Hispanica|Marca Hispánica]]'') became a buffer zone ruled by a number of feudal lords, among them the [[Count of Barcelona]]. It had its own outlying territories, each ruled by a lesser ''miles'' with armed retainers, who theoretically owed allegiance through a Count to the Emperor or, with less [[fealty]], to his Carolingian and Ottonian successors.  Such territory had a ''catlá'' ("castellan" or lord of the castle) in an area largely defined by a day's ride, and the region became known, like Castile at a later date, as "Catalunya". ((Cn|date=January 2021)) Counties in the [[Pyrenees]] that appeared in the 9th century, in addition to the [[County of Barcelona]], included [[Cerdanya]], [[Girona]] and [[Urgell]].

In the early ninth century, Charlemagne issued his new kind of land grant, the ''[[aprisio]]'', which redisposed land belonging to the Imperial ''[[fisc]]'' in deserted areas, and included special rights and immunities that resulted in a range of independence of action.((sfn|Lewis|1965)) Historians interpret the ''aprisio'' both as the basis of [[feudalism]] and in economic and military terms as a mechanism to entice settlers to a depopulated border region. Such self-sufficient landholders would aid the counts in providing armed men in defense of the Frankish [[frontier]]. ''Aprisio'' grants (the first ones were in [[Septimania]]) emanated directly from the Carolingian king, and they reinforced central loyalties, to counterbalance the local power exercised by powerful marcher counts.((citation needed|date=August 2014))

But communications were arduous, and the power centre was far away. Primitive [[feudal]] entities developed, self-sufficient and agrarian, each ruled by a small hereditary military elite. The sequence in Catalonia exhibits a pattern that emerges similarly in marches everywhere. The Count is appointed by the king (from 802), the appointment settles on the heirs of a strong count (Sunifred) and the appointment becomes a formality, until the position is declared hereditary (897) and then the County declares itself independent (by Borrell II in 985). At each stage the ''de facto'' situation precedes the ''de jure'' assertion, which merely regularizes an existing fact of life. This is [[feudalism]] in the larger landscape.((citation needed|date=August 2014))

Certain of the Counts aspired to the characteristically Frankish (Germanic) title "[[Margrave]] of the Hispanic March", a "margrave" being a ''graf'' ("count") of the march.((citation needed|date=August 2014))

The early [[History of Andorra]] provides a fairly typical career of another such buffer state, the only modern survivor in the Pyrenees of the Hispanic Marches.((citation needed|date=August 2014))

=== Marches set up by Charlemagne ===

* The [[Danish March]] (sometimes regarded as just a series of forts rather than a march) between the [[Eider River|Eider]] and [[Schlei]] rivers, against the [[Danes (Germanic tribe)|Danes]];
* the [[Saxon Eastern March|Saxon]] or [[Nordalbingen]] march between the [[Eider River|Eider]] and [[Elbe]] rivers in modern [[Holstein]], against the [[Obotrites]];
* the [[Thuringian March|Thuringian]] or [[Sorbian March|Sorbian march]] on the [[Saale]] river, against the [[Sorbs]] dwelling behind the ''[[Limes (Roman Empire)|limes]] sorabicus'';
* the [[March of Lusatia]], [[March of Meissen]], [[March of Merseburg]] and [[March of Zeitz]];
* the [[Franconian march]] in modern [[Upper Franconia]], against the [[Czechs]];
* the [[Avar march]] between [[Enns (river)|Enns]] river and [[Vienna Woods|Wienerwald]] (the later [[Eastern March (Austria)|Eastern March]] that became the Margraviate of Austria);
* the [[March of Pannonia|Pannonian march]] east of [[Vienna]] (divided into ''Upper'' and ''Lower'');
* the [[Carantania|Carantanian march]];
* [[Styria (duchy)|Steiermark (Styria)]], established under Charlemagne from a part of [[Carantania]] ([[Carinthia (duchy)|Carinthia]]), erected as a border territory against the [[Pannonian Avars|Avars]] and Slavs;
* the [[March of Friuli]];
* the [[Marca Hispanica]] against the Muslims of [[Al-Andalus]] ([[Spain]])

===France===

The [[province of France]] called '''[[County of Marche|Marche]]''' (((lang-oc|la Marcha))), sometimes ''Marche Limousine'', was originally a small border district between the Duchy of Aquitaine and the domains of the Frankish kings in central France, partly of [[Limousin (province)|Limousin]] and partly of [[Poitou]].((sfn|Chisholm|1911|pp=689–690))

Its area was increased during the 13th century and remained the same until the [[French Revolution]]. Marche was bounded on the north by [[Berry (province)|Berry]], on the east by [[Bourbonnais]] and [[Auvergne (province)|Auvergne]]; on the south by Limousin itself and on the west by Poitou. It embraced the greater part of the modern ''[[département]]'' of [[Creuse]], a considerable part of the northern [[Haute-Vienne]], and a fragment of [[Indre]], up to [[Saint-Benoît-du-Sault]]. Its area was about ((convert|1900|mi2|km2)) its capital was [[Charroux, Vienne|Charroux]] and later [[Guéret]], and among its other principal towns were [[Dorat, Vienne|Dorat]], [[Bellac]] and [[Confolens]].((sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=690))

Marche first appeared as a separate fief about the middle of the 10th century when [[William III, duke of Aquitaine]], gave it to one of his vassals named [[Boso, Count of Marche|Boso]], who took the title of [[count]]. In the 12th century it passed to the family of [[Lusignan]], sometimes also [[Counts of Angoulême]], until the death of the childless [[Count Hugh]] in 1303, when it was seized by King [[Philip IV of France|Philip IV]]. In 1316 it was made an [[appanage]] for his youngest son the Prince, afterwards King [[Charles IV of France|Charles IV]] and a few years later (1327) it passed into the hands of the [[family of Bourbon]].((sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=690))

The family of [[Armagnac (party)|Armagnac]] held it from 1435 to 1477, when it reverted to the Bourbons, and in 1527 it was seized by King [[Francis I of France|Francis I]] and became part of the domains of the French crown. It was divided into Haute-Marche (i.e. "Upper Marche") and Basse-Marche (i.e. "Lower Marche"), the estates of the former being in existence until the 17th century. From 1470 until the Revolution the province was under the jurisdiction of the ''[[parlement]]'' of Paris.((sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=690))

Several communes of France are named similarly:
* [[Marches, Drôme]] in the [[Drôme]] ''département''
* [[La Marche, Nièvre|La Marche]] in the [[Nièvre]] ''département''

===Germany and Austria===
The Germanic tribes that Romans called [[Marcomanni]], who battled the Romans in the 1st and 2nd centuries, were simply the "men of the borderlands".

[[File:Limes.saxoniae.wmt.png|thumb|The ((lang|la|[[Limes Saxoniae]])) was an unfortified [[Limes (Roman Empire)|limes]] or border between the [[Saxons]] and the Slavic [[Obotrites]], established about 810]]
'''Marches''' were territorial organisations created as borderlands in the [[Carolingian Empire]] and had a long career as purely conventional designations under the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. In modern German, "Mark" denotes a piece of land that historically was a borderland, as in the following names:

====Later medieval marches====
*[[Northern March|Nordmark]], the "Northern March", the [[Ottonian empire]]'s territorial organisation on the conquered areas of the [[Wends]]. In 1134, in the wake of a German crusade against the Wends, the German magnate [[Albert the Bear]] was granted the [[Northern March]] by the [[Holy Roman Empire|Holy Roman Emperor]] [[Lothar II, Holy Roman Emperor|Lothar II]].
* the [[March of the Billungs]] on the [[Baltic Sea|Baltic coast]], stretching approximately from [[Stettin]] (Szczecin) to [[Schleswig]];
* [[Marca Geronis]] (''march of Gero''), a precursor of the [[Saxon Eastern March]], later divided into smaller marches (the [[Northern March]], which later was reestablished as [[Margraviate of Brandenburg]]; the [[Lusatian March]] and the [[Margraviate of Meissen|Meißen March]] in modern [[Saxony|Free state of Saxony]]; the [[March of Zeitz]]; the [[Merseburg March]]; the [[Milceni|Milzener March]] around [[Bautzen]]);
* [[March of Austria]] (''marcha Orientalis'', the "Eastern March" or "Bavarian Eastern March" (((lang-de|Ostmark))) in modern lower Austria);
* the [[Hungarian March]]
* the [[Carantania|Carantania march]] or [[March of Styria]] (Steiermark);
* the [[Drau March]] ([[Maribor|Marburg]] and [[Pettau]]);
* the [[Mark an der Sann|Sann March]] ([[Celje|Cilli]]);
* the Krain or [[March of Carniola]], also [[Windic march]] and [[White Carniola]] (''White March''), in modern [[Slovenia]].
* three marches were created in the [[Low Countries]]: [[Margraviate of Antwerp|Antwerp]], [[Valenciennes]], [[Ename]].

====Other====
*The [[Margraviate of Brandenburg]], its ruler designated ((lang|de|Markgraf)) (margrave, literally "march-count"). It was further divided into regions also designated "Mark":
**[[Altmark]] ("Old March"), the western region of the former margraviate, between [[Hamburg]] and [[Magdeburg]].
**[[Mittelmark]] ("Central March"), the area surrounding Berlin. Today, this region makes up for the bulk of the German [[States of Germany|federal state]] of [[Brandenburg]], and thus in modern usage is referred to as Mark Brandenburg.
**[[Neumark (region)|Neumark]] ("New March") since the 1250s was Brandenburg's eastern extremity between [[Pomerania]] and [[Greater Poland]]. Since 1945, the area is a part of Poland.
**[[Uckermark]], the Brandenburg–Pomeranian borderland. The name is still in use for the region as well as for a [[Uckermark (district)|Brandenburgian district]].
*[[Mark (county)|Mark]], a medieval territory that is recalled in the [[Märkischer Kreis]] district (formed in 1975) of today's [[North Rhine-Westphalia]]. The northern portion (north of the [[Lippe River]]) is still called '''Hohe Mark''' ("Higher Mark"). The former "Lower Mark" (between Ruhr and Lippe rivers) is the present [[Ruhr area]] and is no longer called "Mark". The title, in the form "Count of the Mark", survived the territory as a subsidiary title of the Dukes of [[Carl Eduard, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha|Saxe-Coburg and Gotha]]
*[[Saxon Eastern March|Ostmark]] ("Eastern March") is a modern rendition of the term ''marchia orientalis'' used in Carolingian documents referring to the area of [[Lower Austria]] that was later a ''markgraftum'' ([[Margrave|margraviate]] or "county of the mark"). ''Ostmark'' has been variously used to denote Austria, the [[Saxon Eastern March]], or, as '' [[Ostmarkenverein]]'', the territories Prussia gained in the [[partitions of Poland]].

===Habsburg Empire===
((See|Military Frontier|Croatian Military Frontier|Slavonian Military Frontier))
 [[File:Militargrenze, Wojwodowena und Banat.jpg|400px|thumb|Map of the [[Military Frontier]] against incursions from the [[Ottoman Empire]] in the middle of the 19th century (marked with a red outline)]]

===Italy===
((Expand section|date=June 2008))
((For|the modern Italian region|Marche))

From the Carolingian period onwards the name ''marca'' begins to appear in Italy, first the [[Marca Fermana]] for the mountainous part of [[Picenum]], the Marca Camerinese for the district farther north, including a part of [[Umbria]], and the Marca Anconitana for the former [[Pentapolis]] ([[Ancona]]). In 1080, the ''marca Anconitana'' was given in investiture to [[Robert Guiscard]] by [[Pope Gregory VII]], to whom the [[Matilda of Tuscany|Countess Matilda]] ceded the marches of [[Camerino]] and [[Fermo]].

In 1105, the [[Emperor Henry IV]] invested [[Werner II of Spoleto|Werner]] with the whole territory of the three marches, under the name of the [[March of Ancona]]. It was afterwards once more recovered by the Church and governed by papal legates as part of the [[Papal States]]. The Marche became part of the [[Kingdom of Italy]] in 1860. After [[Italian unification]] in the 1860s, [[Austria-Hungary]] still controlled territory Italian nationalists [[Italian irredentism|still claimed as part of Italy]]. One of these territories was [[Austrian Littoral]], which Italian nationalists began to call the [[Julian March]] because of its positioning and as an act of defiance against the hated Austro-Hungarian empire.

''Marche'' were repeated on a miniature level, fringing many of the small territorial states of pre-[[Risorgimento]] Italy with a ring of smaller dependencies on their borders, which represent territorial ''marche'' on a small scale. A map of the [[Duchy of Mantua]] in 1702 (Braudel 1984, fig 26) reveals the independent, though socially and economically dependent arc of small territories from the [[principality of Castiglione]] in the northwest across the south to the duchy of [[Mirandola]] southeast of [[Mantua]]: the lords of [[Bozzolo|Bozolo]], [[Sabbioneta|Sabioneta]], [[Dosolo]], [[Guastalla]], the count of [[Novellara|Novellare]].

==Hungary==
[[File:Hungary 13th cent.png|thumb|Local autonomies (including [[Kunság|Cumania]], [[Székely Land]] and [[Transylvanian Saxons]]) in the late 13th century]]
In medieval [[Kingdom of Hungary|Hungary]] the system of ''gyepű'' and ''gyepűelve'', effective until the mid-13th century, can be considered as marches even though in its organisation it shows major differences from Western European feudal marches. For one thing, the ''gyepű'' was not controlled by a Marquess.

The ''Gyepű'' was a strip of land that was specially fortified or made impassable, while ''gyepűelve'' was the mostly uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land beyond it. The ''gyepűelve'' is much more comparable to modern [[buffer zone]]s than traditional European marches.

Portions of the ''gyepű'' were usually guarded by tribes who had joined the Hungarian nation and were granted special rights for their services at the borders, such as the [[Székelys]], [[Pechenegs]] and [[Cumans]]. A ban on settlement north of [[Niš]] by the [[Byzantine Empire]] in the twelfth century helped to establish uninhabited marchland between the empire's territory and Hungary.<ref>((cite book |last1=Stephenson |first1=Paul |title=Byzantium's Balkan Frontier: A Political Study of the Northern Balkans, 900-1204 |date=2004 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=0-521-77017-3 |page=124))</ref>

The Hungarian ''gyepű'' originates from the [[Turkish language|Turkish]] ''yapi'' meaning ''[[palisade]]''.  During the 17th and 18th centuries these borderlands were called Markland in the area of Transylvania that bordered with the Kingdom of Hungary and was controlled by a Count or Countess.<ref>Carleton, D., & Phillipps, T. (1841). Sir Dudley Carleton's State Letters, during his Embassy at the Hague, AD 1627. first edited by [[Thomas Phillipps]]. Typis Medio-Montanis, impressit C. Gilmour.</ref>

==Iberia==
In addition to the Carolingian ''Marca Hispanica'', Iberia was home to several marches set up by the native states. The future kingdoms of [[Kingdom of Portugal|Portugal]] and [[Kingdom of Castile|Castile]] were founded as marcher counties intended to protect the [[Kingdom of León]] from the [[Caliphate of Córdoba|Cordoban Emirate]], to the south and east respectively.

Likewise, Córdoba set up its own marches as a buffer to the Christian states to the north. The [[Upper March]] (''al-Tagr al-A'la''), centered on [[Zaragoza]], faced the eastern ''Marca Hispanica'' and the western [[Pyrenees]], and included the Distant or Farthest March (''al-Tagr al-Aqsa''). The [[Central March|Middle March]] (''al-Tagr al-Awsat''), centred on [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]] and later [[Medinaceli]], faced the western Pyrenees and Asturias. The [[Lower March]] (''al-Tagr al-Adna''), centred on [[Mérida, Spain|Mérida]] and later [[Badajoz]], facing León and Portugal. These too would give rise to Kingdoms, the [[Taifa]]s of [[Taifa of Zaragoza|Zaragoza]], [[Taifa of Toledo|Toledo]], and [[Taifa of Badajoz|Badajoz]].

==Scandinavia==
[[Denmark]] means "the march of the [[Danish people|Danes]]".

In Norse, "mark" meant "borderlands" and "forest"; in present-day Norwegian and Swedish it has acquired the meaning "ground", while in Danish it has come to mean "field" or "grassland".

[[Markland]] was the [[Old Norse language|Norse]] name of an area in North America discovered by Norwegian [[Viking]]s.

The forests surrounding Norwegian cities are called "[[Marka, Oslo|Marka]]"&nbsp;– the marches. For example, the forests surrounding [[Oslo]] are called [[Nordmarka]], [[Østmarka]] and Vestmarka&nbsp;– i.e. the northern, eastern and western marches.

In Norway, note also:

* the Norwegian county [[Finnmark]], "the borderlands (or, the [[forest]]s) of the [[Sami people|Sami]]" (known to the [[Norsemen|Norse]] as ''Finns'')
* [[Hedmark]] ("the borderlands of [[heath (habitat)|heath]]")
* [[Telemark]] ("the borderlands of the Þela tribe"<ref>((cite web |url=http://www.slekt.org/books/aars/1918tele_gren.htm |title=Navnet Telemark og Grenland |trans-title=The name Telemark and Grenland |author=Alexander Bugge |date=1918))</ref>).

In Finland:

* Noormarkku (Swedish: Norrmark), a former municipality of Finland
* Pomarkku (Swedish: Påmark), a municipality of Finland
* Söörmarkku (Swedish: Södermark), a village in Noormarkku, Finland
* Markku, an island in the archipelago of Finland.

In [[Värmland]] in [[Sweden]], [[Nordmark Hundred]] was the frontier area near the border to Norway. Almost all of it is now a part of [[Årjäng Municipality]]. In the Middle Ages the area was called ''Nordmarkerna'' and was a part of [[Dalsland]] and not of Värmland.

==British Isles==
((refimprove section|date=November 2010))
((further|Welsh Marches|Scottish Marches))

The name of the [[Anglo-Saxons|Anglo-Saxon]] kingdom in the midlands of England was [[Mercia]]. The name "Mercia" comes from the [[Old English]] for "boundary folk", and the traditional interpretation was that the kingdom originated along the frontier between the [[Welsh people|Welsh]] and the Anglo-Saxon invaders, although P. Hunter Blair has argued an alternative interpretation that they emerged along the frontier between the Kingdom of Northumbria and the inhabitants of the [[River Trent]] valley.

Latinizing the Anglo-Saxon term ''mearc'', the border areas between England and Wales were collectively known as the [[Welsh Marches]] (''marchia Wallia''), while the native Welsh lands to the west were considered Wales Proper (''pura Wallia''). The [[Normans|Norman]] lords in the Welsh Marches were to become the new [[Marcher Lord]]s.

The title ''[[Earl of March]]'' is at least two distinct [[Feudalism|feudal title]]s: one in the northern marches, as an alternative title for the [[Earl of Dunbar]] (c. 1290 in the [[Peerage of Scotland]]); and one, that was held by the family of [[Mortimer]] (1328 in the [[Peerage of England]]), in the west [[Welsh Marches]].

The [[Scottish Marches]] is a term for the border regions on both sides of the border between England and Scotland. From the [[Norman conquest]] of England until the reign of [[King James VI of Scotland]], who also became [[King James I of England]], border clashes were common and the monarchs of both countries relied on [[Marcher Lords]] to defend the frontier areas known as the Marches. They were hand-picked for their suitability for the challenges the responsibilities presented.

[[Patrick Dunbar, 8th Earl of Dunbar]], a descendant of the [[Earls of Northumbria]] was recognized in the end of the 13th century to use the name March as his earldom in Scotland, otherwise known as Dunbar, Lothian, and Northumbrian border.

[[Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March]], [[Regent]] of England together with [[Isabella of France]] during the minority of her son, [[Edward III of England|Edward III]], was a usurper who had deposed, and allegedly arranged the murder of, King Edward II. He was created an earl in September 1328 at the height of his ''[[de facto]]'' rule. His wife was [[Joan de Geneville, 2nd Baroness Geneville]], whose mother, [[Jeanne of Lusignan]] was one of the heiresses of the French [[Count of La Marche|Counts of La Marche]] and [[Count of Angouleme|Angouleme]].

His family, [[Mortimer]] Lords of [[Wigmore Castle|Wigmore]], had been border lords and leaders of defenders of Welsh marches for centuries. He selected ''March'' as the name of his earldom for several reasons: Welsh marches referred to several counties, whereby the title signified superiority compared to usual single county-based earldoms. Mercia was an ancient kingdom. His wife's ancestors had been Counts of La Marche and Angouleme in France.

In [[Ireland]], a hybrid system of marches existed which was condemned as barbaric at the time.((efn|"In distant Westminster, where it was impossible to imagine the stress of life in the Irish marches, march law (like Irish law, which Edward I had once described as 'detestable to God and contrary to all laws') was outrightly condemned," notes James F. Lydon ((sfn|Lydon|1998 |p=81)) )) The Irish marches constituted the territory between English and Irish-dominated lands, which appeared as soon as the English did and were called by King John to be fortified.((sfn|Neville|p=((page needed|date=August 2014)) )) By the 14th century, they had become defined as the land between [[The Pale]] and the rest of Ireland.((sfn|Lydon|1998 |p=((page needed|date=August 2014)))) Local Anglo-Irish and Gaelic chieftains who acted as powerful spokespeople were recognised by the Crown and given a degree of independence. Uniquely, the keepers of the marches were given the power to terminate indictments. In later years, wardens of the Irish marches took Irish tenants.((sfn|Gwyn|p=((page needed|date=August 2014)) ))((sfn|Moore|p=((page needed|date=August 2014)) ))((sfn|Otway-Ruthven|p=((page needed|date=August 2014)) ))

== Titles ==
[[Marquis]], marchese and [[margrave]] (''Markgraf'') all had their origins in feudal lords who held trusted positions in the borderlands. The English title was a foreign importation from France, tested out tentatively in 1385 by [[Richard II of England|Richard II]], but not naturalized until the mid-15th century, and now more often spelled "[[marquess]]".((efn|The styling ''marquis'' or ''marquess'' is a peculiarity of each title.))

==Related concepts==
((Off topic|date=November 2010))

===Abbasid Caliphate===
((Further|Al-'Awasim))

===Armenia===
The specific [[subdivisions of Armenia]] are each called ''[[Marz (country subdivision)|marz, մարզ]]'' (pl. "marzer, մարզեր"), a loanword from [[Persian language|Persian]].

===The Balkans===
See [[Krajina]] and [[Military Frontier]].

===Byzantine Empire===
((Further|Akritai|Kleisoura (Byzantine district)))

===China===
The Chinese concept of March is called ''Fan'' (藩), referring to feudatory domains and petty kingdoms on the borderlands of the empire.

In their initial development during the [[Eastern Zhou|later Zhou dynasty]], the [[commandery (China)|commanderies]] (''jùn'', 郡) functioned as marches, ranking below the [[duke (China)|duke]]s' and [[wang (Chinese title)|king]]s' [[Chinese feudalism|original fiefs]] and below the more secure and populous [[county (China)|counties]] (''xiàn''). As the commanderies formed the front lines between the [[Warring States|major states]], however, their military strength and strategic importance were typically much greater than the counties'. Over time, however, the commanderies were [[history of the administrative divisions of China|eventually developed]] into regular provinces and then discontinued entirely during the [[Tang dynasty]] reforms.

===Japan===
((See also|Han system)) 
The European concept of ''marches'' applies just as well to the fief of [[Matsumae clan]] on the southern tip of Hokkaidō which was at Japan's northern border with the [[Ainu people]] of [[Hokkaidō]], known as [[Ezo]] at the time. In 1590, this land was granted to the Kakizaki clan, who took the name Matsumae from then on. The Lords of Matsumae, as they are sometimes called, were exempt from owing rice to the ''[[shōgun]]'' in tribute, and from the ''[[sankin-kōtai]]'' system established by [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]], under which most lords (''[[daimyō]]s'') had to spend half the year at court (in the capital of [[Edo]]).

By guarding the border, rather than conquering or colonizing Ezo, the Matsumae, in essence, made the majority of the island an Ainu reservation. This also meant that Ezo, and the [[Kurile Islands]] beyond, were left essentially open to Russian colonization. However, the Russians never did colonize Ezo, and the marches were officially eliminated during the [[Meiji Restoration]] in the late 19th century, when the Ainu came under Japanese control, and Ezo was renamed Hokkaidō, and annexed to Japan.

===Persia (Sassanid Empire)===
((See also|Marzban))

===Roman Empire===
((See also|Limes Romanus))

===Ukraine===
((See also|Krai|Zasechnaya cherta|Cossacks))
[[File:Ukraine-Dyke Pole.png|thumb|250px|Map of the [[Wild Fields]] in the 17th century]]
''[[Ukraine]]'', from the Moscow-centric Russian viewpoint,
functioned as a "borderland" or "march" and gained its current [[name of Ukraine|name]], which is derived from a Slavic term of the same meaning (see above for similar in Slovenia, etc.), ultimately from this function. This, though, was merely a continuation of a semi-formal arrangement with the Poles, before escalating feuds, political infighting in Poland, and religious differences (mainly Eastern Orthodox vs. Roman Catholic) saw a loose coalition of Ukrainian lords and independent landowners collectively known as the Cossacks shift to ally with the Russian Empire.

The [[Cossacks]] became a significant part of Russian military history in their role as military border/buffer-troops in the [[Wild Fields]] of Ukraine.  The [[Tatar slave raids in East Slavic lands]] brought considerable devastation and depopulation to this area prior to the rise of the [[Zaporozhian Cossacks]]. As settlement advanced and the borders moved, the Tsars transferred or formed Cossack units to perform similar functions on other borderlands/marches further south and east in (for example) the Kuban and in Siberia, forming (for example) the [[Black Sea Cossack Host]], the [[Kuban Cossacks|Kuban Cossack Host]] and the [[Amur Cossacks|Amur Cossack Host]].

==See also==
* [[American Frontier]]
* [[Buffer state]]
* [[List of marches]]
* [[Marz (territorial entity)]]
* [[No man's land]]

==Notes==
((notelist))
((reflist|24em))

==References==
*((cite book |last=Gwyn |first=Stephen |title=The History of Ireland )) ((Full citation needed|date=August 2014))
*((cite book |last=Lewis |first=Archibald R.  |year=1965 |chapter=Chapter 5:Southern French and Catalan Society (778-828) |title=The Development of Southern French and Catalan Society, 718-1050 |edition=Prin |publisher=University of Texas Press |url=http://libro.uca.edu/lewis/sfc5.htm  ))
*((cite book  |last=Lydon |first=James F. |year=1998 |title=The Making of Ireland: from ancient times to the present  |pages=81 ))
*((cite book |last=Moore |first=Thomas |title=The History of Ireland from the Earliest Kings )) ((Full citation needed|date=August 2014))
*((cite book |last=Neville |first=Cynthia J.  |title=Violence, custom and law: the Anglo-Scottish border lands in the later Middle Ages )) ((Full citation needed|date=August 2014))
*((cite book |last=Otway-Ruthven |first=J.A.  |title=A History of Medieval Ireland ))((Full citation needed|date=August 2014))

'''Attribution:'''

*((EB1911 |wstitle=Marche (France) | display=Marche |volume=17 |pages=689–690)) Endnote:
**A. Thomas, ''Les États provinciaux de la France centrale'' (1879).

((Terms for types of administrative territorial entities))

((DEFAULTSORT:March (Territory)))
[[Category:Marquisates| ]]
[[Category:Defunct types of subdivision in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Marches (country subdivision)| ]]
[[Category:Borders]]
[[Category:Geopolitics]]

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